The jmap Utility

2.14 The jmap Utility

The jmap command-line utility prints memory-related statistics for a running VM or core file.

The utility can also use the jsadebugd daemon to query a process or core file on a remote machine. Note: The output takes longer to print in this case.

The release of JDK 8 introduced Java Mission Control, Java Flight Recorder, and jcmd utility for diagnosing problems with JVM and Java applications. It is suggested to use the latest utility, jcmd instead of the previous jmap utility for enhanced diagnostics and reduced performance overhead.

If jmap is used with a process or core file without any command-line options, then it prints the list of shared objects loaded (the output is similar to the pmap utility on Oracle Solaris operating system). For more specific information, you can use the options -heap, -histo, or -permstat. These options are described in the subsections that follow.

In addition, the JDK 7 release introduced the -dump:format=b,file=filename option, which causes jmap to dump the Java heap in binary HPROF format to a specified file. This file can then be analyzed with the jhat tool.

If the jmap pid command does not respond because of a hung process, then the -F option can be used (on Oracle Solaris and Linux operating systems only) to force the use of the Serviceability Agent.

For more details on the jmap utility, see the jmap command man page.

The following sections describe jmap command usage and troubleshooting techniques with examples that print memory-related statistics for a running VM or a core file.

2.14.1 Heap Configuration and Usage

The -heap option is used to obtain the following Java heap information:

• Information specific to the garbage collection (GC) algorithm, including the name of the GC algorithm (for example, parallel GC) and algorithm-specific details (such as number of threads for parallel GC).

• Heap configuration that might have been specified as command-line options or selected by the VM based on the machine configuration.

• Heap usage summary: For each generation (area of the heap), the tool prints the total heap capacity, in-use memory, and available free memory. If a generation is organized as a collection of spaces (for example, the new generation), then a space specific memory size summary is included.

shows output from the jmap -heap command.

Example 2-22 Java Heap Information from jmap -heap Command

$ 
Attaching to process ID 29620, please wait...
Debugger attached successfully.
Client compiler detected.
JVM version is 1.6.0-rc-b100

using thread-local object allocation.
Mark Sweep Compact GC

Heap Configuration:
   MinHeapFreeRatio = 40
   MaxHeapFreeRatio = 70
   MaxHeapSize      = 67108864 (64.0MB)
   NewSize          = 2228224 (2.125MB)
   MaxNewSize       = 4294901760 (4095.9375MB)
   OldSize          = 4194304 (4.0MB)
   NewRatio         = 8
   SurvivorRatio    = 8
   PermSize         = 12582912 (12.0MB)
   MaxPermSize      = 67108864 (64.0MB)

Heap Usage:
New Generation (Eden + 1 Survivor Space):
   capacity = 2031616 (1.9375MB)
   used     = 70984 (0.06769561767578125MB)
   free     = 1960632 (1.8698043823242188MB)
   3.4939673639112905% used
Eden Space:
   capacity = 1835008 (1.75MB)
   used     = 36152 (0.03447723388671875MB)
   free     = 1798856 (1.7155227661132812MB)
   1.9701276506696428% used
From Space:
   capacity = 196608 (0.1875MB)
   used     = 34832 (0.0332183837890625MB)
   free     = 161776 (0.1542816162109375MB)
   17.716471354166668% used
To Space:
   capacity = 196608 (0.1875MB)
   used     = 0 (0.0MB)
   free     = 196608 (0.1875MB)
   0.0% used
tenured generation:
   capacity = 15966208 (15.2265625MB)
   used     = 9577760 (9.134063720703125MB)
   free     = 6388448 (6.092498779296875MB)
   59.98769400974859% used
Perm Generation:
   capacity = 12582912 (12.0MB)
   used     = 1469408 (1.401336669921875MB)
   free     = 11113504 (10.598663330078125MB)
   11.677805582682291% usedjmap -heap 29620

2.14.2 Heap Histogram

The jmap command with the -histo option can be used to obtain a class specific histogram of the heap. Depending on the parameter specified, the jmap -histo command can print out the heap histogram for a running process or a core file.

When the command is executed on a running process, the tool prints the number of objects, memory size in bytes, and fully qualified class name for each class. Internal classes in the Java HotSpot VM are enclosed in angle brackets. The histogram is useful in understanding how the heap is used. To get the size of an object, you must divide the total size by the count of that object type.

shows output from the jmap -histo command when it is executed on a process with PID number 29620.

Example 2-23 Class Specific Histogram of Java Heap for a Process

$ 
num   #instances    #bytes  class name
--------------------------------------
  1:      1414     6013016  [I
  2:       793      482888  [B
  3:      2502      334928  <constMethodKlass>
  4:       280      274976  <instanceKlassKlass>
  5:       324      227152  [D
  6:      2502      200896  <methodKlass>
  7:      2094      187496  [C
  8:       280      172248  <constantPoolKlass>
  9:      3767      139000  [Ljava.lang.Object;
 10:       260      122416  <constantPoolCacheKlass>
 11:      3304      112864  <symbolKlass>
 12:       160       72960  java2d.Tools$3
 13:       192       61440  <objArrayKlassKlass>
 14:       219       55640  [F
 15:      2114       50736  java.lang.String
 16:      2079       49896  java.util.HashMap$Entry
 17:       528       48344  [S
 18:      1940       46560  java.util.Hashtable$Entry
 19:       481       46176  java.lang.Class
 20:        92       43424  javax.swing.plaf.metal.MetalScrollButton
... more lines removed here to reduce output...
1118:         1           8  java.util.Hashtable$EmptyIterator
1119:         1           8  sun.java2d.pipe.SolidTextRenderer
Total    61297    10152040jmap -histo 29620

When the jmap -histo command is executed on a core file, the tool prints the size, count, and class name for each class. Internal classes in the Java HotSpot VM are prefixed with an asterisk (*).

shows output of the jmap -histo command when it is executed on a core file.

