How to determine the appropriate page file size for 64-bit versions of Windows Server 2008 and or

Windows 2008 R2

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Summary

The 64-bit versions of Microsoft Windows Server 2008 and Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 can
support more RAM than the 32-bit versions of Windows Server. When lots of memory is added to a
computer, a paging file may not be required. When you use the Memory-Pages/sec counter to measure
paging file use, the value that is returned may not be accurate. To obtain an accurate measurement of
paging file use, you must also use other performance counters. You can use System Monitor
measurements to calculate the size of the paging file that your computer requires.

Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2 Domain Controllers and DFS Replication, Certificate
and ADAM/LDS Servers are not supported without a configured pagefile. Because the algorithm the
LSASS database cache depends on the "transition pages repurposed/second" perfmon counter, a
pagefile is required to make sure that the database cache is capable to release memory if memory is
requested by other services or applications.

INTRODUCTION

When you set up a 64-bit version of Microsoft Microsoft Windows Server 2008 and Microsoft Windows
Server 2008 R2, the operating system will create a page file that is auto managed (Automatically
manage paging file size for all drives) in your computer. However, as the amount of RAM in a computer
increases, the need for a page file may decrease. The following guidelines and methods will help you
determine the appropriate page file size for your system.

Comparison of memory and CPU limits in the 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows
When you set up a 64-bit version of Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2008 R2, a page file is
created that is depeding on how much RAM is installed and provided there is sufficient free space on the
system hard disk:

The more RAM that you have available or is added to a computer, it generally tends to decrease the size
of the page file needed. If you have enough RAM installed in your computer, you may not require a
page file at all, unless one is required by a specific application. This all depends on how much virtual
memory is used by your system and/or applications installed.

System Memory Size (RAM) Minimum Page File Size Maximum Page File Size
Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 <1GB 1.5 x RAM 3 x RAM
Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 >= 1 x RAM 3 x RAM
1GB

Table 1. Default Page File Sizes for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003.

System Memory Size (RAM) Minimum Page File Size Maximum Page File Size
<1GB Large enough to hold a 3 x RAM or 4GB, whichever is
kernel-memory crash larger
dump and is RAM plus
300MB or 1GB, whichever
is larger
>= 1GB Large enough to hold a 3 x RAM or 4GB, whichever is
kernel-memory crash larger
dump and is RAM plus
300MB or 1GB, whichever
is larger

Table 2. Default Page File Sizes for Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows 7 and Windows
Server 2008 R2.

Source: "Windows Internals" 5th edition Chapter 9: Memory Management Page 781.

The following chart illustrates the amount of RAM and the number of CPUs that can be installed on a
computer depending on the operating system that is installed. RAM and CPU limits are much larger in
64-bit Windows Server 2008/Windows Server 2008 R2 operating systems than in 32-bit Windows Server
2008 operating systems.

General memory limits 32-bit 64-bit (x64)

Total virtual address 4 gigabytes (GB) 16 terabytes (TB)
space
Virtual address space 2 GB or 3 GB if the system is 2 GB or 4 GB if the application is compiled
per 32-bit process booted with the /3GB switch with the /LARGEADDRESSAWARE switch
Virtual address space Not applicable 8 terabytes
per 64-bit process
Paged pool 2 gigabytes (GB) 128 GB
Non-paged pool 2GB or 75% of physical 128 GB or 75% of physical memory,
memory, whichever is smaller whichever is smaller
System cache 1 GB 1 terabyte (TB)

Table 3. Virtual memory address space and kernel address space.

