Top 10 Things You Must Read About Memory

By Eric Siebert
published: Wednesday, August 06 2008

Memory (RAM) is one of the critical host resources that is often one of the first to be used up. It is also one of the most confusing resources because of the unique memory concepts and methods that exist in virtual environments. Therefore it is important that you understand how memory works in virtual servers so you can ensure that you configure properly. The items on this list will help you understand features like memory ballooning, transparent page sharing, page files, host and guest memory usage and how to configure memory shares, limits and reservations. You will also learn how to utilize the memory performance metrics so you can identify memory-related problems and bottlenecks that may exist on your host servers. This list contains VMworld presentations, white papers, forum threads and articles that will help you better understand memory and how to best optimize it.

The Role of Memory in ESX Server 3

http://www.vmware.com/pdf/esx3_memory.pdf

A white paper from VMware that explains some of the unique memory concepts that are used in VI3 including memory balloons, overcommitment, sharing and swapping.

Memory Provisioning Recommendations for VI3

http://www.kingston.com/branded/pdf_files/Memory_Provisioning_Recommendations_VI3.pdf

A white paper from Kingston that defines the planning process for determining the appropriate amount of memory for a VI3 deployment, dispels some common misconceptions, and describes the consequences of sub-optimal sizing.

Understanding Host and Guest memory usage

http://www.vmworld.com/vmworld/mylearn?classID=11638

A VMworld 2007 presentation from VMware that helps clear up some of the mysteries on host and guest memory usage in VI3.

Server Memory Power Consumption & Capacity Planning

http://vmworld.com/vmworld/mylearn?classID=11601

A VMworld 2007 presentation from Kingston on memory technologies and how to select memory with regard to power consumption and performance.

RAM, Virtual Memory, Pagefile and all that stuff

http://members.shaw.ca/bsanders/WindowsGeneralWeb/RAMVirtualMemoryPageFileEtc.htm

A technical article that explains some aspects of the Virtual Memory implementation in Windows 2000, XP, 2003 Server etc. It helps explain the relationship between RAM (Random Access Memory), Address Spaces, Virtual Memory and pagefile in Windows systems.

Memory resource management in Vmware ESX Server

http://www.vmware.com/pdf/usenix_resource_mgmt.pdf

A very detailed technical paper by a VMware engineer that explains memory management in ESX server and also how the advanced memory features that are used by ESX work.

Memory Shares/Limits/Reservations

http://www.vmware.com/community/thread.jspa?threadID=73411

A Vmtn forums thread that discusses various scenarios on using memory shares, limits and reservations.

Understanding memory usage in Windows 2000

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb742598.aspx

A Microsoft Technet article that explains how Windows 2000 uses memory and how to track memory usage to see how much you really need.

Understanding the Impact of RAM on Overall System Performance

http://www.windowsnetworking.com/articles_tutorials/Understanding-Impact-RAM-Overall-System-Performance.html

A article that talks about why memory plays such a huge role in a computer's overall performance.

Memory Optimization

http://communities.vmware.com/thread/143828

A Vmtm forums thread that covers some advanced memory topics with participation from one of the VMware engineers.

Coming Next Week: Top 10 things you must read when making a business case for implementing VMware