RamDisk console and SQL service dependency

Hello,

We are planning to add the RamDisk solution in our SQL servers to use it with TempDBLog and TempDBData Disks. The first tests went well, but now we have to make sure that RamDisk creates drives before SQL server starts. So I created a RamDisk service using sc and RamDisk command line:

sc create DB_Ramdrive_S error= ignore start= auto binPath= "\"c:\Program Files\SoftPerfect RAM Disk\ramdiskc.exe\" /add:S /size:51200m /fs:NTFS /label:TempDBLog_RMFS /hdd"

When I start the service it takes 25 to 30 sec to start, it creates the drive then turns to sopped status with an Error 1053 message. Event viewer:

7009:
A timeout was reached (300000 milliseconds) while waiting for the DB_Ramdrive_S service to connect.
7000:
The DB_Ramdrive_S service failed to start due to the following error:
The service did not respond to the start or control request in a timely fashion

I tried to fix it by changing the ServicesPipeTimeout DWORD Value to 180000, doesn't work too. Then i added the dependency config:

sc config MSSQL$MDW depend= DB_Ramdrive_S

When i rebooted the server i found the RamDrive was created fine, but when i checked the sql service i found it not working (Stop). Event viewer:

7001:
The MSSQL$MDW service depends on the DB_Ramdrive_S service which failed to start because of the following error:
The service did not respond to the start or control request in a timely fashion.

I know that the creation of the ramdrive takes only 25 sec and the error message appear after the service turn to stop status, and provoke the dependency block. I don't know how to resolve this problem, could you help me?

thx
Oussema

There is no need to play with the ramdiskc console utility in this scenario. It's not designed to be a service, nor can it be one.

You can simply define a boot-time RAM disk to be mounted by our driver during system boot. It starts before any services are initialised. See Disk - Add Boot Disk in the RAM Disk's main menu.

In some cases MS SQL can start before a RAM Disk has fully initialised. This can be worked around by delaying MS SQL's startup via changing the MSSQL Service startup type from Automatic to Automatic (Delayed Start) in Services.msc. This would cause the server to start a bit later, after all automatic services have started, at which point the RAM Disk should be available.

Hi Andrew,

Thanks a lot for your quick response,

Regards,
Oussema.