Setting Per-Process Virtual Memory Limits

Set the process.max-address-space control to limit virtual memory on a per-process basis. See the rctladm(1M) man page for information about setting the process.max-address-space value.

When you use management controls with Sun Cluster software, configure memory limits appropriately to prevent unnecessary failover of applications and a “ping-pong” effect of applications. In general, observe the following guidelines.

• Do not set memory limits too low.

  When an application reaches its memory limit, it might fail over. This guideline is especially important for database applications, when reaching a virtual memory limit can have unexpected consequences.

• Do not set memory limits identically on primary and secondary nodes.

  Identical limits can cause a ping-pong effect when an application reaches its memory limit and fails over to a secondary node with an identical memory limit. Set the memory limit slightly higher on the secondary node. The difference in memory limits helps prevent the ping-pong scenario and gives the system administrator a period of time in which to adjust the parameters as necessary.

• Do use the resource management memory limits for load balancing.

  For example, you can use memory limits to prevent an errant application from consuming excessive swap space.