Memory management for 2003 server x64

[wallst32]

I have a Windows 2003 x64 server with 8GB of physical RAM. Outside of typical Windows services, the only application running is a database (x64 version), consuming 2-2.5GB RAM.

The server is constanly using a paging file of size 6GB. The OS does recognize the full 8GB.

I believe the /PAE and /3GB switch is only for 32-bit; is that correct? Is there anything I need to do ensure applications will make use of the full 8GB?

 

[baddos]

The database software you are using is 64bit as well?

 

[wallst32]

Yes, it is Oracle 10g 64-bit. The DB instances are configured to use up to 4.5GB of RAM and they are only at half of that. Outside of Oracle, there is just antivirus, and basic Windows services; nothing with any significant memory usage.

 

[TonHu]

You could turn off the paging file to ensure only real RAM is used for your applications, but be prepared to turn that back on (it requires a reboot) because some processes can temporarily require large amounts of memory that exceed the installed amount.
Maybe you need to do some memory-logging to see what is actually needed/used during a normal day (or week) of work for the system, and the percentage of memory requests that is spent on the pagefile.

HTH
TonHu