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Reasons for OutOfMemoryError and PermGen Space Error

"Java.lang.OutOfMemoryError: Java heap space":


When JVM starts JVM heap space is the initial size of Heap specified by -Xms parameter, as application progress objects creates and JVM expands Heap space in Java to accommodate new objects. JVM also run garbage collector to reclaim memory back from dead objects. JVM expands Heap in Java somewhere near to Maximum Heap Size specified by -Xmx and if there is no more memory left for creating new object in java heap , JVM throws java.lang.outofmemoryerror and your application dies. Before throwing OutOfMemoryError No Space in Java Heap, JVM tries to run garbage collector to free any available space but even after that not much space available on Heap in Java it results into OutOfMemoryError.

To resolve this error you need to understand your application object profile i.e. what kind of object you are creating, which objects are taking how much memory etc. you can use profiler or heap analyzer to troubleshoot OutOfMemoryError in Java. "java.lang.OutOfMemoryError: Java heap space" error messages denotes that Java heap does not have sufficient space

      export JVM_ARGS="-Xms1024m -Xmx1024m"


"java.lang.OutOfMemoryError: PermGen space":


JVM default size of Perm Space is around "64MB" you can easily ran out of memory if you have too many classes or huge number of Strings in your project. Important point to remember is that it doesn't depends on -Xmx value so no matter how big your total heap size you can ran OutOfMemory in perm space. Good think is you can specify size of permanent generation using JVM options "-XX:PermSize" and "-XX:MaxPermSize" based on your project need.

Another reason of "java.lang.OutOfMemoryError: PermGen" is memory leak through Classloaders and it's very often surfaced in WebServer and application server like tomcat, webshere, glassfish or weblogic. In Application server different classloaders are used to load different web application so that you can deploy and undeploy one application without affecting other application on same server, but while undeploying if container some how keeps reference of any class loaded by application class loader than that class and all other related class will not be garbage collected and can quickly fill the PermGen space if you deploy and undeploy your application many times. "java.lang.OutOfMemoryError: PermGen" has been observed many times in tomcat in our last project but solution of this problem are really tricky because first you need to know which class is causing memory leak and then you need to fix that. Another reason of OutOfMemoryError in PermGen space is if any thread started by application doesn't exit when you undeploy your application.

      JVM_ARGS="-XX:PermSize=64M -XX:MaxPermSize=256m"