On Tue, 14 Dec 2004, Hans J. Baumgartner wrote:
> Dear statalist,
>
> I�ve got new data that requires a lot of memory, i.e. >4 GB.
>
> My system administrator told me that Stata would not be able to handle
> more than 2 GB physical memory and that each extra memory has to be
> virtual.
We have a Sparc/Solaris box with 8 gigabytes of memory, the largest
workspace that Stata would allocate was 4077m prior to Stata 8. It isn't
clear why virtual memory wasn't allocatable, but it is not be desirable,
as any disk swapping slows down the system by several orders of magnitude
and prevents other processes from making progress. Stata 8 does seem to
allocate out of virtual memory and that is a problem when users don't
realize what is happening. My impression is that our 16 gigabyte system is
good for workspaces up to about 8 gigabytes, but it came after Stata 8
did. Any attempt to work with a larger workspace will make the system
appear to be nearly dead. Logins will take several minutes, etc.
Inexpensive Linux boxes are available with 8 gigabytes, but you would need
a 64-bit Linux to have a large Stata workspace. Linux limits a user job to
a about 60% of physical memory, but that is a tunable parameter, so that
if you had sufficient knowledge you could probably get 4 gigabytes out of
a 6 gigabyte system. A 4 gigabyte linux box will only provide a bit over 2
gig, similar to windows.
I see 16 gigabyte Linux systems advertised, but must be extremely rare.
64-bit Windows does not yet exist, as was mentioned earlier.
Daniel Feenberg
>
> Has anybody some experience to share with "memory eating data"?
>
> My aim is to get 4 or even 8 GB of physical memory but if my system
> operator is right, than we can save that money.
>
> Thanks for all comments on this.
> Hans
>
>
*
* For searches and help try:
* http://www.stata.com/support/faqs/res/findit.html
* http://www.stata.com/support/statalist/faq
* http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/stata/
