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HotSpot Crash with ColdFusion MX on Linux with JVM 1.4.x

May 21

posted by Steven Erat in Java, Linux, ColdFusion | 14 Comments

An infrequent, but recent series of JVM crashes under the configuration of CFMX 6.x on JVM 1.4.x on the Linux platform has been resolved in the short term with the -Xint JVM argument to disable the Sun JVM HotSpot optimizer. The -Xint JVM option, described in this Sun VM Options page, can be added to the JVM argument list in the ColdFusion Administrator to force the JVM to run in the interpreted mode, avoiding HotSpot optimization all together. The result is more stability in exchange a performance hit. While a better solution is being sought after, the -Xint option will work in a pinch.

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This entry was posted on May 21, 2004 at 5:42 AM and has received 29039 views. There are currently 14 comments. Print this entry.

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#1 by Hugo Ahlenius on 6/1/04 - 3:47 AM

[P]We have been seeing the same problem on Solaris, and we are running in the crippled mode. It works almost decently, but some templates are hit very badly (we haven`t mapped out exactly what it is)[/P]
#2 by Vit on 6/25/04 - 5:01 AM

I am afraid that the -Xint parameter is not a solution. We have tried it and the site becomes extremely slow.

Looking at Sun`s bug parade, they say that the bug is fixed in jvm 1.4.2_04 (bug 4927116), but i see that you are already using this version :-((

We are using coldfusion 6.1 on redhat 8 and recently we hace upgraded jvm from 1.4.2-b28 to 1.4.2_04-b05.

We will see what happens ...
#3 by Steven Erat on 6/25/04 - 7:47 AM

[P]]"We have tried it and the site becomes extremely slow."[/P]
[P]Yep. That`s what I meant when I said "The result is more stability in exchange a performance hit". You`ll also note that there are many, many bug reports for this hotspot error code, many of them still open.[/P]
#4 by Vit on 7/2/04 - 6:40 AM

True. Now I am using ibm`s jvm. It has been running only for 2 days, but it seems it is doing well. It is said that this one works better than sun`s one. We will see what happens ... this time!
#5 by Gavin Cooney on 10/30/04 - 4:26 AM

My CF server was crashing everyday, and was wrecking my head. We moved to the IBM jvm and everything is perfect now. Thanks a lot.
#6 by Petteri on 12/12/04 - 5:31 PM

Hey,

Can anyone provide a detailed info on how in the heck can we switch the JVM from the Sun`s engine to IBM`s one for CFMX Pro on Linux? We`re getting almost daily Sig11`s that are getting "pretty" annoying by now..
#7 by Steven Erat on 12/12/04 - 6:09 PM

You may want to try just disabling the HotSpot optimizer in the Sun JVM with the -Xint jvm switch.

To use IBM`s JVM just install it and then change the JVM page in the ColdFusion Administrator. Restart CFMX and that`s it. Be aware then that you may be introducing a new suite of issues by just swapping out the JVM from Sun to IBM, so you`d probably want to test that well first.
#8 by Jari on 12/13/04 - 9:24 AM

Unfortunately none of the IBM JVMs seem to work. Whichever version we install CFMX is unable to start (Error: no `server` JVM at `/opt/IBMJava2-142/jre/bin/server/libjvm.so`)

Using -Xint is not a feasible alternative, since the load on the server is pretty high already.
#9 by Steven Erat on 12/13/04 - 9:46 AM

Yes, that is because although you have used the IBM JVM, you are still using the JVM options for the Sun JVM. Remove the Sun-specific option "-server" in the jvm.config file and then the IBM JVM will probably work. You might want to consider reading the documentation for the IBM JVM before using it.
#10 by Jari on 12/13/04 - 9:57 AM

Thank you for the information. I didn`t realize that the -server option was Sun specific.

We`re currently running the Sun JVM with "-XX:+UseParNewGC" which was recommended at

[a href="http://forum.java.sun.com/thread.js..." target="_blank"]http://forum.java.sun.com/thread.js...[/a]

So far the stability and performance increase has been quite nice indeed.
#11 by Steven Erat on 12/13/04 - 10:10 AM

Good to know. Thanks.

I`ll repost your link which got broken in my comment parser...

http://forum.java.sun.com/thread.jspa?threadID=307...
#12 by Imran Aziz on 12/16/04 - 11:08 AM

We have the same problem, I have tried to alter the JVM paramters with JVM 1.4.2 but it did not work for us, then I used JVM 1.5 and although it works, but I get an error on templates using RSS Feeds so I have reverted back to JVM 1.4.2. I have tried using IBM JVM 1.4 but the CF server does not start after changing the JVM details to IBM JVM, I have removed the -server param from the startup parameters but I still cannot get it running with IBM JVM, Any tips to get CF 1.6.1 running with IBM JVM ?
#13 by Terry Ford on 12/9/05 - 12:56 PM

Just wanted to add that this bug appears to have been finally fixed in 1.4_10.

We had this problem for over a year and ended up using -Xint. We switched to 1.4_10, removed -Xint, and it`s running crashfree now (well, so far)
#14 by Steven Erat on 1/14/08 - 12:57 PM

I forgot to mention that I also once posted a blog entry that attempted to provide a simple explanation of of Sun`s HotSpot JIT compiler and some issues that occur with it. It may be helpful if you`re having this problem....

[a href="http://www.talkingtree.com/blog/index.cfm/2006/4/2...8/Understanding-HotSpot-in-Plain-English" target="_blank"]http://www.talkingtree.com/blog/index.cfm/2006/4/2......[/a]