swap/paging

[Jennifer Money]

I need to increase my paging on my NT4.0 servers. My C: is so full, can I move it to my D:? My C: and D: are mirrored, but D: is much bigger and doesn't get used.

jennifer

[Anthony Goonetilleke]

What you can do is create a partition on the unmirrored portion and create the swap file on it. You can have multiple swap partitiopns

[Jamie Hughes]

Hi Jennifer,

If you move your pagefile off of the C: drive, be aware that it will affect your ability to write a core dump in the event of a blue screen. You can certainly move the pagefile, or have multiple pagefiles on multiple partitions. But if you move the pagefile off of C:, or if the pagefile on C: is not large enough, you will not get a core dump if your server blue screens. (pagefile = physical RAM + 12mb - at least, or up to 1.5 * RAM if running Backoffice apps).

Just thought I would make you aware of that. It can be frustrating when your machine is blue screening and you need to read a dump, but you aren't getting one because your pagefile isn't set up properly. If you're in a 24x7 shop and availability is critical, you should make sure you have the server and pagefile configured to write a core dump.

I think the bigger issue is the lack of disk space on your root parition. As a general rule, you shouldn't be filling up the C: drive on a server. You should repartition the drives so you have only the OS, service packs and hotfixes, and pagefile on the root partition - with some extra breathing room in case of RAM upgrades, etc. You should install all of your other applications, print spooler, etc on another partition so the applications will only write critical info to the root partition. It can make your recovery times a lot faster too.

Best regards,
Jamie Hughes

[Tim Malnati]

Here is how you do it:

Start -> Settings -> System -> Performance
In the Virtual Memory section, click on Change

In the Virtual Memory window you will see an area at the top where the local volumes are listed and the current paging space alocated in each. To add an additional paging area on another volume simply highlight the drive you want to add the paging space on (or modify). In the Paging File Size for Selected Drive area input the minimum and maximum size you desire, and then click set. Remember, this is a individual volume setting, so you can go back to other disk volumes, highlight tham, and make any changes desired there as well. After you are done, click ok. You will need to reboot to make the changes active in most cases.

BTW... It is a good idea on any NT server to have another instance of the operating system installed for emergencies, etc. There is no need to duplicate paging space though. The can be defined the same on both instances without any problem.

[Dennis Ng]

Hi Jennifer,
1. Set pagefile c:\ = 16 MB (minimum required)
2. Set pagefile d:\ = 128MB (or 1.5 times RAM)

When setting the above do set the "initial size" = "max size". This will prevent trashing and frag, and better contiguous access.
Do a defrag after setting/rebooting.
Regards,
Dennis