How do I properly set the permgen size?

Question

I have this VM with tomcat, java, and grails in it. I've been getting permgen errors so I looked around and found the solution:

set JAVA_OPTS="-Xms256m -Xmx1024m -XX:PermSize=512m -XX:MaxPermSize=512m" 

I use SSH to access the vm and type the arguments above. I suppose that would fix the problem. Thing is, I wanted to make sure that I did it correctly. So I searched again on how I could check the current permSize and this is the solution I got:

jinfo -flag MaxPermSize 6444 

6444 is the pid, and as a response, I got this.

-XX:MaxPermSize=85983232 

Question: Is the value of the maxPermSize in bytes? because, if it is, then that would mean that the java_opts command didn't work. I am expecting to get 512m but 85983232 bytes = 82 mb.. Or am I seeing it wrong..? Can anybody enlighten me on this? D:

Answer 1

You have to change the values in the CATALINA_OPTS option defined in the Tomcat Catalina start file. To increase the PermGen memory change the value of the MaxPermSize variable, otherwise change the value of the Xmx variable.

Linux & Mac OS: Open or create setenv.sh file placed in the "bin" directory. You have to apply the changes to this line:

export CATALINA_OPTS="$CATALINA_OPTS -server -Xms256m -Xmx1024m -XX:PermSize=512m -XX:MaxPermSize=512m" 

Windows:

Open or create the setenv.bat file placed in the "bin" directory:

set CATALINA_OPTS=-server -Xms256m -Xmx1024m -XX:PermSize=512m -XX:MaxPermSize=512m 

Answer 2

Don't put the environment configuration in catalina.bat/catalina.sh. Instead you should create a new file in CATALINA_BASE\bin\setenv.bat to keep your customizations separate of tomcat installation.