> 2GB Memory And SQL Server 2000 Standard

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> 2GB Memory And SQL Server 2000 Standard

skrilla99

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December 9, 2004 at 4:07 pm

#87118

Hey everyone,
If I have a Windows 2k3 box with 3 or 4 GB of RAM running SQL Server Standard will Windows and SQL fight for the first 2 GB or can I force SQL to use the 2 GB it can address and force Windows to use the rest?
Even if this is possible, will I see a performance boost by implementing this configuration? Would the extra memory at least reduce paging by Windows? Would the path to the buffer cache be Disk --> Windows RAM --> Buffer? Or will the extra RAM simply be ignored?
Thanks!
Dan B

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Frank Kalis SSC Guru Points: 111183 More actions · Answer 1

See, if this helps:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;274750

--
Frank Kalis
Microsoft SQL Server MVP
Webmaster: http://www.insidesql.org/blogs
My blog: http://www.insidesql.org/blogs/frankkalis/[/url]

skrilla99 SSCertifiable Points: 5795 More actions · Answer 2

Hey Frank,

Thanks for the link.

I think what I am trying to do is more like cheating. I don't want sql to use more than the 2GB that it can (as standard edition). What I want is for sql to use its memory allocation and windows to use a completely seperate memory space. Thus, if I have 3GB installed, windows could see and use the 3GB and sql would limit itself to 2GB. Once sql has its 2GB in use, windows would then use the remaining GB of physical memory for it's own purposes.

Basically, if I have a server with 3 GB RAM running windows 2k3 and sql 2000 standard, is there a benefit to having that extra GB of RAM?

Thanks again!

-Dan B

Frank Kalis SSC Guru Points: 111183 More actions · Answer 3

Well, at least Windows has a little bit more air to breathe.

--
Frank Kalis
Microsoft SQL Server MVP
Webmaster: http://www.insidesql.org/blogs
My blog: http://www.insidesql.org/blogs/frankkalis/[/url]

sa24 SSCrazy Eights Points: 8027 More actions · Answer 4

Check this great article from Ken Henderson.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnsqldev/html/sqldev_01262004.asp

By default, SQL Server will only be able to use 2 GB of memory. If you don't want to use extra memory, don't specify the /3GB switch. The remaining will be left for windows. If you want finer control i.e. use less than 3 GB and more than 2 GB,you can specify /USERVA switch which is available for only windows 2003.