topic Re: Memory dump files vs Paging in Windows Server 2003

Memory dump files vs Paging

Mandar Patil — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 05:23:20 GMT

I have my Paging file split on C and E drive.
Will this be a reason for not generating a memory dump file.

Paging on C drive 4GB
Paging on E drive 4GB
RAM is 7.75 GB

C drive: 30GB and presently has 17.5GB free space
E drive : 20GB and 7GB is free

1. I want to make ensure memory dump is created whenever the system does bug check.
2. If I split paging file on C and E drive in the above case, will the memory dump file be created.
3. What is the best solution to ensure memory dump is created and I resolve the issue of low paging

Re: Memory dump files vs Paging

Igor Karasik — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 07:57:43 GMT

In most cases you don't need complete memory dump.
You can choose "Kernel memory dump" or even
"Small memory dump" options (we use "small memory dump" option on our servers)
With Kernel or small memory dump you can split page files between drives and have only small page file on drive C
For example, on server with 32 GB RAM you can define page file with 1 GB size

Overview of memory dump file options for Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2003, Windows XP, and Windows 2000
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/254649

Understanding Crash Dump Files
http://blogs.technet.com/askperf/archive/2008/01/08/understanding-crash-dump-files.aspx

Re: Memory dump files vs Paging

WFHC-WI — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 17:14:33 GMT

Hi Mandar,

It has been some time since I last reported on page file best practices but here is what I remember.

If you have mulitple page files you will not be able to generate a complete memory dump. There is a 4096MB limit on page file sizes but this can be addressed by either using page files on multiple drives (as you have) or by editing the PagingFiles value in the registry key HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management

This value is a MULTI_SZ so you can enter multiple lines into it in this fashion:

etc.

In my opinion I am surprised that the systm would require a paging file that large with 8GB RAM. You should test performance with a single 4GB pagefile to ensure your complete memory dump will be available.

Good luck!

Re: Memory dump files vs Paging

WFHC-WI — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 17:16:28 GMT

One more thing... if the server is 32-bit you cannot use the complete memory dump. This is not supported for 32-bit systems with more than 2GB RAM.