There is insufficient system memory in resource pool 'default' to run this query. on sql

Question

I have a running service that gets 50-100 queries per minute. And these are not high cost queries. This service has been running for around 3-4 months without any errors.

Suddenly few days ago it started giving "There is insufficient system memory in resource pool 'default' to run this query." error occasionally. When I investigate the problem I saw that sqlservr.exe was using ~1.5 gb ram and %25 of CPU(all of 1/4CPU). And when I restarted the sqlservr.exe the ram starts from ~50mb and slowly increase till it becomes ~1.5gb then leads to crashes in the apps using it.

After I have made little bit of research I figured that it is caused by the edition of sql server I use. It was express edition limiting the numbers to those. So I have upgraded my sql server from '2008r2 express' to '2012 enterprise'. When I started the service I thought my problems are finally over, since the service uses only ~60mb of memory, but in an hour unfortunately same problem started occurring, but this time the used memory I see on windows task manager is still ~60mb, not excessing any limits.

I use EntityFramework as ORM in a wcf service. And along with it I have SqlQueryNotification(broker and stuff) system for some caching operations.

Am I missing some crucial configuration points? Or 6gbs of memory and my 4 CPU is really not enough for this? But it can't be that because same load was like that for 3 months and there wasn't any error back then, and there is not any change of codes either.

Answer 1

SQL Server will start with as much memory as needed, then slowly ramp up until it uses all allocated to it in the Server Properties:

It will not release any of this memory until the service is restarted; this is by design.

It is generally recommended to leave 2ish GB for the OS, and you need to be mindful of any other processing running on the same server as SQL. It is usually recommended to have SQL Server on it's own server without anything else running there.

That said, 1.5 GB of RAM for SQL Server isn't that much. If you don't have more available, it may be time to add some or upgrade the server.

See also: Technet, Brent Ozar