Memory for SQL Server

  • Is there any best practices / recommended guidelines for the amount of Memory you should assign to a new SQL Server Instance

  • Hi,
    let us say " it  depends"
    What kind of database would you like to run on you sql server? And have you got some sizes or any workload ?
    And, some people say, if your sql server has less memory than your laptop, something went wrong.
    Kind regards,
    Andreas

  • Leave enough memory over for OS and applications.
    Configure "min server memory (MB)" & "max server memory (MB)". Min server memory (MB) should be around 1/3 Max server memory (MB)
    EXEC sp_configure

  • I think you may need to provide some more information... like;
    what else is on the machine?
    is this machine just for sql server?
    is there more than one instance on the machine?
    what is the instance going to be used for? (i.e. high or low transaction throughput)
    is it production or test?
    does performance matter?!?!?!?!
    how much memory is available on the host?
    is the host 32-bit (I hope not!) or 64-bit?
    How big is the database(s) that the instance is going to hold?

    All these questions come together to help you provision your SQL instance.
    One thing I almost always do is set the max memory setting. Some people may argue not to, as SQL Server is perfectly capable of managing it's own memory, but I always leave some memory reserved for the o/s

  • It's always tough to make any kind of recommendation on stuff like this. Every situation has unique aspects that my affect what you do and how you do it. However, if you want a specific set of guidelines, I'd go with Jonathan Kehayias and his recommendations. Just remember that you may have to make adjustments and that Jonathan's suggestions are just starting points, not ending points.

    "The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood"
    - Theodore Roosevelt

    Author of:
    SQL Server Execution Plans
    SQL Server Query Performance Tuning

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