Re: ORA-4030

From: Chuck <chuckh_at_softhome.net>
Date: 25 Feb 2003 20:54:51 GMT
Message-ID: <Xns932DA1E287759chuckhsofthomenet@130.133.1.4>

Sybrand Bakker <gooiditweg_at_nospam.demon.nl> wrote in news:fnen5vgcvt29p89dd9etmasu6fuqt6cqmf_at_4ax.com:

> On 25 Feb 2003 15:08:59 GMT, Chuck <chuckh_at_softhome.net> wrote:
>

>>True. To state what I was trying to say more clearly is that much less
>>of the box's memory will be wasted. Windows never uses more than 400m.
>>Oracle can only go to 2g. There is 3.1g in the box. At least 700m is
>>sitting idle and never being used. By setting the /3g switch, oracle
>>can now put that additional 700m to use.

>
> Please read the note!! and the book on Oracle and Windows from Oracle
> Press. If you still know better, by all means: go ahead! but you are
> definitely symptom fighting anyway
>
>
>
>
> Sybrand Bakker, Senior Oracle DBA
>
> To reply remove -verwijderdit from my e-mail address
>

You mean the note written by Oracle at which documents the user of the /3g switch? For example the one written by David Colello of Oracle corporation that's available at

http://www.dbatoolbox.com/WP2001/nt2000/win2000paper.doc

I'll save you the trouble of going there and paste in the part about the /3g switch...

"4GB RAM TUNING (4GT) SUPPORT
Windows 2000 Advanced Server and Datacenter Server include a feature called 4GB RAM Tuning (4GT). This feature allows memory-intensive applications running on Windows 2000 to access up to 3GB of memory as opposed to the standard 2GB that is allowed in other editions of Windows 2000. The obvious benefit to Oracle8i is that 50% more memory becomes available for database use which can increase SGA sizes or connection counts. All Oracle database server releases since 7.3.4 have supported this feature with no modifications necessary to a standard Oracle installation. The only configuration change required is to ensure that the /3GB flag is used in Windows 2000's boot.ini file."

I have read the note, and pretty much every metalink document oracle has published on Win2k/NT memory architecture. They all say the same thing, and not one of them says anything about allocating no more than 1/3 of the system RAM to Oracle. In fact in some articles they encourage just the opposite on dedicated database servers (which this is BTW). All I'm doing is following ORACLE'S OWN RECOMMENDATIONS, and reading THEIR OWN DOCUMENTATION. I'm not saying I know better than anyone else, but I'm running into that same old problem again. What Oracle documents and the way the product actually works are often two completely different things. Symptom fighting? Yes. But the symptom appears to be inaccurate (or at the very least incomplete) documentation.

I'd still like to know where that sort memory gets "released" to. When I do a sort and watch the PGA memory increase by the sort_area_size, but then never decrease after the sort completes, where is it being released to? The only time I see it released is if I disconnect the session. Received on Tue Feb 25 2003 - 14:54:51 CST