PRB: Event Log Errors in Index Server When 2-GB Process Address Space Is Exhausted (318339)

SYMPTOMS

The following event log errors may occur in Index Server when the 2-gigabyte (GB) process address space is exhausted:

5/10/01,5:49:58 PM,Ci,Error,CI Service ,4124,N/A,Server,Content index on d:\catalog\catalog.wci is corrupt. Please shutdown and restart the Content Index service (cisvc).

5/10/01,5:49:21 PM,Ci,Success Audit,CI Service ,4104,N/A,Server,Master merge has been paused on d:\catalog\catalog.wci due to error 0x80070008. It will be rescheduled later.

CAUSE

This behavior can occur because the dir files associated with each catalog must be mapped into contiguous virtual memory within the 2 GB of CiSvc process address space. If there is insufficient contiguous virtual memory, the catalog fails to start, and therefore the catalog is reported as corrupted and will be deleted.

RESOLUTION

You can use Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server to expand the address space of CiSvc to 3 GB. To do this, follow these steps:

Install Windows 2000 Advanced Server.
Ensure that there is no disc in your computer's CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive.
Run the following command:
ipconfig /release
Search drive C for Cisvc.exe. You will probably find a version in the c:\winnt\servicepackfiles\i386 directory. Rename any copies that you find as Cisvc.bak.
Rename c:\winnt\system32\dllcache\cisvc.exe as c:\winnt\system32\dllcache\cisvc.bak.
Run the following command:
imagecfg -l c:\windows\system32\cisvc.exe
The time and date stamp should be updated to the time and date at which you change the image. The Imagecfg.exe utility is included in Supplement One of the Windows 2000 Resource Kit.
Wait a few minutes, and then verify that the Cisvc.exe file in c:\winnt\system32 is the updated binary with the correct time and date stamp.
Modify the Boot.ini file to enable application memory tuning. To do this, add the /3GB parameter to the ARC path, as follows:
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINNT="Windows 2000 Advanced Server" /3GB
Restart your computer.

MORE INFORMATION

To detect this issue, add up the size of the dir files for each catalog. If the sum exceeds approximately 1.5 GB, the process virtual memory is most likely being exhausted.

1.5 GB is a rough estimate taken from a reproduction of this issue. The number can, and will, vary depending on the sizes of the dir files, the order in which the catalogs load, and virtual memory usage and fragmentation.

Dir files tend to become large when there are custom properties defined that contain a lot of unique words. The number of unique words can be determined on a per-catalog basis by using Perfmon to obtain the unique-keys value for each catalog.