Score:16

Windows Server 2016 essentials uses only 64 GB even if it sees the whole 128 GB installed

in flag

A client has Windows Server 2016 Essentials. He installed 128 GB RAM in his server. But Windows reports that it uses only 64 GB even if it sees the whole 128 GB installed

Why? What can be done to use the whole RAM available?

Enter image description here

Enter image description here

cn flag
Off topic: Questions should demonstrate reasonable information technology management practices. Questions that relate to unsupported hardware or software platforms or unmaintained environments may not be suitable for Server Fault. - 2016 ended support in Jan 2022.
sn flag
Does [this](https://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/285551/) not apply here?
us flag
@TomTom mainstream support has ended, but extended support runs to 2027. Normal monthly SUs and CUs are still being released.
in flag
@PeterMortensen Generally, yes; in this case, no. The screenshots do not contain anything that needs to be copy&pasted. On the contrary, the screenshots help, as the context and the way the status is displayed helps in the diagnosis.
bzamfir avatar
in flag
@PeterMortensen I don't think the issue with images applies here for two reasons: 1) this is not image of code, and 2) the images are captures of reports from the OS UI which cannot be copied and must show the actual reported info without the possibility of altering it). What would have been the relevance if I just wrote "Installed RAM: 128GB (64GB usable)" ? One might have contest it as "possible altered" ?
Score:39
in flag

The Essentials license limits it to 64 GB. To use the rest of the RAM you need a higher license.

Limits Windows Server 2022 Essentials or later Windows Server 2019 Essentials and earlier
Maximum RAM 128 GB 64 GB

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server-essentials/get-started/hardware-limits

iBug avatar
um flag
This kind of arbitrary and artificial restrictions is a great source of frustration. Nobody loves Linux for no good reason.
MonkeyZeus avatar
in flag
@iBug This kind of arbitrary upgrade performed by an unqualified client receiving support from an underqualified technician is why Windows is so prevalent. The "just use Linux" panacea is precisely why Linux is not loved more universally.
cn flag
"This kind of arbitrary and artificial restrictions is a great source of frustration" - reading what you buy also. Client obviously did not bother to be professional or hire a professional at any level before just plugging in more memory. Also, the 64gb limit was not THAT low at the time this was marketed - which is 8 years ago. In fact, the whole question is off topic as the OS is out of support now ;)
Score:4
in flag

You dodged one bullet here—later versions of Windows Server Essentials also incur a limit on number of cores, whereas Windows Server 2016 is only processor-limited to two physical sockets, with any number of cores on those CPUs.

Simply upgrading this host to a later release of Essentials could constrain you in new ways.

Answer: Your best option is to go to a currently supported OS, and the "standard" version of Windows Server, like Windows Server 2022, which is more expensive than Essentials.

Your customer probably dropped 5 digits of cash on the new hardware, but reused an old license for Windows. Sadly, the software needs a similar increase in spend.


If the host runs acceptably as is, you could take out half the memory and use it in a different host.

Or you could install a virtualisation solution, run Windows essentials with 64 GB allocated, and leave another approximately 60 GB for other virtual machines. However that's putting a lot of eggs in one basket. The plan needs to explore risk, backups, failure scenarios, etc.

Good luck!

cn flag
One big windows server monolith versus a small set of VMs just means you have a few smaller eggs, rather than one enormous egg, in the basket. Rather more robust :)
bzamfir avatar
in flag
@Criggie , if the customer would have dropped 5 digits of cash on hardware, I assure he would got the latest and greatest OS too. Which is not the case. The world is so large and different in economic context, to make any assumption on it.
Score:4
cn flag

The best use of that RAM would be to install a hypervisor (for example, Proxmox, ESXi free edition, or Xen) and run a 64 GB VM with this Windows license, and additional VMs (with either open source operating systems, or other Windows licenses) on the computer. These could, for example, do useful work as a web server, firewall, backup staging server, etc.

bzamfir avatar
in flag
Actually it needs more RAM per instance for SQL server. There is one application that once or twice during the month needs really large RAM, to generate some monthly reports that rendered as PDF and need to be preserved for legal reason (they contain hundred of thousands of records). And this is the moment when the application sometimes give "Out of Memory" - when generating the SSRS report and render to PDF.
cn flag
Is that application off the shelf or bespoke, can you get the developer to fix it? Expecting such amounts of locked(!!!) memory sounds a tad insane.
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