Example 2-24 Histogram of Java Heap for a Core File

& 
Attaching to core core from executable /net/koori.sfbay/onestop/jdk/6.0/
promoted/all/b100/binaries/solaris-sparcv9/bin/java, please wait...
Debugger attached successfully.
Server compiler detected.
JVM version is 1.6.0-rc-b100
Iterating over heap. This may take a while...
Heap traversal took 8.902 seconds.

Object Histogram:

Size    Count    Class description
-------------------------------------------------------
4151816    2941    int[]
2997816    26403    * ConstMethodKlass
2118728    26403    * MethodKlass
1613184    39750    * SymbolKlass
1268896    2011    * ConstantPoolKlass
1097040    2011    * InstanceKlassKlass
882048    1906    * ConstantPoolCacheKlass
758424    7572    char[]
733776    2518    byte[]
252240    3260    short[]
214944    2239    java.lang.Class
177448    3341    * System ObjArray
176832    7368    java.lang.String
137792    3756    java.lang.Object[]
121744    74    long[]
72960    160    java2d.Tools$3
63680    199    * ObjArrayKlassKlass
53264    158    float[]
... more lines removed here to reduce output...jmap -histo /net/koori.sfbay/onestop/jdk/6.0/promoted/all/b100/binaries/solaris-sparcv9/bin/java core

2.14.3 Permanent Generation Statistics

The permanent generation is the area of the heap that holds all the reflective data of the virtual machine itself, such as class and method objects. This area is also called "method area" in The Java Virtual Machine Specification.

Configuring the size of the permanent generation can be important for applications that dynamically generate and load a very large number of classes (for example, Java Server Pages or web containers). If an application loads too many classes, then it is possible it will terminate with the following error:

Exception in thread thread_name java.lang.OutOfMemoryError: PermGen space

For a description of this and other variants of the OutOfMemoryError exception, see Understand the OutOfMemoryError Exception.

To get further information about the permanent generation, you can use the -permstat option of the jmap command to print statistics for the objects in the permanent generation.

shows output from the jmap -permstat command executed on a process with PID number 29620.

Example 2-25 Permanent Generation Statistics of Java Heap for a Process

$ 
Attaching to process ID 29620, please wait...
Debugger attached successfully.
Client compiler detected.
JVM version is 1.6.0-rc-b100
12674 intern Strings occupying 1082616 bytes.
finding class loader instances ..Unknown oop at 0xd0400900
Oop's klass is 0xd0bf8408
Unknown oop at 0xd0401100
Oop's klass is null
done.
computing per loader stat ..done.
please wait.. computing liveness.........................................done.
class_loader    classes bytes   parent_loader   alive?  type

<bootstrap>     1846 5321080  null        live   <internal>
0xd0bf3828  0      0      null         live    sun/misc/Launcher$ExtClassLoader@0xd8c98c78
0xd0d2f370  1    904      null         dead    sun/reflect/DelegatingClassLoader@0xd8c22f50
0xd0c99280  1   1440      null         dead    sun/reflect/DelegatingClassLoader@0xd8c22f50
0xd0b71d90  0      0   0xd0b5b9c0    live java/util/ResourceBundle$RBClassLoader@0xd8d042e8
0xd0d2f4c0  1    904      null         dead    sun/reflect/DelegatingClassLoader@0xd8c22f50
0xd0b5bf98  1    920   0xd0b5bf38      dead    sun/reflect/DelegatingClassLoader@0xd8c22f50
0xd0c99248  1    904      null         dead    sun/reflect/DelegatingClassLoader@0xd8c22f50
0xd0d2f488  1    904      null         dead    sun/reflect/DelegatingClassLoader@0xd8c22f50
0xd0b5bf38  6   11832  0xd0b5b9c0      dead    sun/reflect/misc/MethodUtil@0xd8e8e560
0xd0d2f338  1    904      null         dead    sun/reflect/DelegatingClassLoader@0xd8c22f50
0xd0d2f418  1    904      null         dead    sun/reflect/DelegatingClassLoader@0xd8c22f50
0xd0d2f3a8  1    904     null          dead    sun/reflect/DelegatingClassLoader@0xd8c22f50
0xd0b5b9c0  317 1397448 0xd0bf3828     live    sun/misc/Launcher$AppClassLoader@0xd8cb83d8
0xd0d2f300  1    904      null         dead    sun/reflect/DelegatingClassLoader@0xd8c22f50
0xd0d2f3e0  1    904      null         dead    sun/reflect/DelegatingClassLoader@0xd8c22f50
0xd0ec3968  1   1440      null         dead    sun/reflect/DelegatingClassLoader@0xd8c22f50
0xd0e0a248  1    904      null         dead    sun/reflect/DelegatingClassLoader@0xd8c22f50
0xd0c99210  1    904      null         dead    sun/reflect/DelegatingClassLoader@0xd8c22f50
0xd0d2f450  1    904      null         dead    sun/reflect/DelegatingClassLoader@0xd8c22f50
0xd0d2f4f8  1    904      null         dead    sun/reflect/DelegatingClassLoader@0xd8c22f50
0xd0e0a280  1    904      null         dead    sun/reflect/DelegatingClassLoader@0xd8c22f50

total = 22      2186    6746816   N/A   alive=4, dead=18       N/Ajmap -permstat 29620

For each class loader object, the following details are printed:

• The address of the class loader object at the snapshot when the utility was run

• The number of classes loaded

• The approximate number of bytes consumed by metadata for all classes loaded by this class loader

• The address of the parent class loader (if any)

• A live or dead indication of whether the loader object will be garbage collected in the future

• The class name of this class loader