What is the difference between xmx and MaxRAM JVM parameters?
based on the amount of memory on the machine. The proportion of memory to use for the heap is controlled by the command-line options InitialRAMFraction and MaxRAMFraction [...] The value of MaxRAM is platform-dependent.
Xmx:
-Xmxn Specify the maximum size, in bytes, of the memory allocation pool. This value must a multiple of 1024 greater than 2MB. Append the letter k or K to indicate kilobytes, or m or M to indicate megabytes. The default value is 64MB. The upper limit for this value will be approximately 4000m on Solaris 7 and Solaris 8 SPARC platforms and 2000m on Solaris 2.6 and x86 platforms, minus overhead amounts.
As I understand both define heap size. No? What is recommended to use: Xmx or MaxRAM? If I use both which one ovverides another?
Answer
-Xmx specifies the precise upper limit for the heap. It is the preferred way to set the heap size.
-XX:MaxRAM does not define the heap size directly. Instead this parameter overrides the actual amount of physical RAM when calculating the heap limits basing on ergonomics.
If -Xmx is set, MaxRAM is never used. Otherwise the maximum heap size is estimated1 as
MaxHeapSize = MaxRAM * MaxRAMPercentage / 100% (default MaxRAMPercentage=25)
1 The actual algorithm is a bit more complicated and depends on other parameters.