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Oracle Memory Configuration For Windows

This document discusses configuring memory for Oracle on Windows servers. It covers 32-bit and 64-bit systems, using the boot.ini file and switches like /3GB and /PAE to access more than 4GB of RAM. It also discusses enabling AWE for 32-bit Oracle to use memory above 4GB, but notes the performance implications of splitting memory. 64-bit systems are advantageous as they allow unlimited memory and user connectivity without these issues.

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boomerwolf
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170 views

Oracle Memory Configuration For Windows

This document discusses configuring memory for Oracle on Windows servers. It covers 32-bit and 64-bit systems, using the boot.ini file and switches like /3GB and /PAE to access more than 4GB of RAM. It also discusses enabling AWE for 32-bit Oracle to use memory above 4GB, but notes the performance implications of splitting memory. 64-bit systems are advantageous as they allow unlimited memory and user connectivity without these issues.

Uploaded by

boomerwolf
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Oracle Memory

Configuration on
Windows Server
Configuring Large Memory
for Oracle on 32-bit and 64-
bit Windows
Objectives
At the end of this module the student will
understand the following concepts:
 OS Memory Configuration
 32-bit and 64-bit systems
 Boot.ini file
 /3GB, /PAE, and /NOPAE Switches
 Oracle Memory Configuration
 Awe enabled
 Performance Implications of 32-bit Oracle
 Advantages of 64-bit Oracle
32-bit Addressing
 32-bit processors have address registers
that are 32-bits wide (can address up to
4GB physical RAM)
 Allows per process virtual address space
of 4GB range (0 to 4,294,967,295 bytes)
 Each individual process gets its own
virtual address space that can be up to
4GB
 This virtual address space is divided –
system and user space
User and System Virtual
Address Space
4GT (4GB Tuning) with /
3GB
 /3GB = 4GB Tuning Feature – reduces
system space to 1GB, allowing 3GB
for user space
 Add to boot.ini file and reboot to take
effect
 For systems 4GB to 16GB only
32-bit Systems with PAE
(36-bit)
 PAE- Physical Address Extension
 AKA Large Memory Support
 Allows 36-bit memory addressing
 Allows the IA32 processor to address up
to 64GB of physical RAM
 Add /PAE switch in the boot.ini file and
reboot server
 Adds translation layer to memory access
Windows 2003 /NOPAE
Special Case (32-bit)
 New for Windows 2003 is the /NOPAE
switch
 Forces Windows 2003 NOT to use PAE
algorithms for memory access (there
is overhead involved)
 Should be used on systems with 4GB
or less and hot-add memory devices
Boot.ini Examples (32-bit)
 To use /3GB or /PAE, add the switches to
the boot.ini file and reboot the server
 Note:
 Using both /3GB and /PAE together conserves
the most memory under 4 GB
 Using both /3GB and /PAE will limit memory
addressability to 16 GB
32-bit Memory Size/Switch
Chart
MEMORY SIZE Boot.ini SWITCH

< 4GB None (or /NOPAE)

= 4GB /3GB (or /3GB /NOPAE)

> 4GB & <= /3GB /PAE


16GB
>16GB /PAE only
Support for /3GB and /PAE
– 32-bit
 Windows 2000 Advanced Server
 Windows 2000 Datacenter Server
 Windows 2003 Enterprise Edition
 Windows 2003 Datacenter Edition
32-bit Max Memory
Support on x86 based
computers
 Windows 2003 Enterprise = 32GB max
 Windows 2003 Datacenter = 64GB max
AWE for 32-bit Oracle
 Address Windowing Extension
 AWE – a set of APIs that allow programs to
address memory locations outside of their
4GB virtual addressing range
 Available through 32-bit addressing
 With AWE programs reserve memory as
non-paged (will not page out)
Implementing AWE with
32-bit Oracle
 Set the /PAE boot.ini flag
 Set the “USE_INDIRECT_BUFFERS=TRUE”
parameter in the Oracle initialization file.
 Use the DB_BLOCK_BUFFERS parameter in the
initialization file instead of the DB_CACHE
parameter.
 The AWE_WINDOW_SIZE registry parameter
sets up a “swap area” in low memory to map
data buffers in high memory
 Default size is 1 GB.
Performance Implications
of 32-bit Memory
Management
 Memory split into two parts is not as
efficient as memory in one segment
 Overhead is introduced
 32-bit systems with 8 GB of RAM may
not perform much better than systems
with 4 GB of RAM.
 May need to add 12 GB of RAM to see a
noticable return for the investment.
Performance Implications
of 32-bit Memory
Management
 Memory above 4 GB can only be used for DATA_BUFFER
cache.
 There is little room for the Shared Pool, Large Pool, PGA, etc.
 The AWE_WINDOW_SIZE parameter takes up 1 GB of RAM
 Leaves only 1 GB of RAM for all other memory types (2 GB with /3GB)
 The other memory types are required for supporting memory
connections.
 As a result, Oracle on 32-bit systems is severely restricted on
the number of user connections supported
 100s – low thousands with Shared Servers
Conserving Memory for User
Connections
 AWE/PAE does not improve user
connectivity for 32-bit Oracle
 User connections must share a
limited pool of memory, 1-2 GB
 The AWE_WINDOW_SIZE registry
parameter can be decreased from 1
GB to as low as 512 MB to increase
user memory
 Tradeoff between upper memory
accessibility and user memory size
Conserving Memory for User
Connections
 Oracle initialization parameters can be used to decrease
per user memory usage
 bitmap_merge_area_size
 create_bitmap_area_size
 hash_area_size
 open_cursors
 sort_area_size (sort_area_retained_size)
 The Orastack command can be used to decrease memory
use per thread
 Default allocation is 1 MB
 Risky to decrease below 700KB; any change must be tested
 Example usage:
 orastack oracle.exe 700000
 orastack tnslsnr.exe 700000
 orastack svrmgrl.exe 700000
 orastack sqlplus.exe 700000
Windows 2003 64-bit
Systems

 64-bit versions of Windows have


implemented up to 16 terabytes of
virtual address space
 Don’t use PAE or /3GB with 64-bit
 64-bit programs use 16 terabyte
tuning model (8TB user / 8TB kernel)
 Compare to 32-bit tuning mode (2GB
user / 2GB kernel)
 No performance penalties for large
memory
 Unlimited user connectivity
64-bit Memory Support on
Itanium based computers
 Windows 2003 Enterprise 64-bit =
1TB max
 Windows 2003 Datacenter 64-bit =
1TB max
64-bit Memory Support on
EM64T and Opteron based
computers
 Windows 2003 Standard 64-bit = 64GB
 Windows 2003 Enterprise 64-bit = 1TB max
 Windows 2003 Datacenter 64-bit = 1 TB max
Monitor Oracle Memory
 Oracle for Windows
Performance Counters
 Oracle %phyreads/gets
shows Buffer Cache
performance
 Should be below 10% -
few physical reads as a
proportion of all reads;
otherwise, more
memory may be
required
Review
 What flag is set in the boot.ini file to use
memory above 16 GB?
 Which two flags may be set in the
boot.ini file for memory between 4 GB
and 16 GB?
 What are the performance implications
of 32-bit memory management for
Oracle?
 What tool may be used to monitor
Buffer Cache efficiency?
Summary
The following topics were discussed in this
training module:
 OS Memory Configuration
 32-bit and 64-bit systems
 Boot.ini file
 /3GB, /PAE, and /NOPAE Switches
 Oracle Memory Configuration with AWE
 Performance Implications of 32-bit Oracle
 Advantages of 64-bit Oracle

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