Memory Manager

The Memory Manager object in Microsoft SQL Server provides counters that enable you to monitor overall server memory usage to gauge user activity and resource usage. This can help you identify performance bottlenecks.

For Microsoft SQL Server 2008/2012/2014/2016

Default Collection Interval — Every 15 minutes

Table 1-48 Memory Manager Metrics

Metric	Description
Memory Manager Counter Name (key column)	Performance metric name.
Memory Manager Counter Value	Performance metric value.

The Memory Manager Counter Name key column contains several metrics. The following table provides a list of these metrics and a description for each.

Table 1-49 Memory Manager Counter Name Metrics

Metric	Description
Connection Memory (KB)	Total amount of dynamic memory the server is using for maintaining connections.
Granted Workspace Memory (KB)	Total amount of memory currently granted to executing processes such as hash, sort, bulk copy, and index creation operations.
Lock Memory (KB)	Total amount of dynamic memory the server is using for locks.
Lock Blocks Allocated	Current number of allocated lock blocks. At server startup, the number of allocated lock blocks plus the number of allocated lock owner blocks depends on the SQL Server Locks configuration option. If more lock blocks are needed, the value increases.
Lock Owner Blocks Allocated	Current number of allocated lock owner blocks. At server startup, the number of allocated lock owner blocks plus the number of allocated lock blocks depends on the SQL Server Locks configuration option. If more lock owner blocks are needed, the value increases dynamically.
Lock Blocks	Current number of lock blocks in use on the server (refreshed periodically). A lock block represents an individual locked resource, such as a table, page, or row.
Lock Owner Blocks	Number of lock owner blocks currently in use on the server (refreshed periodically). A lock owner block represents the ownership of a lock on an object by an individual thread. Therefore, if three threads each have a shared (S) lock on a page, there will be three lock owner blocks.
Maximum Workspace Memory (KB)	Maximum amount of memory available for executing processes such as hash, sort, bulk copy, and index creation operations.
Memory Grants Outstanding	Total number of processes per second that have successfully acquired a workspace memory grant.
Memory Grants Pending	Total number of processes per second waiting for a workspace memory grant.
Optimizer Memory (KB)	Total amount of dynamic memory the server is using for query optimization.
SQL Cache Memory (KB)	Total amount of dynamic memory the server is using for the dynamic SQL cache.
Target Server Memory (KB)	Total amount of dynamic memory the server is willing to consume.
Total Server Memory (KB)	Memory allocated to the SQL Server.