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zito2000Flag for United States of America

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Memory Usage and Paging File

Server OS: Server 2008 R2 Enterprise
Running Software: Microsoft SQL 2005 & Adobe Cold Fusion 9

Hello,
I have a server that is having "memory issues".  What's happening is when I look in Task Manager, I see that the memory usage is running at 95%.  Since it's a virtual machine (VMWare), I increased the RAM by 4GB (so now it's at 24GB total).  After booting up, I notice that it's running at 97% again.  When I look at the Processes tab, I see that JRun.exe (Cold Fusion) is taking up 4.3GB and sqlserv.exe (SQL) is taking up 2.4GB.  The other processes, when added up, don't come anywhere near 24GB.  So what is using up all of the memory and why isn't displayed in Task Manager?
I checked my pagefile and noticed that the C: drive is set to "System Managed" and the page file on root of the C drive is a 24GB in size.  Does that have anything to do with it?
*See Attached Screen Shot*
Memory.png
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lcohan
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Did you set the SQL MAX memory to 20GB or less in that server?

https://www.mssqltips.com/sqlservertip/4182/setting-a-fixed-amount-of-memory-for-sql-server/
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Abhilash Pappiyil
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It's pretty normal for SQL server to take as much memory as it can. As long as you aren't consistently using more "physical" memory than the server has, or constantly hitting the page file, you should be okay.
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@Lcohan and @BrianB -->
If SQL was taking up the memory, then it would reflect in the Task Manager, but it's not. SQLServr.exe is using 2.5GB, even though it's set to go as big as it needs to go. I don't think it's SQL.  I'm trying to figure out what else is taking up my 24GB if Cold Fusion and SQL are using roughly 7GB of that.  
@Abhi --> I am looking into your proposals now and will report back.
Could be memory leak. See how much memory you have if you stop SQL and Cold Fusion. That will tell you.
So if there is a memory leak, it wouldn't show up in Task Manager under the process that's having the issue?!
Hi,

The most possible causes could be any thirdparty applications or third party drivers (printer drivers, audio, video etc). Check if non-paged memory is taking too much physical memory on the server from the resource manager.

Poolmon tool will help you to find if its a kernal mode memory leak. Refer some helpful links below:-

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/drivers/debugger/using-poolmon-to-find-a-kernel-mode-memory-leak

https://support.microsoft.com/en-in/help/177415/how-to-use-memory-pool-monitor-poolmon-exe-to-troubleshoot-kernel-mode


https://www.red-gate.com/simple-talk/sysadmin/general/troubleshooting-nonpaged-and-paged-pool-errors-in-windows/

http://www.adopenstatic.com/cs/blogs/ken/archive/2006/07/10/Using-PoolMon-_2800_Pool-Monitor_2900_-to-debug-kernel-memory-leaks.aspx

Thanks,
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Regardless of anything happening best practice for Microsoft SQL Server is to  set the MAX memory limit and not to leave it as default:
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms177455(v=sql.105).aspx
https://www.brentozar.com/blitz/max-memory/
https://www.sqlskills.com/blogs/jonathan/how-much-memory-does-my-sql-server-actually-need/
No, the pagefile is not doing it. As others have suggested, see what SQL is set at as it will take the maximum amount of memory you can give it.  You may try setting that value to leave 4 - 8gb for the machine and apps and give 16gb to SQL.
These 2 comments helped shed light on the situation.  Thank you both!