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Enabled AWE with 32GB RAM

Author

Topic

cedtech31
Starting Member

17 Posts

Posted - 2007-11-28 : 09:37:05

I have MS Server SQL 2000 Enterprise SP4 and Windows 2003 Enterprise SP2 installed.
I added 32GB RAM to the system and want to enable AWE on SQL 2000 Ent.

First I added the /PAE switch to the boot.ini file and rebooted the server. At that time the OS recognized 32GB of RAM. I then performed the following SQL statements listed below to enable AWE and set a MAX limit to 28MB for the SQL instance, then rebooted.

*** The issue is that I have read several articles and they state to add the /3GB switch in the boot.ini file as well. When I do that and reboot the OS states that it only recognizes 16GB of RAM instead of 32GB *** Is this normal behavior? do I need the 3GB switch? How can I tell the amount of RAM the instance is using?

sp_configure 'show advanced options', 1
go
reconfigure
go
sp_configure 'awe enabled'
go

sp_configure 'show advanced options', 1
RECONFIGURE
GO
sp_configure 'awe enabled', 1
RECONFIGURE
GO
sp_configure 'max server memory', 28672
RECONFIGURE
GO

RickD
Slow But Sure Yak Herding Master

3608 Posts

Posted - 2007-11-28 : 09:52:11

What hardware are you on?

cedtech31
Starting Member

17 Posts

Posted - 2007-11-28 : 10:02:37

I running the database on a DeLL Poweredge 6650 that has 4 XEON 2.2GHZ CPUs and It has a Dell Powervault 220s that has a Raid 5 (7 * 146GB HD). The Dell Poweredge 6650 has the latest BIOS Firmware installed.

RickD
Slow But Sure Yak Herding Master

3608 Posts

Posted - 2007-11-28 : 10:28:05

Ok, take a look here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/899761/

cedtech31
Starting Member

17 Posts

Posted - 2007-11-28 : 10:49:32

I saw that article and it stated.

quote:

To view the behavior, examine the SQL Server: Memory Manager/Total Server Memory (KB) counter in System Monitor.

The result is 8208728 when I divide that number by 1024 I get 8016.3359375. Which is have of the 16GB that windows recognizes. So that article will solve one issue.

But I believe that I also need to remove the /3GB switch from the boot.ini. Thus windows will recognize the 32GB that is installed.

RickD
Slow But Sure Yak Herding Master

3608 Posts

Posted - 2007-11-28 : 11:57:03

Do you have the hotfix installed?

cedtech31
Starting Member

17 Posts

Posted - 2007-11-28 : 12:32:26

I didn't install the hotfix; I will do it tonight, it's a production database. I think that will help with the SQL memory issue. But I still will have to remove the /3GB switch to make the OS recognize the 32GB. What do you think?

eyechart
Master Smack Fu Yak Hacker

3575 Posts

Posted - 2007-11-28 : 13:07:15

don't add the /3GB switch to systems with more than 16GB RAM.

cedtech31
Starting Member

17 Posts

Posted - 2007-11-29 : 00:14:55

Thanks RickD and eyechart both issues were resolved.

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