Confused about memory limits

Server is Windows 2000 SP4 Advanced Server with 4gb of RAM. "My Computer"
shows 3,669,532KB of RAM. SQL Server 2000 SP3.
I'm a bit confused as to if SQL server can use more memory or not.
In task manager, I see that sql server is using 1.7 gigs of memory (sounds
like 2gb to me).. which I'm reading is the maximum. Even though the server
properties have the minimum set at 0 and the maximum set at 38xxMB.
All the discussion says that setting "awe enabled" will allow SQL Server to
take advantage of memory on servers with more then 4gb of memory.
Well.. I don't have more then 4gb. I have 4. Can I make it use more memory?
Will setting awe enabled to 1 do this? I'm pretty sure this is one of the
causes of some recent performance issues we've been having.
Note that, I guess because it's Windows 2000 AS, I don't have /3gb or /PAE
in my boot.ini at all, I don't think I need that?
Thanks,
GregI would add /3GB but that is only if I had a memory bottleneck.
Jason Massie
Web: http://statisticsio.com
RSS: http://feeds.feedburner.com/statisticsio
"greg" <greg@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:706F9484-62C7-4BDC-8AD5-F3079AA77828@.microsoft.com...
> Server is Windows 2000 SP4 Advanced Server with 4gb of RAM. "My Computer"
> shows 3,669,532KB of RAM. SQL Server 2000 SP3.
> I'm a bit confused as to if SQL server can use more memory or not.
> In task manager, I see that sql server is using 1.7 gigs of memory (sounds
> like 2gb to me).. which I'm reading is the maximum. Even though the server
> properties have the minimum set at 0 and the maximum set at 38xxMB.
> All the discussion says that setting "awe enabled" will allow SQL Server
> to
> take advantage of memory on servers with more then 4gb of memory.
> Well.. I don't have more then 4gb. I have 4. Can I make it use more
> memory?
> Will setting awe enabled to 1 do this? I'm pretty sure this is one of the
> causes of some recent performance issues we've been having.
> Note that, I guess because it's Windows 2000 AS, I don't have /3gb or /PAE
> in my boot.ini at all, I don't think I need that?
>
> Thanks,
> Greg|||If your SQL Server is Standard edition, you are capped at 2gb
--
Kevin3NF
SQL Server dude
You want fries with that?
http://kevin3nf.blogspot.com/
I only check the newsgroups during work hours, M-F.
Hit my blog and the contact links if necessary...I may be available.
"greg" <greg@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:706F9484-62C7-4BDC-8AD5-F3079AA77828@.microsoft.com...
> Server is Windows 2000 SP4 Advanced Server with 4gb of RAM. "My Computer"
> shows 3,669,532KB of RAM. SQL Server 2000 SP3.
> I'm a bit confused as to if SQL server can use more memory or not.
> In task manager, I see that sql server is using 1.7 gigs of memory (sounds
> like 2gb to me).. which I'm reading is the maximum. Even though the server
> properties have the minimum set at 0 and the maximum set at 38xxMB.
> All the discussion says that setting "awe enabled" will allow SQL Server
> to
> take advantage of memory on servers with more then 4gb of memory.
> Well.. I don't have more then 4gb. I have 4. Can I make it use more
> memory?
> Will setting awe enabled to 1 do this? I'm pretty sure this is one of the
> causes of some recent performance issues we've been having.
> Note that, I guess because it's Windows 2000 AS, I don't have /3gb or /PAE
> in my boot.ini at all, I don't think I need that?
>
> Thanks,
> Greg|||What edition of SQL Server 2000 are you using. If it is Standard Edition, you
are limited to 2GB Max.
"greg" wrote:
> Server is Windows 2000 SP4 Advanced Server with 4gb of RAM. "My Computer"
> shows 3,669,532KB of RAM. SQL Server 2000 SP3.
> I'm a bit confused as to if SQL server can use more memory or not.
> In task manager, I see that sql server is using 1.7 gigs of memory (sounds
> like 2gb to me).. which I'm reading is the maximum. Even though the server
> properties have the minimum set at 0 and the maximum set at 38xxMB.
> All the discussion says that setting "awe enabled" will allow SQL Server to
> take advantage of memory on servers with more then 4gb of memory.
> Well.. I don't have more then 4gb. I have 4. Can I make it use more memory?
> Will setting awe enabled to 1 do this? I'm pretty sure this is one of the
> causes of some recent performance issues we've been having.
> Note that, I guess because it's Windows 2000 AS, I don't have /3gb or /PAE
> in my boot.ini at all, I don't think I need that?
>
> Thanks,
> Greg|||SQL Server 2000, Enterprise Edition.
Just found this option that says I should *not* be using 'awe enabled'...
damn this is confusing!
http://www.sql-server-performance.com/articles/per/awe_memory_sql2000_p1.aspx
Help?|||I don't believe this article does suggest that you disable AWE - what is
your reasoning behind this conclusion?
You'll need AWE enabled if you're wanting SQL Server to see more than a few
GB of memory.
"greg" <greg@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:F3795964-7DA6-46DE-8718-9D5FE1BC99B6@.microsoft.com...
> SQL Server 2000, Enterprise Edition.
> Just found this option that says I should *not* be using 'awe enabled'...
> damn this is confusing!
> http://www.sql-server-performance.com/articles/per/awe_memory_sql2000_p1.aspx
>
> Help?
>|||Added /3gb to boot.ini and rebooted this weekend, now using 2.7 gigs of
memory! Sweet.
CPU usage is up now so I guess that's good. Less time thrashing/waiting on
the disk, more time doing actual work.