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Gabriel Guimarães
Asked: 2010-11-17 13:23:40 +0800 CST

SQL 2008 R2 on W2K3 Enable AWE (Address Windowing Extensions)

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Hi I have a Win 2K3 with 6 gigs of memory.

I had 3 gigs, and then added 3 more.

However Windows won't recognize more than 4 Gigs as its a 32 bits machine.

What do I have to do to make things work?

I've two sql instances and set SQL Maximum memory for them both as 2560, and clicked Enable AWE checkbox.

Is this enough? I've heard it's actually not, windows should recognize the memory first. How do I do that? Is Min Memory required to be more than 0 for AWE to work?

Thanks in advance. Gabriel Guimarães

windows-server-2003 configuration awe sql-server-2008-r2

2 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    If you are running on Enterprise or Datacenter Edition for the operation system, you need to do a few other things. If you are running Windows Server 2003 Standard, you cannot use more than 4 GB of memory, as mentioned by Sim. Here's what you need to do if you're on Enterprise or Datacenter Edition:

    1. The /PAE switch must be set in boot.ini: Books Online: Using AWE.
    2. Lock Pages in Memory must be set for the SQL Server service account: Books Online: How to: Enable the Lock Pages in Memory Option (Windows).
    3. Awe Enabled must be configured and the SQL Server restarted: Books Online: Enabling AWE Memory for SQL Server.
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  2. If the server is Windows 2003 Standard Edition then it only supports 4GB maximum of physical memory - see MSDN - Memory Limits for Windows Releases. Best option is to go 64-bit Windows and SQL.

    For more info on AWE and SQL see Enabling AWE Memory for SQL Server.

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