You experience one or more of the following problems when SQL Server is running on Windows Server 2003 operaing system:

1. SQL Server Hangs
2. Data corruption in SQL Server
3. Exceptions and assertion messages in SQL Server
4. Unexplained Performance degradation

The problem you experience in SQL Server may be a consequence of another problem that exists in a Windows operating system file or a device driver or firmware. You might be experiencing one or more problems listed in the articles under the Resolution section.

Carefully review the following information and apply all the fixes mentioned below.


[Fixes that are included in Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1]
834628  Data is corrupted when PAE is enabled on a Windows Server 2003-based computer (http://kbalertz.com/Feedback.aspx?kbNumber=834628)
895575  A process that runs in the Physical Address Extension (PAE) kernel may experience memory corruption in Windows Server 2003 (http://kbalertz.com/Feedback.aspx?kbNumber=895575)


[Fixes that are included in Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2]
905865 The sizes of the working sets of all the processes in a console session may be trimmed when you use Terminal Services to log on to or log off from a computer that is running Windows Server 2003 (http://kbalertz.com/Feedback.aspx?kbNumber=905865)
920739 You may experience a decrease in overall system performance when you are copying files that are larger than approximately 500 MB in Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 or Service Pack 2 (http://kbalertz.com/Feedback.aspx?kbNumber=920739)
916467 Support for Itanium-based processors that use a large instruction cache in Windows Server 2003 (http://kbalertz.com/Feedback.aspx?kbNumber=916467)
909532 Microsoft SQL Server 2005 query results may be incorrect on a Microsoft Windows Server 2003-based computer (http://kbalertz.com/Feedback.aspx?kbNumber=909532)
905205 You may receive a "STOP: 0x000000D1" error message, the computer may stop responding, and data may become corrupted after you install the hotfix that is described in Microsoft Knowledge Base article 835166 on a computer that is running Windows Server 2003 (http://kbalertz.com/Feedback.aspx?kbNumber=905205)


[Fixes that are not included in Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2]
931308 You may experience increased paging to the hard disk when you run an SAP R/3 program on a Windows Server 2003-based computer (http://kbalertz.com/Feedback.aspx?kbNumber=931308)
942486 The System process may consume most of the available system memory on a multiprocessor computer that is running Windows Server 2003 (http://kbalertz.com/Feedback.aspx?kbNumber=942486)
938486 A Windows Server 2003-based computer becomes unresponsive because of a memory manager trimming operation that is caused by an indeterminate module that requests lots of memory (http://kbalertz.com/Feedback.aspx?kbNumber=938486)
950224 A Scalable Networking Pack (SNP) hotfix rollup package is available for Windows Server 2003 (http://kbalertz.com/Feedback.aspx?kbNumber=950224)
940467: MMC stops responding, or you cannot access VDS-dependent tools after you install the Storport storage driver from Microsoft Knowledge Base article 932755 in Windows Server 2003 (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;940467)
 950903: The system may not detect that a logical unit was replaced on a Windows Server 2003-based computer (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;950903)
Note: This fix is closely related to the following two KB articles. You have to review all these issues [driver and firmware fix] with the hardware vendor and take appropriate action.
- 969550: A Stop error occurs on an HP ProLiant server that has the firmware from an E200/E200i HP Smart Array SAS/SATA controller installed on any Windows Server platform (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;969550)
- 940015: You receive a Stop error message after you install update 932755 or 941276 on an HP ProLiant server that is running Storport in Windows Server 2003 (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;940015)


Many of these issues are addressed in Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2. It is recommended that if you are running SQL Server on Windows Server 2003, you apply Service Pack 2 to address these problems. After installing the Service Pack 2 for Windows Server 2003, apply the neccessary fixes discussed above.

[Fixes for modules shipped by other vendors]
Integrated Lights-Out Management (iLO) Interface Driver for Windows May Cause the System to Become Unresponsive if the Driver Does Not Allocate Extra Contiguous Memory Blocks Under the 4 GB Space (http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&objectID=c00688313&jumpid=reg_R1002_USEN)
Windows stop error or an application hang on servers with a SAS backplane, Microsoft Windows 2000 or 2003 and our Dell OpenManage Server Administrator Storage Management Software (OMSS) (http://support.us.dell.com/support/downloads/download.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=gen&releaseid=R149172&formatcnt=4&libid=0&fileid=198179)
If you are using a network adapter that uses a Broadcom chipset, contact your vendor for updates to the network adapter drivers. This is in addition to the Scalable Networking Pack fix [KBA 950224] mentioned above. Ensure that network adapter drivers are later than 4.4.xx version. For more information about how these specific network adapters are related to the Scalable Networking Pack issues we have seen, please refer to the article : Error message when an application connects to SQL Server on a server that is running Windows Server 2003: "General Network error," "Communication link failure," or "A transport-level error" (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;942861) .

SQL Server 2008 R2 BPA Information

The SQL Server 2008 R2 Best Practice Analyzer (SQL Server 2008 R2 BPA) provides a rule to detect situations where the SQL Server instance is running on a server that contains drivers or Operating System files with known issues. The SQL Server 2008 R2 BPA supports both SQL Server 2008 and SQL Server 2008 R2. 

If you run the BPA tool and encounter a Warning with the title of Database Engine - Storport driver fix from KBA 940467 missing, then you need to review the information from KB article 940467 and apply the storport fix.

If you run the BPA tool and encounter a Warning with the title of Database Engine - Storport driver fix from KBA 950903 missing, then you need to review the information from KB articles 950903, 969550 and 940015 and apply the storport fix along with the firmware fix.

If you run the BPA tool and encounter a Warning with the title of Database Engine - Windows service pack not at recommended level, then you need to review the information from this article and apply the Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2.

If you run the BPA tool and encounter a Error with the title of Database Engine - LSI_SAS drivers needs update, then you need to review the Dell advisory for SAS backplane and update the required drivers.

If you run the BPA tool and encounter an Error with the title of Database Engine -Operating System files and drivers needs update for working set trimming, then you need to review the fixes [905865,920739,931308,942486,938486,950224,HP Intergated Lights-Out driver fix and BroadCom updates] discussed in the Resolution section of this article and apply them. For more information about this problem, please refer to the article: How to reduce paging of buffer pool memory in the 64-bit version of SQL Server (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;918483) .


References


The third-party products that this article discusses are manufactured by companies that are independent of Microsoft. Microsoft makes no warranty, implied or otherwise, about the performance or reliability of these products.

Note This is a "FAST PUBLISH" article created directly from within the Microsoft support organization. The information contained herein is provided as-is in response to emerging issues. As a result of the speed in making it available, the materials may include typographical errors and may be revised at any time without notice. See Terms of Use (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=151500) for other considerations.