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Hi
Can anyone tell me what should be the correct size of swapfile a NT4 server with 256MB memory ?
I had the server running for over a week now, no problem so far, except on Sat, it rebooted due to low on virtual memory, I left NT4 to handle the memory, I looked at the VM, its setting are 256/320, should I set it to 256/512 or more ?The C: system drive is on NTFS, 2GB with 1.3GB free, I have another 2GB unpartitioned, would it help if I open that up and make the system partition 4GB ?
Thanks for any help.

Those memory setting should have been just fine. If you rebooted due to a "low memory" message you either have a problem with the system or a application that is running has a memory leak and will drain your systems memory no matter what the size.
With that said there are a couple of recommendations concerning virtual memory.
1. Don't let the pagefile "grow and contract". Set the pagefile min and max to the same value as the max.
2. Look at Administration Tools\NT Diagnostics and the memory tab. Look at the max used. The longer between reboots the more accurate this statistic is so look at it after a week or longer and before any crashes. Use this stat to set your min/max plus 10% for your pagefile.
3. If this is a single drive server there is nothing you can do concerning partitions that will improve performance. You can not now make the two partitions one with NT natively. Doing so from under the OS like using Partition Magic from a boot disk fragments the NTFS Master File table and degrades performance. If you had another drive in the system then the recommendation would be to move the ENTIRE pagefile to this drive.
4. Absolutly go buy Diskeeper. NT has NO DEFRAGMENTATION program. Your pagefile is already fragmented due to the min and max not being set the same. Later down the road your system can become so fragmented that the system will cease to boot and load NT. Once you get Diskeeper installed do the boot-time defrag of the pagefile. This will make it one piece again and you won't have to worry about it again.
5. After watching the memory tab stat in Diagnostics for awhile and if you find you need to increase your pagefile I highly suggest putting more RAM in the system. You want to minimize paging to the hard drive since it is far slower then physical memory.
Buy that NT book yet?

LOL Wanderer, yes, I have... NT4 Server by Karanjit Siyan.
I am reading the thing now.
Thanks again for the advice, I will try them out.

I am glad to hear you got the book. You'll be answering the questions here soon! Have fun because life is too short not to :-)

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