INF: sp_configure Parameters Affect Memory Usage by SQL Server (61792)

This article was previously published under Q61792

There are certain parameters (for example, sp_configure parameters) that effect the minimum amount of memory required by SQL Server. You should be aware of their effects on memory, and set the values only as high as needed. This will conserve memory, making more memory available for cache, and improve performance.

Below are the relevant parameters for SQL Server version 4.2. This information is also applicable to versions 1.1 and 1.11; however, the devices parameter is not used in those versions.

   Parameter           Value
   ---------           -----
   user connections    37K per user

   locks               32 bytes per lock (1000 locks costs about 32K)

   open objects        70 bytes per object (100 objects cost about 7K)

   open databases      About 1K (908 bytes) for each

   devices             About 41,400 bytes (21 pages) per device