Explanation of Page Faults?

[mhrubes]

Does anyone have a good explanation of what page faults are and how they occur?

We're running Windows NT Terminal Server with Citrix Metaframe running on it. We have multiple servers with the same configuration, and they are all pulling extreme page fault numbers (peaking at 13,000 page faults, averaging around 6-7K). Now keep in mind, these are massive boxes, running with 1 GB of RAM and multiple processors. I've had people say they thought it could be an application that might be causing the page faults, but until I actually know what they are/how they occur, I can't confirm this, or even begin the troubleshooting process.

Thanks,

Mike [sig][/sig]

 

[MasterRacker]

How large is your page file? A page fault occurs when a process requests data that is not in RAM or the page file and the system has to go to disk for it.

The general rule to optimizing a workstation is to monitor is under normal load and keep increasing RAM and page file size until page faults drop below 5 per second. I don't know what &quot;good&quot; numbers should be for a system like you describe, but it sounds like you need more RAM or page file or both. [sig]<p> Jeff<br><a href=mailto: masterracker@hotmail.com> masterracker@hotmail.com</a><br><a href= > </a><br>If everything seems to be going well: you don't have enough information.......[/sig]

 

[kjonnnnn]

A page fault isnt 'necessarily' an error u need to fix. Its only the swapping of information back and forth between your RAM and Hard disking. You can cut down on page faults by having more RAM. The more you disk has to swap out info, it slows your system down. [sig][/sig]