Running SQL Server with Hyper-V Dynamic Memory - Best Practices and Considerations

Authors: Mike Ruthruff, Xin Jin, Serdar Sutay

Contributors: Tom Brown (DBBest Technologies), Guy Bowerman, Lindsey Allen, Prem Mehra

Technical Reviewers: Madhan Arumugam, Rohan Kumar, Vinay Kulkarni (IBM), Mike Lawson (IBM), Eduardo Freitas (Hitachi Data Systems)

Published: August 2011

Applies to: SQL Server versions and editions that support dynamic memory. Details about this support are discussed in detail within this document and references specific to support can be found in the appendix section. Note: All tests were performed on SQL Server 2008 R2.

Summary:
Memory is a critical resource to Microsoft SQL Server workloads, especially in a virtualized environment where resources are shared and contention for shared resources can lead to negative impact on the workload. Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 introduced Hyper-V Dynamic Memory, which enables virtual machines to make more efficient use of physical memory resources. Hyper-V Dynamic Memory treats memory as a shared resource that can be reallocated automatically among running virtual machines. There are unique considerations that apply to virtual machines that run SQL Server workloads in such environments. This whitepaper provides insight into considerations and best practices for running SQL Server 2008 R2 in Hyper-V Dynamic Memory configurations on Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1.

To continue reading, please download the whitepaper: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh372970.aspx