Hi Friends,
There is lot of questions floating around sql server max memory capping in 64 bit environments which I thought of discussing with an example so that we could have a picture as to why this setting is recommended.
As we know in Win32 memory architecture, each process has a 4 GB address space (2^32 in size or roughly speaking 4 GB). By default, 2 GB of that address space is accessible to user mode (Application like SQL Server etc.) and the remaining 2 GB is accessible to kernel mode (OS processes etc.) so in 32 Bit windows architecture 2 GB of memory is maximum available for SQL Server unless you specify /3 GB switch in boot.ini by which user mode address space becomes 3GB leaving 1 GB for kernel mode i.e. OS etc.
This isn’t the case in 64 bit environment, i.e. servers that are x64/IA64 or 64 bit have a VAS region that is 2^64 in size or roughly speaking 16 trillion GB. Since this is well beyond the physical capabilities for memory, the user mode and kernel mode VAS are capped at 8TB each for x64 based 64 bit servers. This expanded VAS changes the dynamic of how applications such as SQL Server allocate memory.
SQL Server User address space is broken into two regions: MemToLeave and Buffer Pool. Size of MemToLeave (MTL) and Buffer Pool is determined by SQL Server during start up as calculated below;
Memory to Leave a.k.a VAS = (Stack size * max worker threads) + Additional space to load Dll’s
Now, Stack size = 2048 KB per thread for 64 Bit SQL Server i.e. = (2048 KB * 256)
So, MTL = Stack size + Additional Space to load Dll’s
i.e. MTL = 524288 MB + 256 MB = 524544 MB
You can also specify VAS size by adding –g parameter in startup parameters followed by bouncing SQL services else calculation goes like above equation.
We know that buffer pool is calculated as following;
Buffer Pool = Minimum (Physical memory, (User address space – MTL a.k.a VAS)) – BUF structures
Let’s say, you have 16 GB physical memory in a 64 bit environment, so if you do not CAP Max memory Buffer Pool calculation would be like following;
Buffer Pool = Minimum(16GB, (8TB – 0)) – 0
Point to be noted here is on 64 bit SQL Servers, the VAS Reservation at startup does not occur due to the size of VAS available on 64 bit systems.
As you observed in above discussion, anyway it is always going to be total physical memory available on server that gets assigned to buffer pool and as a result there could be a situation wherein SQL may eat up all system memory leaving nothing for OS causing blue screen, unexpected server reboot etc. So, in 64 bit environment it is always recommended to CAP Max memory setting to avoid any such issues just in case.
Regards
Kanchan Bhattacharyya
Like us on FaceBook | Follow us on Twitter | Join the fastest growing SQL Server group on FaceBook
Follow me on Twitter | Follow me on FaceBook
