Memory question with AWE

  • Hi,

    I had 4gb of ram in my database server. Windows 2003 enterprise 32 bit. Task manager showed I was using 2.7gb. I was also using /3gb.

    I installed another 8gb, switched off /3gb, and switch on /pae.

    SQL service now uses less than 200mb.

    How can I see what is going on with memory usage with sql services.

    And is what I have done with the correct way to do it?

    Do I need to enable /pae on windows 2003 enterprise?

    Thanks for any help,

    Joe

  • Joe Doherty (5/27/2009)


    Hi,

    I had 4gb of ram in my database server. Windows 2003 enterprise 32 bit. Task manager showed I was using 2.7gb. I was also using /3gb.

    I installed another 8gb, switched off /3gb, and switch on /pae.

    SQL service now uses less than 200mb.

    How can I see what is going on with memory usage with sql services.

    And is what I have done with the correct way to do it?

    Do I need to enable /pae on windows 2003 enterprise?

    Thanks for any help,

    Joe

    The values in taskmanager are not correct. Once you enable PAE and AWE (I hope you did that as well) taskmanager will always show 200Mb. Use Perfmon to see the real values.

    Do you need to enable PAE? Yes if it's a 32-bit system, no if it is 64-bit. With 64-bit you also don't need to enable AWE in SQL Server. See also http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/system/platform/server/PAE/PAEmem.mspx

    [font="Verdana"]Markus Bohse[/font]

  • To delve deeper into the complex world of memory management (especially when using 32 bit editions), I would encourage you to visit Slava Oks' WebLog.

    An interesting entry to start with might be: http://blogs.msdn.com/slavao/archive/2006/08/03/687573.aspx

    Enjoy!

    Paul

  • Dear Joe,

    in order for the OS to see more than 4 GB or RAM you need to give it eyes . this is PAE .Once you add /PAE virtual memory pointers will use the PTE's [page table entries] using MMU to point to RAM .

    In order for an application to use more than 4 GB of RAM you need to enable AWE (if that application supports AWE .SQL does).

    So just add /PAE in the boot.ini and enable AWE in SQL Server .

    Then set the Max and min server momory (although SQL Server 2005 onwards we have dynamic AWE).

    Recycle your SQL Server .

    To see how much RAm SQL is consuming use perfmon : Memory Manager : total server memory and target server memory counters .

    Now , /3Gb switch has nothing to do with physical memory or RAM .Its related to virtual memory .

    Regards

    Abhay

    MCITP/MCTS [SQL Server 2005 ,SQL Server 2008]

    Abhay Chaudhary
    Sr.DBA (MCITP/MCTS :SQL Server 2005/2008 ,OCP 9i)

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