Neil, We had the same problem began to pop up on a few of our SQL servers as well. After working with Tivoli and MS, the start up switch recommended by MS is what we use and have not had any problems out of SQL server backup since implementing the switch.
Regards, Matt Adams Tivoli Storage Manager Team Hermitage Site Tech Deloitte & Touche USA LLP -----Original Message----- From: Neil Schofield [mailto:Neil.Schofield@;YORKSHIREWATER.CO.UK] Sent: Thursday, October 31, 2002 11:07 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: TDP for SQL Backup Issue I've been struggling with a problem with various TDP for SQL clients for about 12 months now. Although it manifests itself when performing TDP backups, the problem is actually with SQL Server's VDI - Microsoft's virtual device interface. The problem occurs when SQL Server's MemToLeave area becomes so badly fragmented that there is insufficient contiguous space to allocate the buffers required for the VDI backups. The result is that TDP backups fail until the server is restarted. When the backups fail, the following error appears in the SQL Server ErrorLog: 2002-10-30 08:50:32.18 kernel BackupVirtualDeviceSet::Initialize: SetConfiguration failure on backup device 'TDPSQL-00000466-0000'. Operating system error -2147024888(error not found). while the following corresponding error occurs in the VDI.LOG: 2002/10/30 08:50:32 pid(567) Error on TDPSQL-00000466-0000 Error at SVDS::SetConfiguration: Map buffers Status Code: 8, x8 Explanation: Not enough storage is available to process this command. Observation suggests that some SQL servers stay up longer than others before the backups start failing. The factors that seem to make the server fail more quickly are: - large amount of data backed up and/or high backup frequency; - large SQLBuffersize parameter in TDPSQL.CFG; - using more than one stripe to perform TDP backups; - many linked server operations; Although I initially suspected a memory leak was causing the problem, I am now satisified that the problem is solely down to memory fragmentation. Microsoft's latest suggestion to alleviate the problem is to increase the MemToLeave area using the '-g' SQL Server startup switch. This was introduced in Service Pack 2 for SQL Server 7.0. The proposal is to increase the value from the default value of 128 to 256 and I'm going to start implementing this tonight. Does anybody have any thoughts on this as a solution? I'm worried that it may be more of a work-round than a fix. Does anybody have experience of this kind of fragmentation who could share their solution. Thanks Neil Schofield Yorkshire Water Services Ltd. Download walkpacks from our website at www.yorkshirewater.com The information in this e-mail is confidential and may also be legally privileged. The contents are intended for recipient only and are subject to the legal notice available at http://www.keldagroup.com/email.htm Yorkshire Water Services Limited Registered Office Western House Halifax Road Bradford BD6 2SZ Registered in England and Wales No 2366682 - This message (including any attachments) contains confidential information intended for a specific individual and purpose, and is protected by law. - If you are not the intended recipient, you should delete this message and are hereby notified that any disclosure, copying, or distribution of this message, or the taking of any action based on it, is strictly prohibited.