Physical memory and CPU limits 32-bit 64-bit (x64)

Windows Vista, Business, Enterprise and 4 GB / 1-2 Socket for 128 GB / 1-2 Sockets for CPUs
Ultimate Editions CPUs
Windows Web Server 2008 (4) GB / 1-4 Socket for 32 GB / 1-4 Sockets for CPUs
CPUs

Windows Server 2008, Standard Edition 4 GB / 1-4 Socket for 32 GB / 1-4 Sockets for CPUs
CPUs
Windows Server 2008, Enterprise Edition 64 GB / 1-8 Socket for 2 terabyte / 1-8 Sockets for
CPUs CPUs
Windows Server 2008, Datacenter Edition 64 GB / 1-64 Socket for 2 terabyte / 1-64 Sockets for
CPUs CPUs
Windows HPC Server 2008 N/A 128GB /1-4 Sockets for CPUs
Windows 7, Professional, Enterprise and 4 GB / 1-4 CPUs 192 GB / 1-4 Sockets for CPUs
Ultimate Editions
Windows Server 2008 R2, Foundation Edition N/A 8GB / 1 Socket for CPUs

Windows Web Server 2008 R2 N/A 32 GB / 1-4 Sockets for CPUs

Windows Server 2008 R2, Standard Edition N/A 32GB / 1-4 Sockets for CPUs
Windows Server 2008 R2, Enterprise Edition N/A 2 terabyte / 1-8 Sockets for
CPUs
Windows Server 2008 R2, Datacenter Edition N/A 2 terabyte / 1-64 Sockets for
CPUs
Windows HPC Server 2008 R2 N/A 128GB /1-4 Sockets for CPUs

Table 4. RAM and CPU's.

There is no specific recommendation for page file size. Your requirements will be based on the
hardware and software that you use and the load that you put on the computer.

To monitor page file usage and requirements, you could use various tools such as:

1. Process Explorer

or

2. System Monitor (Sysmon).

How to calculate page file size

Use one or more of the following methods to help you calculate page file size.

Method 1: Use the Microsoft SysInternals Process Explorer

Click on View, System Information... (CLTR+I)

Under "Commit Charge (K)

 Current ___________
Limit __________
Peak __________

Peak/Limit ____ %
Current/Limit ____%

Limit - Peak = How much page file that you need.

Warning: You should let the system run thru at least a week, preferably a month to get a good "Commit
Charge Peak (K)"

Note Virtual memory that accounts towards the commit limit:

 private virtual memory (called private because it cannot be shared such as garbage
collector heap, native heap and language allocators)

and

 pagefile-backed (can be shared which can be only seen using handle.exe)

handle.exe -a -l -p ApplicationName.exe

Note Not all virtual memory accounts towards the commit limit such as:

 Reserved Virtual Memory

or

 File Mapping View (virtual memory that represents a file on the disk)

To monitor page file usage and requirements, run Sysmon, and gather a log during typical usage
conditions. Focus on the following counters.

Counter threshold Suggested value

Memory\\Available Bytes No less than 64MB for 64-bit or no less than 4 MB for 32-bit
Memory\\Pages Input/sec No more than 10 pages
Paging File\\% Usage No more than 70 percent
Paging File\\% Usage Peak No more than 70 percent
Process\\Page File Bytes Peak Not applicable

Note Page file use should be tracked periodically. When you increase the use or the load on the system,
you generally increase the demand for virtual address space and page file space.

The Pages/sec counter

When you use System Monitor, the values that are returned by the Pages/sec counter for the Memory
performance object may be more than you expect. These values may not be related to either paging file
activity or cache activity. Instead, these values may be caused by an application that is sequentially
reading a memory-mapped file.

The Pages/sec counter counts the number of pages that are read from the disk or that are written to the
disk to resolve memory references to pages. These pages were not in memory at the time of the
reference. The Pages/sec value is the sum of the Pages Input/sec and Pages Output/sec counter values.
The Pages/sec counter includes paging traffic on behalf of the system cache to access file data for
applications.

Pages/sec is the primary counter to watch if you are concerned about excessive memory pressure
(thrashing) and the excessive paging that may result.

However, the Pages/sec counter also accounts for other activity, such as the sequential reading of
memory-mapped files that are either cached or not. Typically, the Pages/sec counter is counting other
activity when you see the following:

• A high value for the Memory: Pages/sec counter.

• An average value, relative to the system being monitored, or a high value for the Memory:
Available Bytes counter.
• An average or small value for the Paging File: % Usage counter.
• For a non-cached memory-mapped file, you also see average or low cache activity. (Low cache
 activity is also known as cache fault activity.)

