36GB Paging File?

[Dan]

I have a colleague who believes having at least 36GB of
paging file for a Terminal Server and thinks more paging
file is better.

We have Compaq DL380 w/ 4GB of RAM and from what I found
on Microsoft's website, 2 time the amount of RAM is
recommended paging file size for Terminal Server.
However, she doesn't believe what is on Microsoft's
website unless Bill Gate tells her himself.

It's like talking to a wall to convince her that you don't
need 36GB paging file.

What would you do if you were in my position?

 

[Vera Noest [MVP]]

Hard to tell you how to deal with such behaviour.
You are, of course, completely right. On a normal server, the
recommendation is to have a pagefile 1,5 times the amount of RAM.
On a Terminal server, the recommendation is 2 - 2,5 * RAM.

What *might* convince her is to let the system itself show you how
much it needs. I.e. set a minimum size on the pagefile of 2-2,5 *
RAM, but allow it to grow as needed (set a very high upper limit.
Then run and monitor your system. If the pagefile does not
increase in size, the system doesn't need more then it got to
start with.

 

[Sleurhutje]

Perhaps is replacing the colleague a better solution

 

[Colin M. McGroarty]

You've said nothing incriminating here. I'd simply show her your original
post and the replies. Alternatively, you could have her post the same
question with the system requirements and she would get the below answer
from numerous people rather quickly.

My recommendation is a paging file of 2 x RAM for non-TS boxes or 2.5 x RAM
for TS servers. I'd set the minimum and maximum size to that amount so that
no extra system resources are burned up by automatically resizing the paging
file. If you ever require a paging file bigger than that you would
experience thrashing or excessive paging which would result in your CPU
utilization sitting at 100%. This would mean you need more RAM not a larger
paging file. Lastly, as I'm sure you are aware, you can improve the
effectiveness of your paging file by spreading it across multiple physical
disks.

--
Colin M. McGroarty
MCP+I, MCSE, NT-CIP

(e-mail address removed)
www.McGroarty.org