What is Locking Pages in Memory?

Locking pages in memory refers to the process of preventing specific pages of memory from being paged out to disk by the operating system. This is often used for critical applications that require fast access to data and cannot afford the latency introduced by disk access. By locking pages, applications can ensure that their data remains in physical RAM, thus improving performance and stability. However, excessive use of locked pages can lead to memory pressure, potentially impacting overall system performance.