java.lang.OutOfMemoryError：GC overhead limit exceeded填坑心得

我遇到这样的问题，本地部署时抛出异常java.lang.OutOfMemoryError：GC overhead limit exceeded导致服务起不来，查看日志发现加载了太多资源到内存，本地的性能也不好，gc时间消耗的较多。解决这种问题两种方法是，增加参数，-XX:-UseGCOverheadLimit，关闭这个特性，同时增加heap大小，-Xmx1024m。坑填了，but why？

OOM大家都知道，就是JVM内存溢出了，那GC overhead limit exceed呢？

GC overhead limt exceed检查是Hotspot VM 1.6定义的一个策略，通过统计GC时间来预测是否要OOM了，提前抛出异常，防止OOM发生。Sun 官方对此的定义是：“并行/并发回收器在GC回收时间过长时会抛出OutOfMemroyError。过长的定义是，超过98%的时间用来做GC并且回收了不到2%的堆内存。用来避免内存过小造成应用不能正常工作。“

听起来没啥用...预测OOM有啥用？起初开来这玩意只能用来Catch住释放内存资源，避免应用挂掉。后来发现一般情况下这个策略不能拯救你的应用，但是可以在应用挂掉之前做最后的挣扎，比如数据保存或者保存现场（Heap Dump）。

而且有些时候这个策略还会带来问题，比如加载某个大的内存数据时频繁OOM。

假如你也生产环境中遇到了这个问题，在不知道原因时不要简单的猜测和规避。可以通过-verbose:gc -XX:+PrintGCDetails看下到底什么原因造成了异常。通常原因都是因为old区占用过多导致频繁Full GC，最终导致GC overhead limit exceed。如果gc log不够可以借助于JProfile等工具查看内存的占用，old区是否有内存泄露。分析内存泄露还有一个方法-XX:+HeapDumpOnOutOfMemoryError，这样OOM时会自动做Heap Dump，可以拿MAT来排查了。还要留意young区，如果有过多短暂对象分配，可能也会抛这个异常。

日志的信息不难理解，就是每次gc时打条日志，记录GC的类型，前后大小和时间。举个例子。

33.125: [GC [DefNew: 16000K->16000K(16192K), 0.0000574 secs][Tenured: 2973K->2704K(16384K), 0.1012650 secs] 18973K->2704K(32576K), 0.1015066 secs]

100.667:[Full GC [Tenured: 0K->210K(10240K), 0.0149142 secs] 4603K->210K(19456K), [Perm : 2999K->2999K(21248K)], 0.0150007 secs] 

GC和Full GC代表gc的停顿类型，Full GC代表stop-the-world。箭头两边是gc前后的区空间大小，分别是young区、tenured区和perm区，括号里是该区的总大小。冒号前面是gc发生的时间，单位是秒，从jvm启动开始计算。DefNew代表Serial收集器，为Default New Generation的缩写，类似的还有PSYoungGen，代表Parallel Scavenge收集器。这样可以通过分析日志找到导致GC overhead limit exceeded的原因，通过调节相应的参数解决问题。

文中涉及到的名词解释，

Eden Space：堆内存池，大多数对象在这里分配内存空间。

Survivor Space：堆内存池，存储在Eden Space的gc中存活下来的对象。

Tenured Generation：堆内存池，存储Survivor Space中存活过几次gc的对象。

Permanent Generation：非堆空间，存储的是class和method对象。

Code Cache：非堆空间，JVM用来存储编译和存储native code。

最后附上GC overhead limit exceed HotSpot的实现：

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bool  print_gc_overhead_limit_would_be_exceeded =  false ; if  (is_full_gc) {    if  (gc_cost() > gc_cost_limit &&      free_in_old_gen < ( size_t ) mem_free_old_limit &&      free_in_eden < ( size_t ) mem_free_eden_limit) {      // Collections, on average, are taking too much time, and      //      gc_cost() > gc_cost_limit      // we have too little space available after a full gc.      //      total_free_limit < mem_free_limit      // where      //   total_free_limit is the free space available in      //     both generations      //   total_mem is the total space available for allocation      //     in both generations (survivor spaces are not included      //     just as they are not included in eden_limit).      //   mem_free_limit is a fraction of total_mem judged to be an      //     acceptable amount that is still unused.      // The heap can ask for the value of this variable when deciding      // whether to thrown an OutOfMemory error.      // Note that the gc time limit test only works for the collections      // of the young gen + tenured gen and not for collections of the      // permanent gen.  That is because the calculation of the space      // freed by the collection is the free space in the young gen +      // tenured gen.      // At this point the GC overhead limit is being exceeded.      inc_gc_overhead_limit_count();      if  (UseGCOverheadLimit) {        if  (gc_overhead_limit_count() >=            AdaptiveSizePolicyGCTimeLimitThreshold){          // All conditions have been met for throwing an out-of-memory          set_gc_overhead_limit_exceeded( true );          // Avoid consecutive OOM due to the gc time limit by resetting          // the counter.          reset_gc_overhead_limit_count();        }  else  {          // The required consecutive collections which exceed the          // GC time limit may or may not have been reached. We          // are approaching that condition and so as not to          // throw an out-of-memory before all SoftRef's have been          // cleared, set _should_clear_all_soft_refs in CollectorPolicy.          // The clearing will be done on the next GC.          bool  near_limit = gc_overhead_limit_near();          if  (near_limit) {            collector_policy->set_should_clear_all_soft_refs( true );            if  (PrintGCDetails && Verbose) {              gclog_or_tty->print_cr( "  Nearing GC overhead limit, "                "will be clearing all SoftReference" );            }          }        }      }      // Set this even when the overhead limit will not      // cause an out-of-memory.  Diagnostic message indicating      // that the overhead limit is being exceeded is sometimes      // printed.      print_gc_overhead_limit_would_be_exceeded =  true ;      }  else  {      // Did not exceed overhead limits      reset_gc_overhead_limit_count();    } }

参照&延伸阅读：

http://javaeesupportpatterns.blogspot.com/2012/01/gc-overhead-limit-exceeded-understand.html

http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/gc-tuning-6-140523.html

http://reins.altervista.org/java/gc1.4.2_example.html

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2129044/java-heap-terminology-young-old-and-permanent-generations

http://book.51cto.com/art/201306/399236.htm

https://blogs.oracle.com/jonthecollector/entry/presenting_the_permanent_generation