An introduction into the Garbage First (G1) garbage collector for the JVM. The session covers general GC concepts, the fundamentals of G1 and how to setup and tune the JVM for G1.

1. Garbage First andYou
!
The new* Garbage Collector in the JVM
Kai Koenig
@AgentK

2. Web/Mobile Developer since the late 1990s
Interested in: Java & JVM, CFML, Functional
Programming, Go, JS, Android, Raspberry Pi
!
And this is my view of the world…
Me

4. 1.The JVM and Garbage Collection in 5 mins
2.Academic ideas behind G1
3.The G1 collector
4.Tuning G1 and practical implications
5. Further changes in Java 8
Agenda

5. 1. JVM and GC in
5 minutes

6. Fundamentals
The most simplistic view of the JVM:
!
“Java virtual machine (JVM) interprets
compiled Java binary code (called bytecode)
for a computer’s processor (or hardware
platform) so that it can perform a Java
program's instructions.”

7. 1.1 JVM Architecture

8. High Level view (1)
Bytecode in .class files
has the same semantics
as the .java code

9. High Level view (II)

10. Java stack vs heap memory
Each method call creates a new stack frame,
which has an operand stack, array of local vars
and a program counter.
→ Seen ‘Stack Traces’ in a Java Error before?
!
Exception
in
thread
"main"
java.lang.NullPointerException
at
com.example.myproject.Book.getTitle(Book.java:16)
at
com.example.myproject.Author.getBookTitles(Author.java:25)
at
com.example.myproject.Bootstrap.main(Bootstrap.java:14)

11. Stack and Heap

12. 1.2 Garbage Collection

13. Heap management
The JVM has no way of knowing the lifespan of a
certain object in advance.
Generational Memory Management is a solution
to overcome this issue and fragmentation:
-Young Generation
- Old Generation / Tenured Generation
- Sometimes: Permanent Generation

14. Contiguous generational heap

15. Garbage Collector selection criteria
Efficiency / Throughput
Concurrency
Overhead
JVM version you’re on
!

16. YG Collectors: Parallel
Parallel MaC (since Java 1.4.2) distributes the
Marking and Copying phases over multiple
threads.
The actual collection is still stop-the-world, but
for a much shorter period of time.
YG default since Java 5 if machine has 2+ cores
or CPUs, otherwise: -XX:+UseParallelGC.
!

17. OG Collectors: Concurrent
Up to Java 6/7 Concurrent Mark-and-Sweep is
the preferred OG collector if you want to
minimise stop-the-world collections.
CMS via -XX:+UseConcMarkSweepGC
Well suited for larger heaps (but be aware of
fragmentation), there’s an ‘incremental’ mode for
systems with 1-2 CPU cores.
Stop-the-world and concurrent collections

18. 2. Academic ideas behind G1

19. “Garbage-First Garbage Collection”
Research paper originally published in 2004 by
David Detlefs, Christine Flood, Steve Heller and
Tony Printezis of Sun Research.
!
The actual research project started in the late
1990s to overcome common issues in Garbage
Collection techniques known and used at the
time.

20. Core ideas
Four core elements:
- SATB concurrent marking algorithm
- Better way to achieve a real-time goal
- Get rid of a contiguous heap and use regions
- Compacting and predictable

21. Snapshot-at-the-beginning
SATB does a periodic analysis of global
reachability (liveness) and provide completeness.
Results:
- Accurate counts of live data in each region
- Completeness: garbage is eventually identified
-Very low pause time
!

22. ‘Soft’ real-time goal and regions
Before G1, garbage collectors tried to achieve
hard real time goals by:
- making collection interruptible
- working on the granularity of object levels.
G1 works on a coarser granularity of regions:
- Chooses regions to collect that match goal
- Collection of a region can be delayed
!

23. 3.The G1 Collector

24. 3.1 Basics

25. G1 (Garbage First)
G1 is a ‘replacement’ for CMS in Java 7+
Benefits:
- Consistently low-pause
- Adaptable
- Less fragmentation than CMS
- Less need for ongoing tuning
- Best collector for a really large heap

26. Fundamental ideas (I)
Minimum of 6 GB heap, if below - consider
staying with CMS
Enable: -XX:+UseG1GC
Provide minimal set of expectations and let G1
do the job:
- Heap size (min/max)
- How much CPU time can the application use?
- How much CPU time can G1 use?

