Memory usage in SQL Server

[Raziq Shekha]

Hello all,

How can I tell how much memory SQL Server is using on a server. On
Windows 2000, whenever I go to Task manager/processes/memory usage SQL
Server seems to be showing 1,744,124K. On all of my servers with
various size, usage of databases, all of them show SQL Server to be
using about the same amount of memory. Can someone explain this to me?
Shouldn't it use more for larger databases, heavy hitting databases?

Also, I normally check Dynamically configure SQL Server memory and put
the maximum threshold to a little bit less than the max on the server.
The minimum query memory is set to 1024. Is that 1024 a subset of the
memory used by SQL Server, or is this additional that can be used?

Thanks,
Raziq.

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[Erland Sommarskog]

Raziq Shekha (ra**********@anadarko.com) writes:

How can I tell how much memory SQL Server is using on a server. On
Windows 2000, whenever I go to Task manager/processes/memory usage SQL
Server seems to be showing 1,744,124K. On all of my servers with
various size, usage of databases, all of them show SQL Server to be
using about the same amount of memory. Can someone explain this to me?
Shouldn't it use more for larger databases, heavy hitting databases?
So how much memory is available on these boxes? Which edition of SQL
Server are they running?

SQL Server is designed to grab as much memory there is available, so if
these servers have 2GB of memory, it is very likely that all servers
by time reach this level. (The rest is left to the Operating System.(
Also, I normally check Dynamically configure SQL Server memory and put
the maximum threshold to a little bit less than the max on the server.

Actually, there is no reason to set any limit at all, unless there
are other apps on the machine. If you do this setting, add more memory,
and forget the setting, the new memory will not be used.


--
Erland Sommarskog, SQL Server MVP, es****@sommarskog.se

Books Online for SQL Server SP3 at
http://www.microsoft.com/sql/techinf...2000/books.asp

[Raziq Shekha]

These boxes have about 4 gigs of memory total. They are running SQL
2000 SP3. But all servers regardless of activity and size or number of
databases are showing as SQL Server using the same amount of memory.

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[Erland Sommarskog]

Raziq Shekha (ra**********@anadarko.com) writes:

These boxes have about 4 gigs of memory total. They are running SQL
2000 SP3. But all servers regardless of activity and size or number of
databases are showing as SQL Server using the same amount of memory.

And which edition? Standard Editoin cannot acceess more than 2GB of
memory, as I recall.

Enterrise Manager can access more, but you need to use the /AWE, /PAE
or /3GB switches in your Boot.ini. I don't this sort of memory configuration
myself, but search for this in Knowledge Base, and you should find some
useful information.
--
Erland Sommarskog, SQL Server MVP, es****@sommarskog.se

Books Online for SQL Server SP3 at
http://www.microsoft.com/sql/techinf...2000/books.asp

[Greg D. Moore \(Strider\)]

"Erland Sommarskog" <es****@sommarskog.se> wrote in message
news:Xn*********************@127.0.0.1...

Raziq Shekha (ra**********@anadarko.com) writes:

These boxes have about 4 gigs of memory total. They are running SQL
2000 SP3. But all servers regardless of activity and size or number of
databases are showing as SQL Server using the same amount of memory.
And which edition? Standard Editoin cannot acceess more than 2GB of
memory, as I recall.

Correct. And 1.7 is in the ballpark of a maxed out server from what we
have.

Enterrise Manager can access more, but you need to use the /AWE, /PAE
Err, I think you mean the Enterprise Version. And I believe this is only
Advanced Server 2000 (or if you use certain versions of 2003)

or /3GB switches in your Boot.ini. I don't this sort of memory configuration myself, but search for this in Knowledge Base, and you should find some
useful information.
--
Erland Sommarskog, SQL Server MVP, es****@sommarskog.se

Books Online for SQL Server SP3 at
http://www.microsoft.com/sql/techinf...2000/books.asp

[Raziq Shekha]

It is Enterprise Edition. So why are all my enterprise editions showing
SQL using 1.7gigs of memory when there is quite more available. And why
are all of them using the same amount? Some have more activity than
others, some have larger databases than others. But all of them are
using the same amount of memory? Por Que?

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[Raziq Shekha]

It is Enterprise Edition. So why are all my enterprise editions showing
SQL using 1.7gigs of memory when there is quite more available. And why
are all of them using the same amount? Some have more activity than
others, some have larger databases than others. But all of them are
using the same amount of memory? Por Que?

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[Erland Sommarskog]

Raziq Shekha (ra**********@anadarko.com) writes:

It is Enterprise Edition. So why are all my enterprise editions showing
SQL using 1.7gigs of memory when there is quite more available. And why
are all of them using the same amount? Some have more activity than
others, some have larger databases than others. But all of them are
using the same amount of memory? Por Que?

I suggested last night that you search Knowledge Base, as I was just
off to bed. Apparently, you prefer to someone else do that work for you,
so I performed this search:
http://support.microsoft.com/search/...mode=a&x=0&y=0

This article looks like the best start:
http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;274750.
--
Erland Sommarskog, SQL Server MVP, es****@sommarskog.se

Books Online for SQL Server SP3 at
http://www.microsoft.com/sql/techinf...2000/books.asp

[Brian Cryer]

"Raziq Shekha" <ra**********@anadarko.com> wrote in message
news:jc***************@news.uswest.net...

It is Enterprise Edition. So why are all my enterprise editions showing
SQL using 1.7gigs of memory when there is quite more available. And why
are all of them using the same amount? Some have more activity than
others, some have larger databases than others. But all of them are
using the same amount of memory? Por Que?

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As Erland has already explained, SQL Server doesn't release memory once it
has grabbed it. Thus it doesn't take it long to grab memory up to any limit
that might be set. My guess is that if you open enterprise manager, and go
to server properties and look on the memory tab, that sql server has been
configured to use up to about 1.7gb.

Brian.

--
www.cryer.co.uk/brian

[Raziq Shekha]

That is not the case. My SQL Servers have been configured to use more
than 1.7G of memory. But they are all using the same amount 1.7G.

Raziq.

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