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We have a 2003 Server that is being used as a file and print server. It is
also running our Panda antivirus, WSUS, and BackupExec. The machine is
running out of memory on a weekly basis and requires a reboot after it
freezes. It looks like is it related to WSUS. The sqlservr.exe
(MICROSOFT##SSEE) grew Mem Usage grew from 173 MB to 349 MB and VM Size grew
from 188 MB to 362 MB overnight. The w3wp.exe grew from 101 MB to 147 MB and
VM Size grew from 92 MB to 135 MB. The rest of the services were basically
flat. The machine has 2 GB installed. Currently It is running SP2 and the
swap file is now set to allow the system to control it. It was set by the
previous administrator who left in July. I have noticed some massive Virtual
RAM Sizes but I do not know enough about Virtual RAM to see if there is a
problem. Can somebody tell me where to begin?
Thanks,
Ron
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"Ron Gallimore" <RonGallimore[ at ]discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:F120853D-1201-4200-8FA5-F41C5A5A5CB3[ at ]microsoft.com...
[Quoted Text] > We have a 2003 Server that is being used as a file and print server. It
> is
> also running our Panda antivirus, WSUS, and BackupExec. The machine is
> running out of memory on a weekly basis and requires a reboot after it
> freezes. It looks like is it related to WSUS.
There are no known memory issues with WSUS, and I would be highly skeptical
that WSUS is responsible for your memory issues or your system instability.
> The sqlservr.exe
> (MICROSOFT##SSEE) grew Mem Usage grew from 173 MB to 349 MB and VM Size
> grew
> from 188 MB to 362 MB overnight.
The usage of 362MB for a SQL Server database engine, is in fact, very little
memory at all. The SQL Server engine is designed to use "any/all available"
memory. More likely is the case that the SQL Server VM size only grew to
362MB because that's all the memory that was available to it on the system.
> The w3wp.exe grew from 101 MB to 147 MB and VM Size grew from 92 MB to 135
> MB.
This is not unusual for the w3wp process running ASP.NET either.
> The machine has 2 GB installed. Currently It is running SP2 and the
> swap file is now set to allow the system to control it. It was set by the
> previous administrator who left in July. I have noticed some massive
> Virtual
> RAM Sizes but I do not know enough about Virtual RAM to see if there is a
> problem. Can somebody tell me where to begin?
To begin, I would suggest: Don't get so caught up in the growth of the
memory size of the sqlservr.exe process. This is normal; it will happen; and
more significantly, on a 2GB machine with other processes running, you'll
quite often find instances where you're seeing 100% memory utilization --
especially if the machine is also being used for other purposes.
Frankly, I'd argue that 2GB is undersized for what you have on this machine:
- File & Print Services
- Panda
- BackupExec
- WSUS (ASP.NET/SQLServer)
and I'd recommend that you should look at either splitting some of those
services off to another machine,
or better for all services (and much cheaper) -- upgrade the machine to 4GB
RAM and enable the /3GB boot switch.
(Memory is way too cheap these days not to have 32-bit machines populated to
the maximum possible!)
My basic analysis would be that w3wp (specifically the resources needed to
support asp.net) and sqlserver.exe are memory starved on this 2GB machine
given the other active services.
However, none of these MS products, together or apart (F&P, IIS, SQL, WSUS),
have ever demonstrated issues of memory or co-existence problems.
While it may sound bigoted, I'd be a lot more suspicious of interaction
problems with Panda and/or BackupExec than I would be the MS products.
Are your BackupExec and Panda the latest versions?
Have you recently installed any new driver software?
Are the drivers installed the *latest* available drivers from the *hardware*
manufacturer (disk, video, network)?
Either way, though, memory consumption via Task Manager on a /running/
machine is not the place to identify those causes. The better solution would
be to use Performance Monitor to run a trace capture of per-process memory
utilization up to the point where the machine freezes. Then review the
/actual/ memory usage at the moment at which it freezes. Also, consider the
possibility that the freeze isn't being caused by a memory problem at all,
but by the much more common cause of system lockups -- defective software.