27. Fundamental ideas (II)
‘Main’ setup parameter:
-XX:MaxGCPauseMillis=<n>
G1 is not an OG-only collector like CMS
G1 splits the whole area of heap memory:
- ~2000 regions
- Size between 1-32 MB each
- usually automatically chosen by the JVM
!

28. Region setup in G1
Note:There is another region type H (humongous)

29. 3.2 G1YoungGen

30. AYG collection in G1 (before)
Non-Allocated
Old Generation
Young Generation
Recently copiedYG

31. AYG collection in G1 (stop-the-world)
Non-Allocated
Old Generation
Young Generation
Recently copiedYG

32. AYG collection in G1 (result)
Non-Allocated
Old Generation
Young Generation
Recently copiedYG

33. YG in G1 - Summary
TheYG is a set of non-contiguous regions, which
helps resizing after a collection.
YG collections in G1 are stop-the-world events
and all application threads will stop.
YG collections are done in multiple, parallel
threads.
Leftover (alive) objects → move to a survivor or
OG region.

34. 3.3 G1 OldGen

35. G1 and the OG - overview (I)
1. Initial Mark (stop-the-world and piggybacking
on aYG collection)
2. Root Region Scan (blocksYG from happening)
3. Concurrent Marking
4. Remark (stop-the-world and due to a new
algorithm much faster than CMS)

36. G1 and the OG - overview (II)
5. Cleanup (stop-the-world and concurrent)
6. Copying (stop-the-world, piggybacking onYG
collections)
!
!
!
!

37. OG collection in G1(initial marking)
Marks root regions with references to OG objects.
Non-Allocated
Old Generation
Young Generation
Recently copiedYG
Recently copied OG

38. OG collection in G1(concurrent marking)
Marks empty regions and calculates object ‘liveness’.
X
X
Non-Allocated
Old Generation
Young Generation
Recently copiedYG
Recently copied OG

39. An OG collection in G1(remark)
Empty regions are removed and reclaimed.
Non-Allocated
Old Generation
Young Generation
Recently copiedYG
Recently copied OG

40. An OG collection in G1(cleanup & copy)
Region with lowest liveness get collected withYG
collections (‘mixed’ collections).
Non-Allocated
Old Generation
Young Generation
Recently copiedYG
Recently copied OG

41. An OG collection in G1(result)
Collection is done and leftovers are compacted.
Non-Allocated
Old Generation
Young Generation
Recently copiedYG
Recently copied OG

42. OG in G1 - Summary
Concurrent Marking:
- Liveness info determines where to collect
- No sweeping phase like in CMS
Remark:
- SATB algorithm much faster than CMS
- Completely empty regions are reclaimed
Cleanup: optimised for ‘mixed’ collections

43. 4.Tuning G1

44. Do not trust consultants, blog posts, mailing list
discussions etc. telling you what the ‘best’ JVM
settings would be.
!
There is no such thing as global best settings.
JVM settings depend on the environment, the
application and the projected/actual usage.

45. JVM settings and logging
How do you find out what’s
happening in your JVM?
-XX:+PrintGC
-XX:+PrintGCDetails
-XX:+PrintGCTimeStamps
or
-XX:+PrintGCDateStamps
[GC 64781K->22983K(71360K), 0.0242084 secs]
[GC 68487K->25003K(77888K), 0.0194041 secs]
[Full GC 25003K->20302K(89600K), 0.1713420 secs]
[GC 70670K->21755K(90048K), 0.0054093 secs]
[GC 71913K->46558K(94912K), 0.0295257 secs]
[Full GC 46558K->45267K(118336K), 0.2144038 secs]
[GC 88214K->84651K(133056K), 0.0674443 secs]
[Full GC 84651K->84633K(171648K), 0.1739369 secs]
[GC 117977K->115114K(180736K), 0.0623399 secs]
[GC 158613K->157136K(201152K), 0.0591171 secs]
[Full GC 157136K->157098K(254784K), 0.1868453 secs]
[GC 160678K->160455K(261184K), 0.0536678 secs]
01/24 19:36:22 Debug [scheduler-1] - Next mail spool run in 15 seconds.
[GC 202912K->200819K(268288K), 0.0625820 secs]
[Full GC 200819K->200776K(332224K), 0.2121724 secs]
[GC 213293K->212423K(339520K), 0.0426462 secs]
[GC 259465K->256115K(340288K), 0.0645039 secs]
[Full GC 256115K->255462K(418432K), 0.3226731 secs]
[GC 281947K->279651K(421760K), 0.0530268 secs]
[GC 331073K->323785K(422720K), 0.0695117 secs]
[Full GC 323785K->323697K(459264K), 0.2139458 secs]
[Full GC 364365K->361525K(459264K), 0.2180439 secs]
[Full GC 400859K->400859K(459264K), 0.1702890 secs]
[Full GC 400859K->43989K(274112K), 0.2642407 secs]
[GC 95197K->93707K(273216K), 0.0338568 secs]
[GC 146978K->140363K(276032K), 0.0664380 secs]
[GC 193696K->189635K(277952K), 0.0630006 secs]
[Full GC 189635K->189604K(425920K), 0.1913979 secs]
[GC 219773K->205157K(426048K), 0.0442126 secs]

