For optimal performance, configure the Sorter cache size with a value less than or equal to the amount of available physical RAM on the Integration Service node. Allocate at least 16 MB of physical memory to sort data using the Sorter transformation. The Sorter cache size is set to 16,777,216 bytes by default. If the Integration Service cannot allocate enough memory to sort data, it fails the session.

If the amount of incoming data is greater than the amount of Sorter cache size, the Integration Service temporarily stores data in the Sorter transformation work directory. The Integration Service requires disk space of at least twice the amount of incoming data when storing data in the work directory. If the amount of incoming data is significantly greater than the Sorter cache size, the Integration Service may require much more than twice the amount of disk space available to the work directory.

For example, the following message appears when the Integration Service processes the Sorter transformation:

SORT_40422 End of output from Sorter Transformation [srt_1_Billion_FF]. Processed 999999999 rows (866325637228 input bytes; 868929593344 temp I/O bytes)

In the message, the number of input rows is 999999999 and the size of the input rows is 866325637228.