Knowledge Base

Plesk SQL server could not be started: InnoDB: VirtualAlloc failed; Windows error

Symptoms

In an attempt to login to Plesk the following error appears:

PLESK_ERROR: ERROR: Zend_Db_Adapter_Exception: SQLSTATE[HY000] [2002] No connection could be made because the target machine actively refused it.

The Plesk SQL Server is down and cannot be started due to the following error:

Incorrect function (Error code 1) at Start service PleskSQLServer at (service::startStopService line 997)

The next errors can be found in Event Viewer > Windows Logs > Application:

InnoDB: Cannot allocate memory for the buffer pool
 InnoDB: Plugin initialization aborted with error

The following rows appear in the %plesk_dir%MySQLDataexample.com.err file:

InnoDB: Initializing buffer pool, size = 3.0G
 InnoDB: VirtualAlloc(3263692800 bytes) failed; Windows error 8
 InnoDB: Completed initialization of buffer pool 
 InnoDB: Fatal error: cannot allocate memory for the buffer pool

[Note] InnoDB: Initializing buffer pool, total size = 30G, instances = 8, chunk size = 128M
 [Note] InnoDB: VirtualAlloc(137297920 bytes) failed; Windows error 1455
 [ERROR] InnoDB: Cannot allocate memory for the buffer pool 
 [ERROR] InnoDB: Plugin initialization aborted with error Generic error

Cause

Based on the Windows error code (8 and 1455), there are several possible causes of the service failure:

The innodb_buffer_pool_size directive is set to the value larger than free RAM on the server.
The paging file is too small.
RAM fragmentation.

Resolution

Depending on the cause, perform one of the following resolutions:

The “innodb_buffer_pool_size” directive is set to the value larger than free RAM on the server

Connect to the server via RDP.
Check free RAM on the server.
Open the %plesk_dir%MySQLmy.ini file and check the current value of the innodb_buffer_pool_size directive.
Increase free RAM on the server.

Decrease the innodb_buffer_pool_size directive value.

Note: the default innodb_buffer_pool_size directive value is 16M.

In most cases there is no need to increase this directive value more than the %plesk_dir%MySQLData folder size.
Start the Plesk SQL Server.
If the issue with the same error code still occurs, increase free RAM on the server or decrease the innodb_buffer_pool_size directive value even more.

The paging file is too small

Connect to the server via RDP.
Open the %plesk_dir%MySQLmy.ini file and check the current value of the innodb_buffer_pool_size directive.
Open paging file size settings via Start > Control Panel > System > Advanced System Settings > Performance | Settings … > Advanced > Change … and check the Maximum size (MB) directive value:
There are several possible ways for further issue resolving:
- Set innodb_buffer_pool_size to the value less than Maximum size (MB).
- Set Maximum size (MB) to the value more than innodb_buffer_pool_size.
  
  Note: the server reboot is required to apply changes.
- Mark the Automatically manage paging file size for all drivers checkbox.
  
  Note: the server reboot is required to apply changes.
Start the Plesk SQL Server.
If the issue with the same error code still occurs, repeat step 4 and decrease/increase the corresponding value even more…