-XX:MaxPermSize with or without -XX:PermSize

We've run into a Java.lang.OutOfMemoryError: PermGen space error and looking at the tomcat JVM params, other than the -Xms and -Xmx params we also specify -XX:MaxPermSize=128m. After a bit of profiling I can see occasionally garbage collection happening on the PermGen space saving it from running full.

My question is: other than increasing the -XX:MaxPermSize what would be the difference if I specify as well -XX:PermSize? I know the total memory then would be Xmx+maxPermSize but is there any other reason why -XX:PermSize should not be there when -XX:MaxPermSize is specified?

Please do share if you have real-world experience dealing with these JVM parameters.

ps. The JVM is HotSpot 64bit Server VM build 16.2-b04

-XX:PermSize specifies the initial size that will be allocated during startup of the JVM. If necessary, the JVM will allocate up to -XX:MaxPermSize.

By playing with parameters as -XX:PermSize and -Xms you can tune the performance of - for example - the startup of your application. I haven't looked at it recently, but a few years back the default value of -Xms was something like 32MB (I think), if your application required a lot more than that it would trigger a number of cycles of fill memory - full garbage collect - increase memory etc until it had loaded everything it needed. This cycle can be detrimental for startup performance, so immediately assigning the number required could improve startup.

A similar cycle is applied to the permanent generation. So tuning these parameters can improve startup (amongst others).

WARNING The JVM has a lot of optimization and intelligence when it comes to allocating memory, dividing eden space and older generations etc, so don't do things like making -Xms equal to -Xmx or -XX:PermSize equal to -XX:MaxPermSize as it will remove some of the optimizations the JVM can apply to its allocation strategies and therefor reduce your application performance instead of improving it.

As always: make non-trivial measurements to prove your changes actually improve performance overall (for example improving startup time could be disastrous for performance during use of the application)

If you're doing some performance tuning it's often recommended to set both -XX:PermSize and -XX:MaxPermSize to the same value to increase JVM efficiency.

Here is some information:

1. Support for large page heap on x86 and amd64 platforms
2. Java Support for Large Memory Pages
3. Setting the Permanent Generation Size

You can also specify -XX:+CMSClassUnloadingEnabled to enable class unloading option if you are using CMS GC. It may help to decrease the probability of Java.lang.OutOfMemoryError: PermGen space