Therefore, a high value for the Memory: Pages/sec counter does not necessarily indicate memory
pressure or a System Monitor reporting error. To gain an accurate reading of your system, you must also
monitor other counters.

How to calculate page file size

Use one or more of the following methods to help you calculate page file size.

Method 2: Use performance logs to understand the paging activity on your computer

1. Click Start , point to Administrative Tools , and then click Performance Monitor.
2. Expand Data Collector Sets , right-click User Defined, click on New, click on the "Data
Collector Set".
3. In the Name box, type a name for the log, and then click OK .
4. Select the radio button named Create manually (advanced), click on Next.
5. Select the radio button named Create data logs:, and then check the box for Performance
counter, click on Next.
6. Under the "Which performance counters would you like to log?" Click Add...
7. Under "Select counters from computer", leave <Local computer>.
8. In the Performance object list, click Paging File and then select % Usage
9. Under "Instances of selected object:" select the pagefile such as \\?\C:\pagefile.sys. Click on
Add>>
10. In the Performance object list, click Memory and then click Available MBytes , and then click
Add>>.
11. Click Pages Input/sec , click Add>> , and then click OK .
12. Under "Sample interval:" change it to the interval that you want (15 seconds is the default)
13. Click Next twice
14. Click Finish

or using the command line:

Click on Start
<<Start Search>>, enter "CMD.exe" w/o the quotation marks and then press Enter.

Logman.exe create counter Pagfile-Counter-Log -o "c:\perflogs\PageFile_Sizing.blg" -f bincirc -v

mmddhhmm -max 250 -c "\Memory\*" "\Paging File(*)\*" "\Process(*)\*" -si 00:00:15

Note: Please change the interval 00:00:15 (15 seconds) as needed.

Logman.exe start Pagefile-Counter-Log

Please stop the performance log after a week or whatever time period that you choose.

Logman.exe stop Pagefile-Counter-Log

Use the log that you collect during typical computer use to understand the paging activity on your
computer. Then, adjust the page file size accordingly.

Method 3: Use the Page File Bytes Peak counter to calculate page file size

1. Click Start , point to Administrative Tools , and then click Performance

Monitor.
2. Expand Data Collector Sets , right-click User Defined, click on New, click on
the "Data Collector Set".
3. In the Name box, type a name for the log, and then click OK .
4. Select the radio button named Create manually (advanced), click on Next.
5. Select the radio button named Create data logs:, and then check the box for
Performance counter, click on Next.
6. Under the "Which performance counters would you like to log?" Click Add...
7. Under "Select counters from computer", leave <Local computer>.
8. In the Performance object list, click Process, click Page File Bytes Peak
9. Under "Instances of selected object:", select Total, click on Add>> , and
then click OK .
10. Under "Sample interval:" change it to the interval that you want (15 seconds
 is the default)
11. Click Next twice
12. Click Finish
13. Let the counter run during typical use of your computer.
14. Note the maximum value for the Page File Bytes Peak counter, and then
multiply the value by 0.70. The sum of the equation is the size to set for
your page file.

or using the command line:

Click on Start
<<Start Search>>, enter "CMD.exe" w/o the quotation marks and then press Enter.

Logman.exe create counter Pagfile-Counter-Log -o "c:\perflogs\PageFile_Sizing.blg" -f bincirc -v

mmddhhmm -max 250 -c "\Memory\*" "\Paging File(*)\*" "\Process(*)\*" -si 00:00:15

Note: Please change the interval 00:00:15 (15 seconds) as needed.

Logman.exe start Pagefile-Counter-Log

Please stop the performance log after a week or whatever time period that you choose.

Logman.exe stop Pagefile-Counter-Log

Method 4: Calculate the minimum and maximum page file size

To determine the approximate minimum page file that is required by your system, calculate the sum of
peak private bytes that are used by each process on the system. Then, subtract the amount of memory
on the system.

