High guest OS memory usage in Task Manager

[vitalsign0]

We have a virtualized Exchange Server that shows 95% of memory in use in Task Manager. However when viewing the VM in vCenter the Active Guest Memeory is only about 30% of the Consumed Host Memory.

Should this be a concern?

[rickardnobel]

vitalsign0 wrote:

We have a virtualized Exchange Server that shows 95% of memory in use in Task Manager. However when viewing the VM in vCenter the Active Guest Memeory is only about 30% of the Consumed Host Memory.

Should this be a concern?

The 95% is the true value. The 30% "active" shows that the VM has in the latest 10-15 minutes accessed 30% of its memory.

[scott_accl]

I doubled the RAM this week and it's still pegged above 95% in Task Manager. Is this normal?

[rickardnobel]

scott_accl wrote:

I doubled the RAM this week and it's still pegged above 95% in Task Manager. Is this normal?

Are you the same as vitalsign0?

As for the RAM usage, it is hard to tell. I have not worked much with Exchange so I can not say how much is typically needed for such a server, but it might that it uses the amount it gets. It would probably be good for performance to load as much of the mailboxes into RAM and reduce the amount of disk IO.

Do you have any Exchange sizing guides around? That might lead you to a suitable amount of RAM compared to your number of mailboxes.