Re: memory usage/allocation/paging question



tlyczko (tlyczko@xxxxxxxxx) writes:
Are there any *negative* consequences to SQL Server 2000 Standard
paging to disk more often if one reduces the amount of available RAM
from 2.0 GB to 1.5 GB to give the OS and other apps enough RAM, other
than things possibly being "slower" and whatever wear and tear could
happen to the disk drives??

Or is it better to add in more RAM per se to bring the server up to 4
GB (Win2k3 Svr SP1)?? (it has a 4GB pagefile)

Is any information available about judging how much RAM the OS (Windows
2003 Server) should have available?? Does IIS require a lot of RAM??

SQL Server is designed to get as much memory it can get and with a
reason: the more data and execution plans SQL Server can hold in cache,
the better it will perform.

If other applications on the same box calls for more memory, SQL Server
will yield, but it may not yield fast enough, so if that is a concern
it may be an idea to constraint the amount of memory that SQL Server
can get.

Then again, this is mainly something would do on a developer machine,
where you don't want broswers, Visual Studio, Word or whatever to be
swapped out, because you run a query from hell. Constrainting the amount
of memory box, is like driving your BMW on the third gear only.

If you are running IIS on the same box, you should either move IIS
to another box (I have no idea how much memory IIS needs, but it's
probably more than 100 MB than less) or get more memory. SQL Server
2000 Standard Edition can only use 2 GB of memory, so if you add 4GB
and turn on the /3GB switch, there will be some breathing room for
IIS.

I should add that the database size matters a bit. If your database
is small, say 1GB, it will fit entirely in cache, and you may need
all 2GB for memory.

--
Erland Sommarskog, SQL Server MVP, esquel@xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Books Online for SQL Server 2005 at
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/sql/2005/downloads/books.mspx
Books Online for SQL Server 2000 at
http://www.microsoft.com/sql/prodinfo/previousversions/books.mspx
.



Relevant Pages

  • Re: ASP.NET application hits 2GB virtual bytes
    ... The server it is being tested on has 4GB of RAM, with the 3GB switch on boot. ... The 3GB switch limits the *virtual address space*, not the working memory set. ... your basic problem is that you're running in IIS 5.0 compatibility mode. ...
    (microsoft.public.dotnet.framework.aspnet)
  • Re: ASP.NET application hits 2GB virtual bytes
    ... The server it is being tested on has 4GB of RAM, with the 3GB switch on boot. ... The 3GB switch limits the *virtual address space*, not the working memory set. ... your basic problem is that you're running in IIS 5.0 compatibility mode. ...
    (microsoft.public.dotnet.framework.aspnet)
  • Re: 300MB DB uses 1.4GB RAM!?
    ... DBCC MEMORYSTATUS will tell you how SQL Server memory manager has ... So, if every page was in memory, there's 300mb. ... the more ram SQL takes the better!! ... allocation for SQL Server. ...
    (microsoft.public.sqlserver.clustering)
  • Re: Limit use of memory cache
    ... I experienced the same problem on a SQL Server with 16GB ... When the backup started to run at night to backup about 200GB ... the server's memory started to shrink ... the RAM for SQL Server to be MIN/MAX 12GB! ...
    (comp.databases.ms-sqlserver)
  • Re: Low on Virual Memory in SBS 2003
    ... Am I supposed to be putting a cap on the maximum amount of RAM that Exchange ... I don't think a memory leak is the only explanation for this. ... Although the SQL Server has been running since the first day, ... The SQL server logs seem to be clean and I am not sure what to look ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.server.sbs)