How to check for memory leaks

Question

How to check for memory leaks

Jeff W

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Points: 5207
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May 6, 2002 at 3:53 pm

#57704

Can anyone assist this poor DBA?
I am trying to isolate a problem here and If someone could advice on how to find a memory leak, and even just verifying that a memory leak exists..that would be fantabulous!!
What I am trying to do is
1) Prove or disprove that there is a memory leak on the server.
and/or
2) Prove or disprove that something is consuming the allocated SQL Server memory and it is not being released? Maybe a cursor that keeps being recreated.
Thanks,
Jeff

"Keep Your Stick On the Ice" ..Red Green

Viewing 7 posts - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)

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Antares686 SSC Guru Points: 125444 More actions · Answer 1

First what are you seeing that makes you believe that there is a memory leak?

Next if you are trying to find bad queries then Profiler will be your best freind. Do a few traces on SQL and SPs to catch what is going on.

Lastly if you are seeing performance bottlenecks it could be hardware and thus you will want to look at various stats with Performance Monitor to get a good ides of what is happening.

"Don't roll your eyes at me. I will tape them in place." (Teacher on Boston Public)

Jeff W SSCertifiable Points: 5207 More actions · Answer 2

I am seeing a database that runs well for a few hours, even during peak hours, and then anywhere from 8 to 20 hours later performance takes a big hit. It is gradual and then really escalates. We re-start the database services and then it runs fine again.

Thanks

"Keep Your Stick On the Ice" ..Red Green

Jeff W SSCertifiable Points: 5207 More actions · Answer 3

Yes, there are plenty of opportunities with this to do some performance tuning. I will get to that eventually..

I would really like to prove or disprove a memory leak.

I will look into the hardware bottlenecks. Good idea 🙂

"Keep Your Stick On the Ice" ..Red Green

K. Brian Kelley SSC Guru Points: 114602 More actions · Answer 4

Try taking a look at the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q268343

It suggests monitoring private bytes for the given process. You'll want to capture Process:Private Bytes for the sqlservr instance.

For general information on debugging and also to download the latest symbols and Windows debugging tools, go to:

http://www.microsoft.com/ddk/debugging

K. Brian Kelley

bkelley@sqlservercentral.com

http://www.sqlservercentral.com/columnists/bkelley/

K. Brian Kelley
@kbriankelley

Antares686 SSC Guru Points: 125444 More actions · Answer 5

Great article Brian pointed out there and may help you prove/disporve your fears.

"Don't roll your eyes at me. I will tape them in place." (Teacher on Boston Public)

Jeff W SSCertifiable Points: 5207 More actions · Answer 6

Thanks All....

"Keep Your Stick On the Ice" ..Red Green