2003 Exchange & Enterprise OS Memory usage

Marc J · Joined: 05 Aug 2007 Posts: 3

The Exchange cluster is getting physical and Virtual memory usage of over 90
and 50% relatively. The OS is 2003 R2 Enterprise with SP1, and exchange is
Enterprise 6.5 Build 7638.2 SP2. Memory is currently 4GB with the /3GB
switch in the boot.ini.

If memory was increased to 8GB or > and the /PAE switched used, does this
benefit Exchange, the OS, or both?

Any insight would be helpful. Thank you

Archived from group: microsoft>public>exchange>clustering

John Fullbright · Joined: 05 Aug 2007 Posts: 365

Exchange 2003 is not PAE aware and cannot use memory over 4GB. In fact, if
you add more than 4GB of memory and/or enable PAE, you can cause serious
instability.

"Marc J" wrote in message @microsoft.com...
> The Exchange cluster is getting physical and Virtual memory usage of over
> 90
> and 50% relatively. The OS is 2003 R2 Enterprise with SP1, and exchange
> is
> Enterprise 6.5 Build 7638.2 SP2. Memory is currently 4GB with the /3GB
> switch in the boot.ini.
>
> If memory was increased to 8GB or > and the /PAE switched used, does this
> benefit Exchange, the OS, or both?
>
> Any insight would be helpful. Thank you

Marc J · Joined: 05 Aug 2007 Posts: 3

This link seems to tell a different story about running exchange with /pae.
I agree exchange probably won't see the additional memory, but will it help
the OS.

Can I have anyone's thoughts on this article, and my comment above? thank
you.

http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2005/07/05/407330.aspx

"John Fullbright" wrote:

> Exchange 2003 is not PAE aware and cannot use memory over 4GB. In fact, if
> you add more than 4GB of memory and/or enable PAE, you can cause serious
> instability.
>
>
> "Marc J" wrote in message
> @microsoft.com...
> > The Exchange cluster is getting physical and Virtual memory usage of over
> > 90
> > and 50% relatively. The OS is 2003 R2 Enterprise with SP1, and exchange
> > is
> > Enterprise 6.5 Build 7638.2 SP2. Memory is currently 4GB with the /3GB
> > switch in the boot.ini.
> >
> > If memory was increased to 8GB or > and the /PAE switched used, does this
> > benefit Exchange, the OS, or both?
> >
> > Any insight would be helpful. Thank you
>
>
>

Russ Kaufmann [MVP] · Joined: 05 Aug 2007 Posts: 69

"Marc J" wrote in message @microsoft.com...
> This link seems to tell a different story about running exchange with
> /pae.
> I agree exchange probably won't see the additional memory, but will it
> help
> the OS.
>
> Can I have anyone's thoughts on this article, and my comment above? thank
> you.
>
> http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2005/07/05/407330.aspx

As John said, it has been known to be a problem. Don't bother.

--
Russ Kaufmann
MVP - Windows Server - Clustering
ClusterHelp.com, a Microsoft Certified Gold Partner
Web http://www.clusterhelp.com
Blog http://msmvps.com/clusterhelp

The next ClusterHelp classes are:
Mar 10- 13 in Denver
May 12-15 in New York

Oliver Moazzezi [MVP] · Joined: 02 Oct 2007 Posts: 583

> As John said, it has been known to be a problem. Don't bother.

Thirded.

Oliver

John Fullbright · Joined: 05 Aug 2007 Posts: 365

There are many conflicting articles on the subject

http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2005/12/14/416065.aspx

This one is newer.

The reality is that enabling PAE effectively halves thenumber of available
PTEs. This can lead to situations on a heavily loaded server where you run
out. You don't want that to happen. c That's what meant by "signifacant
drawbacks in terms of kernal memory management". Even though you could
remove the /3gb switch to give more memory to kernal mode, MS "does not
recommend removing the /3GB switch if your server meets the criteria for
which this switch is recommended". That pretty much leaves you with
disabling PAE.

If you run out of PTEs., all your storage calls will fail with C000009A.
This means lost delayed writes and data corruption. You don't want to run
out.

"Marc J" wrote in message @microsoft.com...
> This link seems to tell a different story about running exchange with
> /pae.
> I agree exchange probably won't see the additional memory, but will it
> help
> the OS.
>
> Can I have anyone's thoughts on this article, and my comment above? thank
> you.
>
> http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2005/07/05/407330.aspx
>
>
>
> "John Fullbright" wrote:
>
>> Exchange 2003 is not PAE aware and cannot use memory over 4GB. In fact,
>> if
>> you add more than 4GB of memory and/or enable PAE, you can cause serious
>> instability.
>>
>>
>> "Marc J" wrote in message
>> @microsoft.com...
>> > The Exchange cluster is getting physical and Virtual memory usage of
>> > over
>> > 90
>> > and 50% relatively. The OS is 2003 R2 Enterprise with SP1, and
>> > exchange
>> > is
>> > Enterprise 6.5 Build 7638.2 SP2. Memory is currently 4GB with the /3GB
>> > switch in the boot.ini.
>> >
>> > If memory was increased to 8GB or > and the /PAE switched used, does
>> > this
>> > benefit Exchange, the OS, or both?
>> >
>> > Any insight would be helpful. Thank you
>>
>>
>>

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