[THIN] Re: page file usage raises up to the limit and then goes down...

  • From: "Pavlo Ignatusha" <pignatusha@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <thin@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Thu, 12 Jun 2003 15:44:06 -0400

Bernd,
Thanks for the reply.

If what you say is true I should see my memory usage history in CMC to
follow the same pattern as my pagefile. First my server runs out of RAM and
then the pagefile gets hammered. But my memory usage history remains flat,
no spikes. So does the CPU usage.

Any comments?

Thanks
Pavlo

-----Original Message-----
From: thin-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:thin-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]On
Behalf Of Bernd Harzog
Sent: Thursday, June 12, 2003 2:29 PM
To: thin@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [THIN] Re: page file usage raises up to the limit and then goes
down...


This is caused by your server getting into a memory over-commit state.
This happens when it runs out of working set, and then starts writing
things out to the page file like mad in order to fee up working set.

This is an absolute bear to track down in Perfmon. The reason is that
what you need to do is track working set usage on a per instance of each
application basis. Perfmon (to the best of my knowledge) will only let
you start tracking metrics on a per Process basis (look in the Process
object) for processes that already exist. So, if you have 5 users of
Great Plains, you can sit down and initiate tracking for those five
processes. However, if someone else logs on, you need to catch that and
manually add them. If someone logs off (goes to lunch) and then comes
back, when they log off you will lose tracking of that process, and it
will not get reinitiated when that user comes back.

A slightly simpler approach would be to launch Task Manager on the
server when the problem is happening. Then add Memory Usage (Task
Managers name for working set) and VM Size (Task Manager's name for Page
File utilization) and sort on Memory Usage and then VM Size. Chances are
that the applications that are using up lots of memory and page file are
the culprits for the paging issue that you are having.

Now, once you identify the applications, it raises the question of what
you are going to do about it. I think you can probably figure out what
my recommendation would be (hint, go to our web site), since there
exists a product that will significantly reduce the amount of virtual
memory that each application uses, and will therefore probably stop you
from getting into memory over-commit situations.

I you have any questions, you are welcome to email me on or off list.

Best Regards,

Bernd Harzog
CEO
RTO Software
678-455-5506 x701
bernd@xxxxxxxxxxx
www.rtosoft.com


 -----Original Message-----
From:   Pavlo Ignatusha [mailto:pignatusha@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]=20
Sent:   Thursday, June 12, 2003 1:44 PM
To:     Thin. Org (E-mail)
Subject:        [THIN] page file usage raises up to the limit and then
goes down...

Hi group,
I have an ongoing problem on my 2 production Citrix MF XPa servers.
There
are times when I can see page file usage counter in CMC Load Manager
Monitor
going up to the roof causing the server not to accept any connections
and
even kicking out users. After some time it goes back to normal. Usually
it
is only 1 server at a time so I suspect it has to be somebody doing
something that causes that. The question is what kind of user activity
causes a lot of page file usage and what kind of Performance Monitor
counters can I use (possibly other software to track it down). I would
also
appreciate your comments about software and server config in my farm
that
may be related to this issue (see specs below).


2 Win 2000 SP3/MF XP FR2 servers
Each server:=20
2CPU PIII 1.3 GHz 2Gb RAM on Intel SCB2 mainboard and chassis
Intel RAID cont and RAID5 on 3x33Gb HDD
Sys drive is 8gb, apps is 60 Gb
I have 2Gb pagefiles configured on both Sys and 3 Gb pagefile on apps
drives
(total 5.1 Gb per server) so I still catch memory dumps and most often
OS
uses pagefile on the apps drive (as per MS KB...)
Datastore is Access=20
Load evaluator is Advanced
Application response optimization is set for "application"

Print drivers are=20
some Canon BJCs (70, 2100, 4000,4200)
Canon iR5000-6000
Epson form printers FX 1050, LX-286, LQ-870
HP LaserJet 4, 5, 6, 1100, 2100, 4000, 4050, 8100
HP Color laserjet 4500
HP Deskjet 550, 660, 720, 930, 970
Lexmark Optra, T622

Apps installed are:

MS Office 2000
Patient Information system (custom VB/XML application)
Great Plains Dynamics
MS XML parser
FRx reporting tools
Adobe Acrobat
FundVision
Sophos Antivirus
Intel Server Control
Microsoft Debugging tools
etc.

I personally suspect a printer driver issue but I need to narrow the
search
to a couple of drivers before starting to eliminate them.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Pavlo Ignatusha
Systems and Network Coordinator
Pembroke General Hospital
Tel. (613) 732-3675 ext.6150
Fax. (613) 732-9986
www.pemgenhos.org

"All that matters is love and work" - Sigmund Freud.



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and your systems get back to 99.9% up-time in no time.
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