Full Subject:
Recommended SQL AWE settings for IIS/SQL server based application running on
a single server.

Message:

All -

I'm attempting to put together some standard recommendations for the SQL
Server Memory Configurations on our product installs.

Our product runs IIS on the frontend and SQL on the backend. Our current
recommendation specify Server 2003 Enterprise for the OS with 16GB RAM.

As I understand it, with Server 2003 Enterprise, the /PAE entry in the
boot.ini is not necessary as when I check the System Properties I see that
Physical Address Extension is already listed. (-->please let me know if I'm
wrong on this<--)

After reviewing the /3GB and /USERVA switches (this is the best reference I
found:
http://blogs.msdn.com/chadboyd/archi...we-oh-my.aspx).
I came to the conclusion that these settings are mostly for situations when
you have less than 4GB of memory and are trying to give as much juice as
possible to the app, at the expense of the OS. So ... I'm not recommending
changing those.

The configuration steps that I currently have laid out are:
1. Verify that PAE is enabled (either via the /PAE switch in the boot.ini
file, or don't worry about it because we're using server 2003 enterprise)
2. Run gpedit.msc, and ensure that the SQL Server Service account is
allowed to "Lock pages in memory" [local computer policy>computer
configuration>Windows Settings>Security Settings>Local Policies>User Rights
Assingment>Lock pages in memory]
3. Enable AWE to allocate memory (via script or gui)
4. Setting the Minimum server memory (in MB) to 0 (-->please let me know if
I'm wrong on this<--)
5. Setting the Maximum Server memory (in MB) to 14336

The calculation I'm most concerned/curious about is #5. The calculation is
based on 2GB reserved for the OS because /3GB and /USERVA values are not set,
and the remainder of the RAM to be available to SQL. If the client did not
purchase the server to the recommended specifications [which NEVER happens
;-], and the server only has 8GB of memory. I would change the Maximum Server
memory (in MB) to 6144 (2GB for OS and 6GB for SQL)

-->Please let me know if you guys have any comments for this logic<--
--
--> I appreciate the help!

Does anyone have any feedback on this?
--
--> I appreciate the help!


"MoschPit" wrote: