W3WP memory usage

[Sean]

I have two win2003 sp1 servers running iis 6.0 running the same application.
When I connected to the first server a W3WP process (application pool is
created) whoose size is approax 14MB When I connect to the other machine the
size is approx 114MB. Does anyone have any idea what the extra 100 MB is
being used for

One Thing to note .NEt 1.1 was installed on the server consuming the 100MB.
I have removed the extension and uninstalkled the Asp Net componment from
machine.


I have looked at the metabase of both servers and they seem to be the same.

Can anyone help.?

I believe it maybe a throw back to the .Net installation but am at a loss.

 

[Bob Barrows [MVP]]

I have two win2003 sp1 servers running iis 6.0 running the same
application. When I connected to the first server a W3WP process
(application pool is created) whoose size is approax 14MB When I
connect to the other machine the size is approx 114MB. Does anyone
have any idea what the extra 100 MB is being used for

One Thing to note .NEt 1.1 was installed on the server consuming the
100MB. I have removed the extension and uninstalkled the Asp Net
componment from machine.


I have looked at the metabase of both servers and they seem to be the
same.

Can anyone help.?

I believe it maybe a throw back to the .Net installation but am at a
loss.

I don't know why it is larger (could you have debugging enabled on one
but not the other?), but am wondering why the extra size is a problem
for you.

 

[Anthony Jones]

I have two win2003 sp1 servers running iis 6.0 running the same
application.
When I connected to the first server a W3WP process (application pool is
created) whoose size is approax 14MB When I connect to the other machine
the
size is approx 114MB. Does anyone have any idea what the extra 100 MB is
being used for

One Thing to note .NEt 1.1 was installed on the server consuming the
100MB.
I have removed the extension and uninstalkled the Asp Net componment from
machine.


I have looked at the metabase of both servers and they seem to be the
same.

Can anyone help.?

I believe it maybe a throw back to the .Net installation but am at a loss.

Are the servers otherwise identitical? Are there other demands for memory
on one but not the other?

Is this something you observe when both apps are idle bar a simple visit to
initiate the process?

 

[Sean]

It is not that much of a problem when you have one or two app pools, but in
production we have 8 app pools. So the first user to each pool automtahcially
allocates 100MB to the pool. With 8 pools active that mounts up. What I am
wondering is how the WPW3 process will behave when it does its next
allocation. Is it going to go up by 100MB or 64MB. OPUr pools peak at 300MB
during high demand.

We have been looking at this for over a week and cant seem to find any
explaination excpet our own theory that having had .Net on the production
machine the W3WP process is loading extra DLL's a filters even though we have
removed .Net, removed any filters associated with .nmet from the virtual dir
and droped any http headers etc that were setup.


JUst to elobrate a bit more the W3WP process goes to 114MB when the FIRST
user touches the DEFAULT.ASP page. We are loading a COM in this page but yet
again we load the same COM on the other box and onlky use 14MB when the first
user touches the page.

Any Help appreciated as we are a bit stumbled.

 

[Sean]

Yes except the box that uses 14MB is also running SQL server.
The Box that runs at 114MB is connecting to another box for its SQL server.
We are using MFC and ODBC to connect to the SQL server machines in both cases.

The FIRST invocation on the producation box sends the W3WP app pool to 114MB
and on the second box to 14MB. THe Eaxtra 100MB never seems to be returned.

 

[Sean]

Both environments ar eusing the TCPIP client library to access SQL

 

[Sean]

JUst tried to take SQL server out of the loop by modify the ASP page just to
display hello and then exit. The W3WP process still uses 113MB for first user
on.

Thans for any help or pointers.

 

[Anthony Jones]

Yes except the box that uses 14MB is also running SQL server.

Thats the likely answer. SQL Server will be taking a lot of memory (it will
take what ever isn't in demand elsewhere). The web stuff is taking a
conservative amount because it looks like a lot of memory is being used
elsewhere (SQL server has it).

On the other box more idle memory is available so the web stuff is being
less conservative.

You can't assume that the amount of memory taken by a process is the amount
it must have to work correctly. Many mature technologies such as SQL Server
and IIS will observe how much pressure physical memory is under and lazily
just grab more because there is plenty to be had or cut back because there
are other demands for it.

 

[Bob Barrows [MVP]]

I think the point that Anthony was making was that the application pool
is supposed to be taking 100+ MB. The only reason it wasn't on the first
machine is that SQL Server was grabbing all available memory (as it is
configured to do by default).

 

[Sean]

My post was before Anthonys.

I will check this out by install Sql Server on the same box. However, I dont
belive that is the problem. We have other sites where sql server is on a
second box and IIS on the 1st. In this case it only uses 14Mb at startup.

Aidan

 

[Sean]

Thanks for your help.. I found the problem ..
Server in production had McAfee 8.0 installed.
Uninstalled the McAfee software and W3WP now starts at 14M

Doo you know if AVG iworks well with W3WP process or anything to watch out
for as McAfee 8.0X seems to be a no no.

Thanks

Aidan