KnowledgeBase Archive

An Archive of Early Microsoft KnowledgeBase Articles

View on GitHub

Q195006: XADM: Resource Failure Error with More Than 800 MB of RAM

Article: Q195006
Product(s): Microsoft Exchange
Version(s): 5.5
Operating System(s): 
Keyword(s): exc55 EXC55SP3Fix
Last Modified: 23-OCT-2000

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The information in this article applies to:

- Microsoft Exchange Server, version 5.5 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------


SYMPTOMS
========

On a very active Exchange Server computer with more than 800 megabytes (MB) of
RAM, Exchange Server may start logging the following error message:

  Event ID: 1160
  Source: MSExchangeIS
  Type: Error
  Description: Database resource failure error Out of memory occurred in
  function "JTAB_BASE::EcCreateIndex" while accessing the database.

NOTE: The items enclosed in double quotes above may differ from case to case.

CAUSE
=====

Exchange Server is attempting to allocate more virtual memory than is available
within the process.

The Microsoft Windows NT virtual memory address space is 4 gigabytes (GB) in size
for each process. This implies that no matter how much physical memory is
installed, a single process has access to only 4 GB of address space. In
addition, Windows NT divides virtual memory into that which is used by the
kernel, and that which is accessible to user-mode (for the application). In
standard Windows NT Server 4.0, a user-mode application (like Store.exe) has
access to 2 GB of virtual memory, and the kernel uses the other 2 GB. In Windows
NT 4.0 Enterprise Edition, a user-mode application has access to 3 GB of virtual
memory, and the kernel gets 1 GB.

All memory allocations for a process come out of the 2 or 3 GB available in the
address space. The address space is not empty when a process loads, many
elements take up space in it immediately. The code itself is loaded into virtual
memory (Store.exe and all the DLLs); a system heap is allocated from this
virtual memory; for every thread created, a 1 MB virtual memory allocation
(typically) is created for the thread stack, and so on.

The net result is that for an individual process, the process will not be able to
allocate a full 2 or 3 GB of virtual memory because some of it is in use.

The Exchange Server 5.5 Performance Wizard (Perfwiz) makes calculations about how
much virtual memory will be used by using the amount of physical RAM as an
indicator. When 2 GB of RAM is physically installed, Perfwiz will assume that it
can allocate up to 2 GB of virtual memory for a process. This amount of virtual
memory may not be free in a process's address space, so attempting to allocate
this much virtual memory may fail.


RESOLUTION
==========

To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Exchange Server
version 5.5. For additional information, please see the following article in the
Microsoft Knowledge Base:

  Q191014 XGEN: How to Obtain the latest Exchange Server 5.5 Service Pack

The English version of this fix should have the following file attributes or
later:

Component: Administrator Program

+--------------------------+
| File name   | Version    | 
+--------------------------+
| Perfwiz.exe | 5.5.2527.0 | 
+--------------------------+

After you add the updated Perfwiz.exe file to the Exchange Server computer, you
need to rerun the Performance Optimizer to readjust your memory settings for the
information store to resolve the 1160 errors.


STATUS
======

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Microsoft Exchange Server
version 5.5. This problem was first corrected in Exchange Server 5.5 Service
Pack 3.


Additional query words: performance optimizer

======================================================================
Keywords          : exc55 EXC55SP3Fix 
Technology        : kbExchangeSearch kbExchange550 kbZNotKeyword2
Version           : :5.5
Issue type        : kbbug
Solution Type     : kbfix

=============================================================================

THE INFORMATION PROVIDED IN THE MICROSOFT KNOWLEDGE BASE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. MICROSOFT DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. IN NO EVENT SHALL MICROSOFT CORPORATION OR ITS SUPPLIERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER INCLUDING DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, LOSS OF BUSINESS PROFITS OR SPECIAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF MICROSOFT CORPORATION OR ITS SUPPLIERS HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF LIABILITY FOR CONSEQUENTIAL OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES SO THE FOREGOING LIMITATION MAY NOT APPLY.