March 27, 2006 at 8:04 pm
I'm looking for clarification: Microsoft's web site says that SQL Server 2005 Standard can take advantage of "operating system maximum" RAM -- but does that mean including AWE (on 32 bit systems) or does that mean the 4 GB directly addressable?
BOL seems to indicate that perhaps only Enterprise Edition of SQL Server 2005 can use the AWE feature.
Anyone know for certain?
March 28, 2006 at 12:51 pm
We have Windows Standard Server 2003 x64 and SQL Server Standard 2005 x64, and it's able to use our full 8 GB of RAM in AWE mode. We have reason to believe it will work without AWE enabled, but we haven't had a chance to try it yet.
This doesn't seem like it really answers your question, as it seems like you're using the 32-bit version, but I offer it up for what it's worth.
This thread also has some potentially relevant links.
http://www.sqlservercentral.com/forums/shwmessage.aspx?forumid=149&messageid=261441#bm262966
March 28, 2006 at 1:16 pm
mannadba - you are correct, we have a 32 bit system, and I am concerned about the 4gb ceiling, which the 64 bit OS does not have. Thanks for replying, though!
March 29, 2006 at 12:05 pm
You can't use AWE with the Standard Edition. Taken from "Using AWE" in 2005 BOL:
Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Enterprise Edition uses the Microsoft Windows Address Windowing Extensions (AWE) API to support very large amounts of physical memory. SQL Server 2005 Enterprise Edition can access up to 64 gigabytes (GB) of memory on Microsoft Windows 2000 Server and Microsoft Windows Server 2003.
Standard 32-bit addresses can map a maximum of 4 GB of memory. The standard address spaces of 32-bit processes are therefore limited to 4-GB. By default, on 32-bit Microsoft Windows operating systems, 2 GB are reserved for the operating system, and 2 GB are made available to the application. If you specify a /3GB switch in the Boot.ini file of Windows NT Enterprise Edition or Windows 2000 Advanced Server, the operating system reserves only 1 GB of the address space, and the application can access up to 3 GB. For more information about the /3GB switch, see Process Address Space.
March 30, 2006 at 12:12 pm
Some good news on this issue - file it under "proof in the puddin'?" 🙂
We have built a test server and installed 2005 standard ed. The test server has 6 gig of RAM and the /PAE boot.ini switch (it's a 32 bit system).
I was able to turn on the SQL Server 2005 "Use AWE" memory setting, after granting the "Lock Pages in Memory" permission to the account under which it runs.
Perf Mon > SQL Server Buffer Manager > Database pages shows 665,145 in use, vs. our SQL Server 2000 Standard Ed box, which shows only 185,000.
If I have the math right, that means:
2005 Standard Ed Data Cache: 665,145 pages / 128 pages per MB = 5,196 MB
5,196 / 1024 = 5.07 GB 🙂
2000 Standard Ed Data Cache: 185,000 pages / 128 pages per MB = 1,445 MB
1,445 / 1024 = 1.4 GB
So I think it works after all. Yay!
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