How much available memory should you have?

[Guest Matt]

Is there are a rule of thumb for how much available memory there

should be on a Windows Server 2003? I'm down to about 10% on my SQL

Server and also on my separate Exchange server. Both of them have 2

GB.

 

Thanks,

 

Matt

[Guest Johan Strange]

RE: How much available memory should you have?

 

Do you have the 3GB and USERVA=3030 switch in the boot.ini , that applies to

both Exchange and SQL. Both applications utilize a lot of memory.

 

"Matt" wrote:

> Is there are a rule of thumb for how much available memory there

> should be on a Windows Server 2003? I'm down to about 10% on my SQL

> Server and also on my separate Exchange server. Both of them have 2

> GB.

>

> Thanks,

>

> Matt

>

>

[Guest Matt]

Re: How much available memory should you have?

 

No, both servers have the basic boot.ini setup shown below. Our

servers were setup by network consultants (I'm a developer). Should I

be mad at them for not doing that?

 

[boot loader]

timeout=30

default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS

[operating systems]

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Windows Server 2003,

Standard" /noexecute=optout /fastdetect

 

On Sep 19, 2:52 pm, Johan Strange

<JohanStra...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

> Do you have the 3GB and USERVA=3030 switch in the boot.ini , that applies to

> both Exchange and SQL. Both applications utilize a lot of memory.

[Guest Johan Strange]

Re: How much available memory should you have?

 

Hi, He may have had his reasons not to use these, a DC for instance normally

would not have these switches but it is still a supported config so it would

be down to your infrastructure consultant wether to do this or not. I

personally would use the swicthes. Take a look at this:

 

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/810371

 

The amount of RAM on the system would usually depend on how many mailboxes

and Db users you have accessing the Exchange and the SQL Servers. A rule of

thumb for Exchange 2007 for instance is start with 2Gb and add 5Mb per

Mailbox homed to the server. You could use "performance" to see where your

memory is being used, usually I find that in taskmgr the process store.exe

would use a lot of memory on an Exchange Server. This is normal.

 

"Matt" wrote:

> No, both servers have the basic boot.ini setup shown below. Our

> servers were setup by network consultants (I'm a developer). Should I

> be mad at them for not doing that?

>

> [boot loader]

> timeout=30

> default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS

> [operating systems]

> multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Windows Server 2003,

> Standard" /noexecute=optout /fastdetect

>

> On Sep 19, 2:52 pm, Johan Strange

> <JohanStra...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

> > Do you have the 3GB and USERVA=3030 switch in the boot.ini , that applies to

> > both Exchange and SQL. Both applications utilize a lot of memory.

>

>

[Guest Matt]

Re: How much available memory should you have?

 

Yes, I asked the consultant about this and he said 3GB was a bad idea

on DCs. He wrote:

 

"Exchange and SQL will always use as much ram as you give them. But if

you look at the store process on the Exchange server it's only using

around 500MB of ram.

 

Regardless it causes problems to do it on a DC, so unless one or both

of those are demoted we don't want to do it."

 

On Sep 20, 11:12 am, Johan Strange

<JohanStra...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

> Hi, He may have had his reasons not to use these, a DC for instance normally

> would not have these switches but it is still a supported config so it would

> be down to your infrastructure consultant wether to do this or not. I

> personally would use the swicthes. Take a look at this:

>

> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/810371

>

> The amount of RAM on the system would usually depend on how many mailboxes

> and Db users you have accessing the Exchange and the SQL Servers. A rule of

> thumb for Exchange 2007 for instance is start with 2Gb and add 5Mb per

> Mailbox homed to the server. You could use "performance" to see where your

> memory is being used, usually I find that in taskmgr the process store.exe

> would use a lot of memory on an Exchange Server. This is normal.

>

>

>

> "Matt" wrote:

> > No, both servers have the basic boot.ini setup shown below. Our

> > servers were setup by network consultants (I'm a developer). Should I

> > be mad at them for not doing that?

>

> > [boot loader]

> > timeout=30

> > default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS

> > [operating systems]

> > multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Windows Server 2003,

> > Standard" /noexecute=optout /fastdetect

>

> > On Sep 19, 2:52 pm, Johan Strange

> > <JohanStra...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

> > > Do you have the 3GB and USERVA=3030 switch in the boot.ini , that applies to

> > > both Exchange and SQL. Both applications utilize a lot of memory.- Hide quoted text -

>

> - Show quoted text -

[Guest Johan Strange]

Re: How much available memory should you have?

 

He is correct in what he says, they will utilise the memory that you put in

the servers. It is a best practice however to install Exchange on a member

server not a DC and once Exchange is installed you can neither demote or

promote so your stuck unless you migrate to Exchange 2007 which is a 64bit

app which obviously offers better performance.

 

Are you noticing performance issues? or have you just noted how much RAM is

being used.

 

"Matt" wrote:

> Yes, I asked the consultant about this and he said 3GB was a bad idea

> on DCs. He wrote:

>

> "Exchange and SQL will always use as much ram as you give them. But if

> you look at the store process on the Exchange server it's only using

> around 500MB of ram.

>

> Regardless it causes problems to do it on a DC, so unless one or both

> of those are demoted we don't want to do it."

>

> On Sep 20, 11:12 am, Johan Strange

> <JohanStra...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

> > Hi, He may have had his reasons not to use these, a DC for instance normally

> > would not have these switches but it is still a supported config so it would

> > be down to your infrastructure consultant wether to do this or not. I

> > personally would use the swicthes. Take a look at this:

> >

> > http://support.microsoft.com/kb/810371

> >

> > The amount of RAM on the system would usually depend on how many mailboxes

> > and Db users you have accessing the Exchange and the SQL Servers. A rule of

> > thumb for Exchange 2007 for instance is start with 2Gb and add 5Mb per

> > Mailbox homed to the server. You could use "performance" to see where your

> > memory is being used, usually I find that in taskmgr the process store.exe

> > would use a lot of memory on an Exchange Server. This is normal.

> >

> >

> >

> > "Matt" wrote:

> > > No, both servers have the basic boot.ini setup shown below. Our

> > > servers were setup by network consultants (I'm a developer). Should I

> > > be mad at them for not doing that?

> >

> > > [boot loader]

> > > timeout=30

> > > default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS

> > > [operating systems]

> > > multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Windows Server 2003,

> > > Standard" /noexecute=optout /fastdetect

> >

> > > On Sep 19, 2:52 pm, Johan Strange

> > > <JohanStra...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

> > > > Do you have the 3GB and USERVA=3030 switch in the boot.ini , that applies to

> > > > both Exchange and SQL. Both applications utilize a lot of memory.- Hide quoted text -

> >

> > - Show quoted text -

>

>

>