AWE and the max momory setting

Having read this excellent post on AWE and the max momory setting:

http://www.sqlteam.com/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=55191

Which states:

"Optional to limit the amount of memory the SQL Server will use, because SQL Server will not dynamically allocate/deallocate memory when AWE is enabled.
Leave about 500 MB available for OS"

Subsequently I have read:

http://searchsqlserver.techtarget.com/tip/0,289483,sid87_gci1210563,00.html

Which states:

"For instance, SQL Server 2005 will have memory buffer pool problems if the max server memory setting is not set to its default 2147483647 (i.e., all available memory)."

So what should I set my max. memory to on 2K5 when I have AWE enabled.

Hi

I am not sure about the comment in the second article that you have mentioned. That comment is not precise at all.

With regards to MAX Server Memory setting, it depends how much memory does your machine have and if you run other apps (Analysis/Reporting Services, etc) on the server.

Say if your server has 16GB and you only use the server for SQL Server, you should set the MAX Server Memory to 14GB.

regards

Jag

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I agree the 2nd article is not precise, which is why I ahve restricted by max memory. I have 8GB and have restricted SQL Server to 7.5GB as only the OS is running on that server.

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I would restrict SQL Server to 6.5GB if I had 8GB on my machine. With OS only having 500MB You might experience backup errors if SQL Server 2K5 uses all what it is configured for.

|||Thanks for the advice.