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How to limit memory on a server

9 messages · Hervy Cyril, Brian Ripley, Duncan Murdoch

Duncan Murdoch
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On 03/10/2012 5:12 AM, Hervy Cyril wrote:
Generally speaking, that's something that the operating system needs to 
enforce.   If you don't know how to do it with your OS, you might get 
some advice here by saying which one it is, but you may have to ask a 
sysadmin at your site.

Duncan Murdoch
Brian Ripley
# 
And your OS is?  See the footer and the 'at a minimum' information the 
posting guide asks for.

I think you are confusing 'memory' and 'RAM': the two concepts are distinct.

But R is not a special case, and you do it the same way as you do this 
for any other process, by your OS facilities.
On 03/10/2012 10:12, Hervy Cyril wrote:

  
    

      
      
    

  


  


      

    

    

      
      

        


  

        

      Hervy Cyril
    

    

      
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My OS is a 64-bit Windows Server 2008 SP2 and I have a sysadmin account on the server.
Thank you.
Best regards

Cyril Hervy


-----Message d'origine-----
De : Duncan Murdoch [mailto:murdoch.duncan at gmail.com] 
Envoy? : mercredi 3 octobre 2012 15:39
? : Hervy Cyril
Cc : R-help (r-help at r-project.org)
Objet : Re: [R] How to limit memory on a server

        
On 03/10/2012 5:12 AM, Hervy Cyril wrote:

            

      
      
      
    

        
Generally speaking, that's something that the operating system needs to 
enforce.   If you don't know how to do it with your OS, you might get 
some advice here by saying which one it is, but you may have to ask a sysadmin at your site.

Duncan Murdoch

  
  


  


      

    

    

      
      

        


  

        

      Hervy Cyril
    

    

      
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My OS is a 64-bit Windows Server 2008 SP2 and I would like to limit RAM usage on the server.
Thank you.
Best regards

Cyril Hervy 

-----Message d'origine-----
De : Prof Brian Ripley [mailto:ripley at stats.ox.ac.uk] 
Envoy? : mercredi 3 octobre 2012 15:43
? : Hervy Cyril
Cc : R-help (r-help at r-project.org)
Objet : Re: [R] How to limit memory on a server

And your OS is?  See the footer and the 'at a minimum' information the posting guide asks for.

I think you are confusing 'memory' and 'RAM': the two concepts are distinct.

But R is not a special case, and you do it the same way as you do this for any other process, by your OS facilities.

        
On 03/10/2012 10:12, Hervy Cyril wrote:

            

      
      
      
    

        

      
      
    

        

  
    

      
      
    

  


  


      

    

    

      
      

        


  

        

      Brian Ripley
    

    

      
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On 03/10/2012 16:12, Hervy Cyril wrote:

            

      
      
      
    

        
Ask your sysadmins, as Duncan Murdoch advised.  R only know about 
virtual memory usage, not RAM usage.

            

      
      
      
    

        

      
      
    

            

      
      
      
    

        

  
    

      
      
    

  


  


      

    

    

      
      

        


  

        

      Duncan Murdoch
    

    

      
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On 03/10/2012 11:07 AM, Hervy Cyril wrote:

            

      
      
      
    

        
Sounds like it's a question for Microsoft (or their web site) then. You 
might want to start here:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc753446.aspx

Duncan Murdoch

            

      
      
      
    

  
  


  


      

    

    

      
      

        


  

        

      Hervy Cyril
    

    

      
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I think R keeps all the data in RAM ? The function memory.limit() refers to the RAM size ?
I will try to configure the OS.

Thanks.
Best regards

Cyril Hervy
 

-----Message d'origine-----
De : Prof Brian Ripley [mailto:ripley at stats.ox.ac.uk] 
Envoy? : mercredi 3 octobre 2012 17:22
? : Hervy Cyril
Cc : R-help (r-help at r-project.org)
Objet : Re: [R] How to limit memory on a server

        
On 03/10/2012 16:12, Hervy Cyril wrote:

            

      
      
      
    

        
Ask your sysadmins, as Duncan Murdoch advised.  R only know about virtual memory usage, not RAM usage.

            

      
      
      
    

        

      
      
    

            

      
      
      
    

        

  
    

      
      
    

  


  


      

    

    

      
      

        


  

        

      Brian Ripley
    

    

      
      #
    

  


  

      
On 04/10/2012 10:07, Hervy Cyril wrote:

            

      
      
      
    

        
You are still confused.  No, memory.limit() refers to virtual memory, 
and a process on a tolerably recent OS does not even know if VM is 
mapped or not without using OS-specific system calls (which R does not).

?memory.limit talks about 'obtainable memory', not RAM.

Because Windows manages VM poorly, R for Windows is set up to try to 
keep its VM usage less than an amount that is likely to be mapped at 
once.  But you can alter that, and with a fast SSD it may be worthwhile 
to do so.

It is not even true that 'R keeps all the data in' *memory*: that's the 
point of lazy-loading.  R objects in packages (including most of R 
itself) are kept on disc databases until actually used.