Server 2008 R2 - Metafile (as seen from sysinternals RAMMap) increases Memory usage Rapidly
We are seeing a 2008 R2 server running increase its Metafile usage (as indicated via RAMMAP) rapidly from around 1 GB to 8Gb. Is there a way to break down this usage so that it is possible to see what is causing this RAM increase? What are the likely causes for this increase? Thanks
April 7th, 2011 5:36am

zoics, did you find what was causing your issue? I have a WS08R2 that has this same issue. The server is running Hyland Onbase which basically has tons of image files that our users search in IE. If we reboot the server the metafile memory usage goes away; but over time it grows and grows; currently its around 9 of the 12GB the server has. We start having performance issues when it grows to this size. It makes sense that windows is caching the metadata for the files accessed but i need to determine if this is a windows issue or an application issue. Thanks in advance for any help!
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May 11th, 2011 11:34am

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/windowsserver2008r2general/thread/74c2c9ca-f8c1-4c37-bc8c-cd074ce0c6cd
October 20th, 2011 3:21pm

Hi, we have the same issue. The link you have posted only discusses the issue, but offers no solutions. Our server, 2008 R2 STD SP1 with all patches up to date, eats up all RAM nightly as a result of TSM backup agent. As indicated by RAMMap Metafile Standby cache grows to almost 8GB, physical RAM size on our physical server. At this point the server becomes very slow and barely usable. We have noticed that resetting NIC clears all this cache. Unfortunately, this is not a permanent solution. Also, during the course of a day, large amount of relatively small files is either copied to or retrieved from this file server by Windows 7 client PCs. This causes Mapped File Standby cache to grow and eat up all FREE memory as listed by Performance monitor. This makes the server unusable too. The same trick with resetting NIC solves the problem. The server has the latest HP Support Pack and firmware installed. Does anyone have a solution to this issue?
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November 3rd, 2011 7:43pm

We also have a server with Hyland Onbase and I am running into the high Metafile usage as well as high Driver Locked memory usage. I believe the Driver Locked memory usage has something to do with the VM Tools installed on this server. But I am wondering if you ever came to a solution with the high Metafile usage? Thanks for your help.
December 28th, 2011 10:58am

I am having the same problem with TSM on Server 2008 R2 doing an image backup. There might be a fix from Microsoft, but it looks like you have to open a support case (which is TOTALLY bunk). They CLAIM the issue was fixed in Server 2008 R2, but we all know that is not true... There is an article on it: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/976618/en-us Which points you to the download for the Microsoft Windows Dynamic Cache Service: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=9258 Problem is, it will not work on Server 2008 R2. The article directs people with R2 to open a case. I used the RAMMap utiliy from Sysinternals to clear it out, but that is a manual process...
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September 19th, 2012 2:04pm

I got a copy of the Microsoft Windows Dynamic Cache Service made for Server 2008 R2 from Microsoft yesterday, thanks to my MSDN subscription. I just wish they would have made it public, so I wouldnt've had to burn a support case. It seems to have helped, but the Metafile usage still stays high; it is not clearing it out after everything is done. All it seems to have done is lower the total amount consumed. I still have yet to run another backup to see if it re-uses that space, or just overloads the server... I have also had limited success with using the CacheSet utility from Sysinternals: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897561 Using it from the command line, you can initiate a "flush" by running: CacheSet.exe 1 1 There is a discussion on other options using CacheSet on the Sysinternals forum: http://forum.sysinternals.com/topic13879_post136983.html#136983
September 21st, 2012 2:52pm

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