To determine the approximate maximum page file space that is required for your system, calculate the
sum of peak private bytes that are used by each process on the system. Then, add a margin of additional
space. Do not subtract the amount of memory on the system. The size of the additional margin can be
adjusted based on your confidence in the snapshot data that is used to estimate page file requirements.
Note This estimate is accurate only if the snapshot of data that is used to make the calculations is
accurate.

Page file input/output rates

To avoid overloading the system or other disks with page input/output (I/O) activity, use the following
guidelines when you set up the page file on your computer:

• If the page I/O (real disk I/O) rate is more than 10 pages per second, we recommend that you
do not put the page file where the I/O activity occurs on the system disk. When the page I/O
rate is 10 pages per second or more, we recommend that you dedicate a separate hard disk
for paging.
• If the page I/O rate to a particular disk that is used for paging is more than 60 disk I/O
operations per second, use more than one dedicated page hard disk to obtain better
performance. To do this, use multiple non-striped disks for paging, or use raid 0 striped disks
for paging. Dedicate approximately one I/O hard disk to paging for every 60 pages per second
of I/O activity.

For example, if a system is averaging 150 pages of I/O activity per second, use three individual
hard disks, or a three-disk raid 0 stripe set for the page file.

Note These estimates are for hard disks that run at 7200 revolutions per minute (rpm). If you
use a hard disk that runs faster, the I/O rate a disk can handle for page I/O will increase.

Note If peak performance is critical to your system, use peak I/O rates instead of average I/O
rates for these calculations.

Important Supportability Information:

This article is specifically for computers that do not need kernel mode or full memory dump analysis. For
business-critical servers where business processes require to server to capture physical memory dumps
for analysis, the traditional model of the page file should be at least the size of physical ram plus 1 MB.
This makes sure that the free disk space of the operating system partition is large enough to hold the
OS, hotfixes, installed applications, installed services, a dump file, and the page file. On a server that has
32 GB of memory, drive C may have to be at least 86 GB to 90 GB. This is 32 GB for memory dump, 48
GB for the page file (1.5 times the physical memory), 4 GB for the operating system, and 2 to 4 GB for
the applications, the installed services, the temp files, and so on. Remember that a driver or kernel
mode service leak could consume all free physical RAM. Therefore, a x64 Windows Server 2008 or x64
Windows Server 2008 R2-based server in 64-bit mode with 32GB of RAM could have a 32 GB kernel
memory dump file, where you would expect only a 1 to 2 GB dump file in 32-bit mode. This behavior
occurs because of the greatly increased memory pools.

For more information:

969028 How to generate a kernel or a complete memory dump file in Windows Server 2008

Question: How about not having a paging file?

Answer: There are administrators that feel not having a page file results in better performance. But
having a page file means Windows can write pages on the modified list out to the page file, which makes
that memory available for more useful purposes such as processes or file cache. Thus, while there may
be some workloads that perform better with no paging file, in general having one will mean more usable
memory being available to the Operating system.

Note: What is a modified list? Modified lists represent pages that are not being accessed actively but
have not been saved to disk.

Question: Maximum paging file size

Answer: Maximum paging file size is limited as follows:

x86 x64 IA-64

Maximum size of a paging 4 gigabytes (non-PAE) 16 terabytes 32 terabytes

file 16 terabytes (PAE)

Maximum number of 16 16 16
paging files
Total paging file size 64 gigabytes (non-PAE) 256 terabytes 512 terabytes
256 terabytes (PAE)

Question: Why is not a good idea to use Task Manager?

Click on Start, Taskmgr.exe

Click on the Performance tab
Under "System"
Commit (GB) ___/____
The first value is the Commited Bytes in gigabytes (GB)

Definition: "Committed Bytes is the amount of committed virtual memory, in bytes"

Simple term: RAM+Pagefile actually in use

The second value is the Commit Limit in gigabytes (GB)

Definition: "Commit Limit is the amount of virtual memory that can be committed without having to
extend the paging file(s)"
Simple term: RAM+Pagefile

Answer: Because there is no Commited Bytes Peak, you cannot get a good reading of what your system
looks like over time, let's say within 1 week or 2 weeks or a months period of utilization.