Exchange Server 2003 performs a memory configuration check when the Information Store starts. Microsoft suggests certain standards for memory limits and allocations. The server will log Event 9665 to indicate the memory configuration is not within those “standards”.

Typically this isn’t a major problem and not worth rushing a reboot for. Even when event 9665 is logged, no performance issues are usually seen unless Exchange is very close to maxing out available memory or CPU on a server. Correct the memory configuration according to the info below and reboot during the next maintenance interval.

Common Cause of Exchange 2003 Event ID 9665:
The most common reason for event 9665 on modern servers is due to the installation of more than 1GB of RAM in a server and not setting the /3GB switch in the boot.ini file. To set this switch go to the System Control Panel > “Advanced” tab > Startup and Recovery “Settings” button > click the “Edit” button to manually edit the startup options file (saved as C:\boot.ini). Add the text “/3GB” to the end of each Windows 2003 or Windows 2000 Advanced server operating system installed on the server (see quoted example below). Do not set this switch on Windows 2000 Standard Server.

[Operating Systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINNT=”Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Standard” /fastdetect /3GB

The /3GB switch setting and all of the less common settings are described in Microsoft’s Optimizing Memory Usage for Exchange Server 2003 article.

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