how to overcome the Java VM start error (space for object heap)

[J. Wilkes]

I'm trying to install JIRA 5.5.1-standalone from archive and keep getting these errors:

> Error occurred during initialization of VM
> Could not reserve enough space for object heap
> Could not create the Java virtual machine.

I created a new OpenVZ container with debian lenny, allocated it a full 1.5GB of RAM, installed the sun-java6-jre and set the paths. "java -version" shows

# java -version

java version "1.6.0_26"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0_26-b03)
Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build 20.1-b02, mixed mode)

I followed the installation instructions and got these error messages.

> Error occurred during initialization of VM
> Could not reserve enough space for object heap
> Could not create the Java virtual machine.

After reading several postings about similar issues, i modified the setenv.sh and set the JVM_MINIMUM_MEMORY ot 768m and the JVM_MAXIMUL_MEMORY to 1500 even, but no success.

What am I doing wrong, and what should I change to make JIRA start?

[J. Wilkes · Accepted solution]

Just FYI, maybe it's helpful for somebody else:

my fresh install of JIRA 5.5.1 takes between 2.1 and 2.3 GB of RAM, with 0 issues and standard plugin set.

[Daniel Dropik]

I had an identical error. I was running both jira and bamboo from the same virtual private server with only 2GB of RAM. When I stopped running Jira, I was able to use bamboo as normal. I also had similar problems when trying to install both Bamboo and Jira on my 2GB RAM vps, so I suppose that reinforces an obvious point, make sure you have plenty of System RAM available for these products.

[Jobin Kuruvilla [Adaptavist]]

Looks like you are using JDK 32-bit version. If so, you cannnot assign a Heap size more than 1.2GB or something.

Either use a 64 bit JDK or try with 1.2G as the max heap size.

[J. Wilkes]

Yes, I was.

I now tried to increase the overall RAM size to 2GB for the VM, and - lo and behold - it started! But a memory usage of 1891MB virtual strikes me as odd. Is this as it should be? The JVM_MAXIMUM_MEMORY is still at "1200m" as given above, 1891 > 1200

While I am happy I got a step further, I still got the feeling something is wrong.

[J. Wilkes]

JVM_MINIMUM_MEMORY="512m"
JVM_MAXIMUM_MEMORY="1024m"

and

JVM_MINIMUM_MEMORY="512m"
JVM_MAXIMUM_MEMORY="1200m"

no success there.

[Jobin Kuruvilla [Adaptavist]]

Are you sure you have memory left to allocate?

[J. Wilkes]

Now it's JIRA Startup failed: Error occurred while starting Plugin Manager.

With these lines in the catalina.log:

# There is insufficient memory for the Java Runtime Environment to continue.
# Native memory allocation (malloc) failed to allocate 65544 bytes for Chunk::ne

Is this correct - JIRA not satisfied with 2GB of RAM on a fresh install? Or is there something else I should check?

[J. Wilkes]

Well, it's working now (so-so) and I am grateful for you pointing out the Heap size limit. Thank you!