Analyzing SAP Extended Memory, SAP Heap Memory, and SAP Roll Memory

Fields in the Memory Configuration Monitor

Field	Explanation
CURRENT USE	Amount of memory currently used in the memory area, given in KB and %.
MAX. USE	Maximum amount of this memory area that has been used, in KB, since the SAP instance was started (also known as the high water mark).
IN MEMORY	Amount of main memory allocated to this area at system startup. For the ROLL AREA and the PAGING AREA, this space corresponds to the SAP RoLL BUFFEIR and SAP PAGING BUFFER.
ON DISK	For the ROLL AREA and the PAGING AREA, SAP roll and paging files are created on the hard drive of the application server. The size of these files is indicated here.

When monitoring the SAP memory areas, consider the following Monitoring guidelines:

->For RoLL AREA, the MAx. UsE value should not exceed the corresponding amount in the IN MEMORY column; that is, the roll file should not be used.

->For EXTENDED MEMORY, the MAx. USE value should be at least 20% smaller than the corresponding value in the IN MEMORY column. This ensures that there will continue to be sufficient free extended memory.

Recommendations for the Extended Memory Configuration

Experience has shown that performance is dramatically reduced when SAP extended memory is full. This makes it impossible to work productively in the SAP instances. Therefore, high priority should be given to monitoring the SAP extended memory. You can generally afford to allocate extended memory generously. Unused extended memory is swapped out by t he operating system.
The following applies as a rough rule of t humb:
-> At least 6-10MB of ext ended memory should be allocated to each user.
->Approximately 70-120% of the physical main memory of the computer can be allocated as extended memory.
These guidelines do, of course, depend on the release and the application module. Ensure t hat the swap space on t he operating system is large enough and that the operating system can administer the preferred memory size.

If you detect that the requested roll memory or SAP extended memory requires or exceeds all the memory allocated to these areas at SAP instance startup, you can increase the values in the SAP profile parameters rdisp/ROLL_SHM or em/initial_size_MB . provided there is sufficient physical memory on the computer.