MSExchangeIS Error Virtual Memory 1

[spike03]

I am getting an error in the event log that says:

Virtual memory is fragmented in a way that normal operation may being to fail. You need to restart exchange services to correct this issue.
FIX: on the Microsoft website it says that service pack 1 fixes the problem. We currently have service pack 3 installed on the server.

I am running W2K server serivce pack 3 with exchange serive pack 3.

I have to keep rebooting the server because it is slow.

has anyone experianced this problem before?
thanks in advance

S.

 

[dmandell]

That's a different story!
Definitely something to take up with AV vendor.

Dana

 

[Mia03]

Hi all,

How are things with the rebel exchange servers?

I have changed my AV to update daily instead of hourly. Fragmentation has slowed down by about 10 hours. I knew it wasn't going to fix the problem but at least I don't have to restart every 20 hours.

The final word from the MS engineer handling our case was to remove some memory from the server. I'm still not too happy about this option so no plans to go for it just yet.

Hope you are all having more luck!

Mia

 

[dmandell]

since changing the msExchESEParamCacheSizeMax with ADSI Edit there has been no change in memory fragmentation in 12 days. I closed my ticket with Microsoft.

If your Microsoft tech is suggesting removing memory, I suggest requesting to talk to the next tier of support. I had no joy with our issue until the next tier Exchange specialist started working on the case. Then things moved rapidly.

At tier one, it was a waste of time as the tech made silly suggestions.

That's my 2 cents.

Good Luck,
Dana

 

[matt4x4]

Well, it's been 12 days for me as well, however I did not change the msExchESEParamCacheSizeMax and still have 4 gigs of memory in the box - for some reason the issue went away for no apparent reason - the only thing I've done on the system was windows critical updates....wonder if....Nahhh.
Anyone else still getting errors?
Guess Dana and I can now book our holidays and veg worry free.
Good luck to all!

Matt

 

[mdunph]

In addition to the latest hotfix and post sp3 update to Exchange I also disabled the *Auto Protect* feature within Norton AV for Exchange which runs on my Exchange box. This seemed to help significantly. Every few days or so I'll get a slew of 9582 Warnings and then they will go away.

At the same time I'm monitoring the VM Largest Blcok Size and it is just over 32MB so I'm not worried, as it never seems to dip below this level.

However, I am disgusted to learn from Mia that all a Microsoft Tech can offer is to remove memory. What a lame recommendation and just the reason why I didn't want to open up a call with those clowns in the first place.

 

[bigpapapump]

I am problem free since the offline defrag and moving from 3GB of RAM to 2GB.

I am going to install the third GB of RAM again shortly and see what happens.

 

[Mia03]

Dana,

I think my next move will be to change the msExchESEParamCacheSizeMax setting as you did. I have read the articles (in particular 266768) but am unsure what value to use..... how did you decide what the appropriate figure was?

Thanks,

Mia

 

[dmandell]

Here's the info from MS and a table with which to start. The math is already done!
It was recommended to start with a size of 640M. The lower the number less cache available. You can start higher, but you will have to restart the IS every time you make a change. In my case I saw an improvement at 640M but is was not until I went to 576 that my problem was solved. The higher number you can use to solve the issue, the better.

The number you are going to add/change with ADSI edit is to the right of the = sign. (The corresponding cache size is on the left.)

Modify msExchESEParamCacheSizeMax:

800M msExchESEParamCacheSizeMax=204800
768M msExchESEParamCacheSizeMax=196608
736M msExchESEParamCacheSizeMax=188416
704M msExchESEParamCacheSizeMax=180224
672M msExchESEParamCacheSizeMax=172032
640M msExchESEParamCacheSizeMax=163840
576M msExchESEParamCacheSizeMax=147456


Start ADSI Edit. This tool is included in the Microsoft Windows 2000 Resource Kit
and is also installed with the Windows 2000 support tools. To install the Windows
2000 support tools, run the setup.exe program located in the Support\Tools folder
on the Windows 2000 Server CD-ROM.
On the Action menu, click Connect to.
In the Connection Point section, click Naming Context, and then click Configuration
Container.
In the Computer section, click "Select or type domain or server", and then type
your domain controller.
Click Advanced, click Specify Credentials and then type your user name and
password.
Type "389" (without the quotation marks) in the Port Number box, and then click
LDAP in the Protocol box.
Click OK, and then click OK again. You are then connected to the Configuration
container of your domain controller.
Open the following object:
Services/Microsoft Exchange/<Your organization>/Administrative Groups/<Your
administrative group>/Servers/<Server name>/Information Store
Right-click Information Store, and then click Properties.
On the "Select a property to view" menu, click msExchESEParamCacheSizeMax.
In the "Edit Attribute" box, 163840
Quit ADSI Edit, and then restart the MS Exchange Information Store service.
NOTE: In a multiple domain controller site, this attribute has to replicate to the
Configuration domain controller of the specific Exchange 2000 computer for the
store to register the change.

Good luck,
Let us know how ist works for you.
Dana

 

[Foxcote]

Have just discovered this forum after some months of experiencing similar problems with Win2K SP4 + E2K SP3, 2MB memory. Problems only occur when Sophos Mailmonitor IS scanning is on, Sophos haven't been able to solve yet.

Has anyone tried applying the April 2004 Exchange 2K update rollup, 836488? There seem to be several fixes related to VM handling.

Ian

 

[bigpapapump]

I applied the rollup two days ago and all is well. I am still at 2GB's of RAM though. I will probably try reinstalling the third GB at the beginning of next month.

 

[jplannett]

Dana,
That took care of my problem. We had been working on the problem for a few days. I was slightly new to this company so I did not have all the details of how it had been running previously. After checking antivurs, stopping and starting services, offline defrag nothing worked. I saw this article, tried the offline defrag first. the problem went away for a couple days. Then it came back, go figure. We did the sExchESEParamCacheSizeMax and it worked. I started with the second highest and it worked for two days. I changed it to the next one and it worked like a champ. I see a 9582 error approx once every 3 days to once every 10 days.

736M msExchESEParamCacheSizeMax=188416

This forum is awsome, thank you to all for contributing.

jplannett