Hi Charlie:

Yes, the database and Interbase configuration are identical on the new
server. We're running IB 5.6 on Win2K; we were on NT 4.0, SP 6 on the old
server.

The hardware config is slightly different. The old server was a dual
Pentium Pro 200 w/128 MB of memory. The new server is a dual P3 800 (w/only
one processor installed) and 256 MB of memory.

Other than the memory issue, we're thrilled with the performance of IB on
the new server.

Dan

-----Original Message-----
From: Charlie Caro [mailto:ccaro@...]
Sent: Thursday, October 19, 2000 11:41 AM
To: IB-Architect@egroups.com
Subject: Re: [IB-Architect] Memory allocation in Super Server


Dan,

So the exact same application/InterBase configuration running under
Windows NT 4.0 (Service Pack x) was not accumulating memory in the IB
server?

BTW, InterBase and W2K isn't a certified configuration yet. I wouldn't
advise running production applications there. From a technical
standpoint, if Microsoft has done W2K right, it shouldn't matter.

Regards,
Charlie

Dan Palley wrote:

>
> Ann:
>
> Thanks for the detailed response. We've seen a big jump in memory usage

on

> our production server since moving to Windows 2000. The database is not
> big, about 500 MB, but we have 50-60 users hitting it on a regular basis.
> After a week or so, the memory used by Interbase is about 900 MB; if we

shut

> the server down and restart, the memory is freed.
>
> Others have suggested that long running transactions can cause memory to

be

> held on the server, but the memory is not released when all connections

are

> closed. Our cache settings are set to the default.
>
> Other users have reported similar problems on Windows 2000, so I suspect
> something changed in the memory allocation scheme in Win2k that's having

an

> adverse affect on Interbase.
>
> Dan
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ann Harrison [mailto:harrison@...]
> Sent: Thursday, October 19, 2000 10:17 AM
> To: IB-Architect@egroups.com
> Subject: Re: [IB-Architect] Memory allocation in Super Server
>
> At 09:36 AM 10/19/2000 -0700, Dan Palley wrote:
> >I found this item in the Interbase knowledgebase and I'm somewhat
> concerened
> >about it's implications:
> >
> >"When InterBase allocates memory to perform operations, it does not ever
> >return this memory to the operating system. This memory is returned to
> >InterBase's internal memory free list, but it is never returned to the
> >operating system for other processes to use. Thus the memory is
> >not freed until the InterBase service is stopped or the machine is
> >rebooted."
> >
> >What type of operations in Interbase would cause this to happen? Was

this

> >addressed at all in Interbase 6?
>
> InterBase manages a pool (actually several pools and a lagoon) of
> memory from which it allocates various blocks that describe metadata,
> compilation elements, execution trees, etc. It's memory management
> is quite good - it won't, for example, leave little dribs and drabs
> around, too small to use. When a request goes from compilation to
> execution, the compilation specific memory is released to the pool.
> When it completes and the prepared query is released, all of the
> memory associated with the query is returned to the pool.
>
> Only if there is not enough memory available in the pool will memory
> be allocated from the operating system. Generally the amount of
> memory used rises in proportion with the number of users. So, if
> your server has 2 users on weekends (me and you, no doubt) and 50
> during the week, it will hold enough memory to serve all fifty, but
> will go from 2 to back 50 without allocating more.
>
> In general, you will find that InterBase doesn't use a lot of memory,
> unless you request a ridiculous number of pages for the cache. One
> of the major tasks in moving to the SuperServer architecture was
> locating and stopping all memory leaks. This is a non-problem (I
> think).
>
> Regards,
>
> Ann
>
>
>
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