46. The two main tuning parameters for G1
-XX:MaxGCPauseMillis
Soft goal target for maximum GC pause time -
default 200ms
-XX:InitiatingHeapOccupancyPercent
Percentage of heap occupancy to start
concurrent GC cycle

47. Good practice
Avoid setting absolute generation sizes with G1:
- Breaks self-optimisation and target times
- Causes issues in region sizing & distribution
Avoid evacuation failures (‘space overflow’):
- Increase heap promotion ceiling (default 10)
-XX:G1ReservePercent
- Increase # of marking threads
-XX:ConcGCThreads

48. Real-world observations (I)
G1 has a noticeable tradeoff between latency
and throughput:
- G1: ~90-92% throughput goal
- Parallel Hotspot GC: ~98-99% goal
If you want higher throughput - relax the pause
time goal.

49. Real-world observations (II)
‘Mixed’ GCs are on the more expensive end in
G1.You can tamper with the criteria through
experimental settings*:
-XX:G1MixedGCLiveThresholdPercent
-XX:G1HeapWastePercent
!
* Might not be available on your platform, CPU
architecture or JVM version.

50. Real-world observations (III)
CPU usage tends to increase ~5-15% when using
G1 vs. CMS.
G1 seems to be better in reclaiming the
maximum heap sized used.
The more uniform your object size distribution
is, the better is CMS over G1.With a very
heterogenous object size distribution, G1 tends
to be better.

51. 5. Changes in Java 8

52. Most of the previous is
valid for Java 7 and 8 -
but…

53. G1 string de-duplication
Java 8u_20 brings a new String de-duplication
optimisation.
G1 collector can now identify strings that are
duplicated across the heap and repoint them to
the ‘same’ internal char[] representation:
-XX:+UseStringDeduplicationJVM

54. Java 8 and the PermGen
It’s gone and it’s been replaced by a Metaspace
(Oracle’s JRockit actually never had a PermGen).
Class metadata is now stored in native memory.
!
A word of warning: Oracle tries to sell the
Metaspace as the new piece of awesomeness
that ‘just works’, but it still needs observation
and tuning!

55. Retired JVM GC combinations
Some rarely-used combinations of garbage
collectors have been deprecated:
http://openjdk.java.net/jeps/173
!
Important: iCMS has been deprecated!
!
!

56. Additional Resources
Garbage Collection with Garbage First Research Paper:
http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.63.6386&rep=rep1&type=pdf
Understanding G1 logs:
https://blogs.oracle.com/poonam/entry/understanding_g1_gc_logs
“The JVM is your friend” - my more general GC talk at cf.Objective() 2014:
http://www.slideshare.net/AgentK/jvm-isyourfriend
Java Performance:The Definitive Guide
http://www.amazon.com/Java-Performance-The-Definitive-Guide/dp/1449358454
!

57. Photo credits
https://www.flickr.com/photos/aigle_dore/6973012997/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/65694112@N05/6147388744
https://www.flickr.com/photos/teclasorg/2852716491
https://www.flickr.com/photos/salendron/5390633053
https://www.flickr.com/photos/tim_ellis/2269499855
https://www.flickr.com/photos/apocalust/5729262611
https://www.flickr.com/photos/fkhuckel/16995618202
https://www.flickr.com/photos/poetprince/3389459474
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mario-mancuso/8331716569
https://www.flickr.com/photos/openindiana/16277077790/

58. Get in touch
Kai Koenig
kai@ventego-creative.co.nz
www.ventego-creative.co.nz
www.bloginblack.de
Twitter: @AgentK