Memory and Disk Space Requirements
MarkLogic Server requires at least 2 GB of system memory.
The first time it runs, MarkLogic Server automatically configures itself to the amount of memory on the system, reserving as much as it can for its own use. If you need to change the default configuration, you can manually override these defaults at a later time using the Admin Interface.
MarkLogic recommends the following two guidelines for server sizing:
Configure your server with 1 GB of physical memory for every 16 GB of source content you expect to manage.
Configure your server with at least one CPU (or core) per 100 GB of source content.
Pragmatically, we recommend running most configurations with a minimum of two CPUs (or two cores).
MarkLogic Server requires 1.5 times the disk space of the total forest size. Specifically, each forest on a filesystem requires its filesystem to have at least 1.5 times the forest size in disk space (or, for each forest less than 48 GB, 3 times the forest size) when the merge max size database merge setting is set to the default of 48 GB. This translates to approximately 1.5 times the disk space of the source content after it is loaded. For example, if you plan on loading content that will result in a 200 GB database, reserve at least 300 GB of disk space. The disk space reserve is required for merges.
It is critical for swap space to be properly configured on your system according to the recommendations for your platform. For more details about memory, disk, and swap requirements, see Memory, Disk Space, and Swap Space Requirements in Installing MarkLogic Server.
* You need at least 2 times the merge max size of free space per forest, regardless of the forest size. Therefore, with the default merge max size of 48 GB, you need at least 96 GB of free space. Additionally, if your journals are not yet created, you need 2 times the journal size of free disk space (if the journal space is not yet allocated). Therefore, to be safe, you need (with the default merge max size and a 2G journal size) at least 100 GB of free space for each forest, no matter what size the forest is.