I'm seeing an issue with JDK 1.5.0.17 and higher, as well as 1.6.0.13 and higher on Windows 2003 Server and XP when attempting to start up a JVM with an -Xmx value greater then 1024mb. This is very unusual as we are used to starting up 32-bit JVMs with 1.2GB to 1.5GB and Perm spaces no more then 256mb.

Here's the error message I am getting:

INFO | jvm 1 | 2009/07/28 13:39:12 | Error occurred during initialization of VM
INFO | jvm 1 | 2009/07/28 13:39:12 | Could not reserve enough space for object heap
INFO | jvm 1 | 2009/07/28 13:39:12 | Could not create the Java virtual machine.
ERROR | wrapper | 2009/07/28 13:39:12 | JVM exited while loading the application.

Below are the startup options we are using:

-XX:+AlwaysPreTouch -XX:+DisableExplicitGC -XX:+HeapDumpOnOutOfMemoryError -XX:HeapDumpPath=c:/tomcat/logs/tomcat -XX:+ManagementServer -XX:+MaxFDLimit -XX:MaxHeapSize=1073741824 -XX:MaxPermSize=268435456 -XX:ParallelGCThreads=4 -XX:PermSize=268435456 -XX:PrintCMSStatistics=1 -XX:+PrintCommandLineFlags -XX:+PrintGC -XX:+PrintGCApplicationConcurrentTime -XX:+PrintGCApplicationStoppedTime -XX:+PrintGCDateStamps -XX:+PrintGCDetails -XX:+PrintGCTaskTimeStamps -XX:+PrintGCTimeStamps -XX:+PrintTenuringDistribution -XX:+PrintVMOptions -XX:ThreadStackSize=160 -XX:+TraceClassUnloading -XX:+UseConcMarkSweepGC -XX:+UseParNewGC -XX:+UseTLAB

In the example above we are using java 1.6.0.14. I tried launching the JVM with a smaller Permanent Generation size (1mb) MX values of 1.4g, 1.2g, 1.1g, 1050mb and even 1025mb. Yes that's right, 1mb more then 1GB and guess what happened? I'm not kidding you when I say I could not start the heap. So I have definitely narrowed down that there is a 1GB limitation we are seeing for our MX value.

I then wanted to see what would happen if I used an MX of 1024m, but a PermSize larger. I tried PermSizes of 600m, 512m, 300m and 256m. The only one that would start without a heap reservation issue was the 256mb. I could start with less, but no more then 256mb.

So we have a problem to say the least. I believe the issue is a JDK issue or a Windows issue. Microsoft did just put out a patch for both XP and Windows 2003 a few days ago. I would assume other Windows users would be seeing this issue and reporting problems.

 

 

Turns out the issue was caused by Sophos. Some others had the same issue: http://forums.sun.com/thread.jspa?threadID=5399263

My issue is resolved now.