Memory Performance counter?

Can anyone tell me what is considered a bad number for the "Memory:
Pages/sec" counter? Microsoft indicates a number greater than zero by a smal
l
amount is acceptable, but what number is a "small amount"?
Thanks RichDBA wrote:
> Can anyone tell me what is considered a bad number for the "Memory:
> Pages/sec" counter? Microsoft indicates a number greater than zero by a sm
all
> amount is acceptable, but what number is a "small amount"?
> Thanks Rich
It depends - you first need to determine what is "normal" for your
server. A lot of paging activity usually, but not always, indicates
that something other than SQL is demanding memory. For instance, on my
servers, I have no page swapping during the majority of the day. During
the period of time when my tape backup agent is backing up the SQL
backups, then I'll get a flurry of paging activity. When backups
complete, the paging stops.
Tracy McKibben
MCDBA
http://www.realsqlguy.com|||The Memory:pages/sec counter indicates hard paging activities. On a box
dedicated to SQL Server, if its value is greater than zero for any sustained
period of time, you should look into it.
Linchi
"DBA" wrote:

> Can anyone tell me what is considered a bad number for the "Memory:
> Pages/sec" counter? Microsoft indicates a number greater than zero by a sm
all
> amount is acceptable, but what number is a "small amount"?
> Thanks Rich|||Those pages are actually the backup files being written. The write
mechanism used by SQL Backup triggers this counter. This happens both for
local file or tape writes and network file writes. It isn't caused by
memory pressure, it is just an artifact of writing backup files. As such,
you have to disregard the non-zero counters when a SQL is running an active
backup. Yet another operating complication with SQL.
Geoff N. Hiten
Senior Database Administrator
Microsoft SQL Server MVP
"Tracy McKibben" <tracy@.realsqlguy.com> wrote in message
news:enjwmcBsGHA.2240@.TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
> DBA wrote:
> It depends - you first need to determine what is "normal" for your server.
> A lot of paging activity usually, but not always, indicates that something
> other than SQL is demanding memory. For instance, on my servers, I have
> no page swapping during the majority of the day. During the period of
> time when my tape backup agent is backing up the SQL backups, then I'll
> get a flurry of paging activity. When backups complete, the paging stops.
>
> --
> Tracy McKibben
> MCDBA
> http://www.realsqlguy.com|||Geoff N. Hiten wrote:
> Those pages are actually the backup files being written. The write
> mechanism used by SQL Backup triggers this counter. This happens both fo
r
> local file or tape writes and network file writes. It isn't caused by
> memory pressure, it is just an artifact of writing backup files. As such,
> you have to disregard the non-zero counters when a SQL is running an activ
e
> backup. Yet another operating complication with SQL.
>
That was basically the point I was trying to make. Also, I don't see
excessive paging when *SQL* is running a backup, I see paging when my
tape backup agent is backing up the SQL backups. I dump SQL backups to
disk, then back those dumps up to tape.
Tracy McKibben
MCDBA
http://www.realsqlguy.com|||We're running sql 2000 on 64bit itanium server with 12gig ram. We have batch
processes that run all hours of the day as well internet users hitting the d
b
via a web application. The memory Pages/Sec are consistently between 3000 an
d
6000. Is this reasonable or excessive?
Thanks Rich
"Linchi Shea" wrote:
[vbcol=seagreen]
> The Memory:pages/sec counter indicates hard paging activities. On a box
> dedicated to SQL Server, if its value is greater than zero for any sustain
ed
> period of time, you should look into it.
> Linchi
> "DBA" wrote:
>