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Every Windows computer has a local Security Accounts Manager (SAM). The SAM is responsible for a few functions. First, it is responsible for storing the local users and groups for that computer. Second, the local SAM is responsible for authenticating logons. When a computer is not joined to a domain, the only option is to use the local SAM to perform the authentication.

If too many computer/user creations in SAM fail or if SAM takes too long to enumerate, evaluate, and authenticate users/user groups, the user experience with the computer is bound to be impacted adversely. By periodically monitoring the operations of SAM, administrators can proactively detect potential problem conditions and plug the holes, so that the user experience remains unaffected. The Security Accounts Manager test does just that. At configured intervals, this test checks how well SAM performs its core functions, and promptly reports real/probable failures and latencies to the administrator.

This test applies only to Active Directory Servers installed on Windows 2008.

Measurement	Description	Measurement Unit	Interpretation
SAM_mac_cre_attempt	Indicates the number of attempts per second to create computer accounts.	Number
SAM_usr_cre_attempt	Indicates the number of attempts per second to create user accounts.	Number
SAM_suc_usr_create	Indicates the number of user accounts successfully created per second.	Number	Ideally, the value of this measure should be equal to the value of the SAM_usr_cre_attempt measure. A low value is a cause for concern, as it indicates that many user creation attempts are failing; the reasons for the same have to be ascertained and addressed soon.
SAM_suc_comp_create	Indicates the number of computers successfully created per second.	Number	Ideally, the value of this measure should be equal to the value of the SAM_mac_cre_attempt measure. A low value is a cause for concern, as it indicates that many machine creation attempts are failing; the reasons for the same have to be ascertained and addressed soon.
SAM_gc_evaluate	Indicates the number of SAM global catalog evaluations per second.	Number
SAM_enumeration	Indicates the number of net user, net group, and net local function enumerations per second.	Connections/Sec
SAM_dis_info_query	Indicates the number of queries per second to obtain display information.	Connections/Sec
SAM_acc_gro_evaluate	Indicates the time taken by SAM to evaluate an account group.	Secs	This indicates the mean latency of the last 100 account and universal group evaluations performed for authentication. A high value could indicate a bottleneck.
SAM_res_gro_evaluate	Indicates the time taken by SAM to evaluate a resource group.	Secs	This indicates the mean latency of the last 100 resource group evaluations performed for authentication. A high value could indicate a bottleneck.