Knowing what *processes* were the most active (consuming the most CPU %Time)
at the time of the freeze would be a strong clue as well.
You can also review the WSUS SoftwareDistribution.Log and IIS logs to
determine if there was any WSUS activity occurring during the moment of the
last lockup.
Obviously you've got a bit of a quandry because all services on this machine
are "mission-critical" (f&p, av, backup, wsus), but I'd agree that WSUS is
probably the least critical -- or simply that it can afford to be "down" for
a week or so for testing without significantly impacting the organization as
a whole.
Try turning off the "Update Services" service and the "MICROSOFT##SSEE"
service and monitoring the system. If it locks up again (which I suspect it
might), then you've got your confirmation that it's not WSUS. If nothing
else needs web services, you could even shutdown the "WWW Publishing
Service" and "IIS Admin" to further isolate the testing.
If the machine stays stable, then I'd suggest uninstalling WSUS and IIS,
rebooting, reinstalling IIS and WSUS, and testing some more.
--
Lawrence Garvin, M.S., MCITP(x2), MCTS(x5), MCP(x7), MCBMSP
Principal/CTO, Onsite Technology Solutions, Houston, Texas
Microsoft MVP - Software Distribution (2005-2009)
MS WSUS Website: http://www.microsoft.com/wsus
My Websites: http://www.onsitechsolutions.com;
http://wsusinfo.onsitechsolutions.com
My MVP Profile: http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/profile/Lawrence.Garvin
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"Ron Gallimore" <RonGallimore[ at ]discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:F120853D-1201-4200-8FA5-F41C5A5A5CB3[ at ]microsoft.com...
[Quoted Text] > We have a 2003 Server that is being used as a file and print server. It
> is
> also running our Panda antivirus, WSUS, and BackupExec. The machine is
> running out of memory on a weekly basis and requires a reboot after it
> freezes. It looks like is it related to WSUS.
What makes you think WSUS is the culprit?
Have you looked at BackupExec services? Which version do you use? I've seen
one of BackupExec services (IIRC it's bengine.exe) consuming more than 500MB
of physical RAM and keeps increasing unless I reboot the machine.
> The sqlservr.exe
> (MICROSOFT##SSEE) grew Mem Usage grew from 173 MB to 349 MB and VM Size
> grew
> from 188 MB to 362 MB overnight. The w3wp.exe grew from 101 MB to 147 MB
> and
> VM Size grew from 92 MB to 135 MB. The rest of the services were
> basically
> flat. The machine has 2 GB installed. Currently It is running SP2 and
> the
Everything listed above looks fine to me.
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"John" wrote:
[Quoted Text] >
> "Ron Gallimore" <RonGallimore[ at ]discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:F120853D-1201-4200-8FA5-F41C5A5A5CB3[ at ]microsoft.com...
> > We have a 2003 Server that is being used as a file and print server. It
> > is
> > also running our Panda antivirus, WSUS, and BackupExec. The machine is
> > running out of memory on a weekly basis and requires a reboot after it
> > freezes. It looks like is it related to WSUS.
>
> What makes you think WSUS is the culprit?
>
> Have you looked at BackupExec services? Which version do you use? I've seen
> one of BackupExec services (IIRC it's bengine.exe) consuming more than 500MB
> of physical RAM and keeps increasing unless I reboot the machine.
>
> > The sqlservr.exe
> > (MICROSOFT##SSEE) grew Mem Usage grew from 173 MB to 349 MB and VM Size
> > grew
> > from 188 MB to 362 MB overnight. The w3wp.exe grew from 101 MB to 147 MB
> > and
> > VM Size grew from 92 MB to 135 MB. The rest of the services were
> > basically
> > flat. The machine has 2 GB installed. Currently It is running SP2 and
> > the
>
> Everything listed above looks fine to me.
>
>
I thought it was WSUS because of the memory usage. We are currently using
9.1 so it is an older version. I will start watching BakupExec next.
Ron
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