Does taking the backups cause high memory usage by SQLSERver.EXE

Question

Hi All,

we are dealing with sqlserver.exe taking high memory, iam new to this area does backup process causes high memory usage by sqlserver....

Thanks in advance...

Answer 1

It is depends on the database size if it is Huge then if you are running peak hours that wil cause the performance issue like memory, CPU as well.

Backup is highly intensive eater of Disk I/O, cpu and memory.

also note that if you didnt set properly the memory configuration on SQL that will also cause the issue as well.

---

Rama Udaya.K ramaudaya.blogspot.com ---------------------------------------- Please remember to mark the replies as answers if they help and unmark them if they provide no help.

Answer 2

Also, compression backup makes backup operation more resource incentive.

So when planning for backups, get full backups during off peak hrs and use log backups for shorter intervels during the peak hrs. You are safe.

---

Blog: http://dineshasanka.spaces.live.com

Answer 3

Why do you think that memory is consumed by backup? In the normal setup with large databases involved, SQL Server would use as much memory as possible (limited either by memory available on the box or by Max Server Memory setting). Major part of this memory is used by buffer pool (data cache). This behavior is completely normal and generally improve performance of the system (it's way cheaper and faster to get data from the memory rather than from the disk).

So there is nothing to worry about if your sql server consumes a lot of memory. Of course, if you are not using dedicated server you should spend some time tuning Max Server Memory setting to prevent the situation when SQL Server is under memory pressure.

Backup operation is not using buffer pool but rather read data from the database files directly. It's done specifically to prevent the situation when backup flushes buffer pool and degrade the performance. 

---

Thank you!

My blog: http://aboutsqlserver.com

Answer 4

Hi All,

we are dealing with sqlserver.exe taking high memory, iam new to this area does backup process causes high memory usage by sqlserver....

Thanks in advance...

you should adjust the SQL Server memory setting to avoid slowdown of the SQL Server due to page swapping to disk.

see the following page Server Memory Server Configuration Options 

and take a look at the following KB How to determine proper SQL Server configuration settings

 especially the section about Memory.

if you've enough RAM available and no other application than SQL Server is running on the host I would recommand to reserve 1-2GB for the OS

---

Please use Mark as Answer if my post solved your problem and use Vote As Helpful if a post was useful.