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how to know Server run low on memory

  • January 31, 2012 at 12:37 pm

    #267481

    We have a SQL server 2008 that is using Virtual server. Windows 2008, 64 bits, 2gb RAM.

    We recently put some new SSIS packakge scheduled on the server, it usually takes 5 minutes to run, but sometimes it takes 3-4 hours to run, sometimes it takes half an hour.

    We couldn't find out what is the pattern. But I do think we need more resources on this server-RAM.

    But how can I show our network person this server is run low on memory.

    Because the way SQL server memory configuration, I can never find out how to identify that, because it always reserved what the maximum memory of the server, and release it when it is needed from operation system.

    I use SQL server standard report in the Mangement studio, but don't know what values are the important factor to identify it runs low on memory?

    Thanks

  • January 31, 2012 at 1:13 pm

    #1440938

    Checking for memory utilization on SQL Server can be quiet tedious. But I would start with running a perfmon counter for 24 hours for the following counters.

    Memory Available MBs

    Pagin/sec

    SQL Server : Page Life Expectancy

    SQL Server : Target and total server memory

    You have mentioned that this is Windows 2008 64 bit with just 2 GB of RAM. I hope that is a mistake because my two year old laptop has 4 GB of memory. It is recommended that you always leave 1 GB of memory for the OS. That means your SQL instance will get only 1 GB of memory which is extremely low.

    I am sure that by checking at Page life expectancy (PLE) you can prove that you need more memory. If you see that the PLE dips below 300-500 many times a day or stays below that value consistently then you need more memory.

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  • January 31, 2012 at 1:30 pm

    #1440945

    Thank you for your tips.

    I will check into it.

  • January 31, 2012 at 1:44 pm

    #1440951

    Just to add to what is already suggested..

    You should look at the total size of all the databases and what is the Kind of usage (OLTP or OLAP) of that SQL Server before deciding on how much memory is needed...

    Bru Medishetty

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