Question

page file usage is sooo high !!

Asked by: ebusiness

hi all,
i have a server Intel Xeon 3.0 GHZ with 4 GB RAM   running windows server 2003  standard x64 edition with service pack 2 installed. on my server i installed MOSS 2007 and SQL server 2005  am getting  a very high page file usage  it reach 3.99 GB !!!! and it never goes down. on the Processes page in task manager i noticed the following processes:
sqlservr.exe          user : Network Service            memory : 623 MB
w3wp.exe             user : jad                                  memory : 486 MB
w3wp.exe             user : Network Service            memory : 463 MB
w3wp.exe             user : jad                                  memory : 340 MB
w3wp.exe             user : jad                                  memory : 340 MB
sqlservr.exe          user : Network Service            memory : 229 MB
OWSTIMER            user : Network Service            memory : 185 MB
.
.
these are the highest processess  when i restart the server i get the same  readings after couple minutes !! why is this happening ?? w3wp.exe is for the framework right ?? but why i have 4 instances from it ? and why it is that high and SQLsrvr.exe also 2 instances  .

how can i make my page file usage lower ??
is it normal to be like this  all the time and never go down ??

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Asked On
2007-08-21 at 00:07:49ID22776019
Tags

usage

,

high

,

page

,

file

Topics

Computer Memory (RAM)

,

Windows 64-bit

Participating Experts
1
Points
500
Comments
4

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Answers

 

by: b0fhPosted on 2007-08-22 at 04:31:13ID: 19745061

Within Task Manager, on the Processes tab, click View-->Select Columns.  Place a check mark next to Virtual Memory Size, as well as other memory usage counters.  This will give you a much better picture of your actual physical vs. virtual memory usage by process.

As for why you have so many copies of certain processes, use Process Explorer from SysInternals to see what processes are running relative to the process in question.  (parent/child processes).  
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/Utilities/ProcessExplorer.mspx

From Process Library:  w3wp.exe is a process associated with application pool in ISS. If you have more than one application pool, you will have more than one instance of w3wp.exe running. This process usually allocates large amounts of resources. This program is important for the stable and secure running of your computer and should not be terminated.

If you want to eliminate some of the w3wp.exe processes, let some of your websites share an application pool.


Hope this helps,
Frank

 

by: b0fhPosted on 2007-08-22 at 04:32:57ID: 19745072

Oops... didn't notice the typo from Process Library's site.  W3wp.exe is associated w/ Application Pools in IIS (Internet Information Services), not ISS.  My apologies for not catching this.

Frank

 

by: ebusinessPosted on 2007-08-22 at 22:56:01ID: 19751819

thanks alot for your help.  i noticed that if i control my pools the memory usage will go down, this is for the w3wp.exe processes what is the best configuration for the Application Pools and for SQLserv.exe process how can i also controll it ?? am running office sharepoint 2007 web applications so will this affect my sites performance if i played with the pool ??

 

by: b0fhPosted on 2007-08-23 at 06:13:31ID: 19753975

I would set the pool(s) to recycle itself/themselves during non-peak hours.  Please reference the following article for a good idea of how you may best configure this for your specific sites.  I would try adjusting your configuration during periods of low/no user activity.
http://www.windowsnetworking.com/articles_tutorials/Working-Application-Pools-Internet-Information-Server.html

Do keep in mind that Application Pools exist in order to enable resource separation for disparate websites.  If you have a resource issue w/ one site, and you place it in the same application pool as another, it could potentially take down both sites if it were to crash.

As for your SQL server, you might try some database tuning.  As that is not necessarily my forte, I will refer you to a link:  http://www.sql-server-performance.com/

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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