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Hitachi Vantara Lumada and Pentaho Documentation

Increase the Pentaho Server memory limit

Parent article

We recommend that you increase PDI's memory limit so the Pentaho Server and the PDI client (also known as the design tool Spoon) can perform memory-intensive tasks, like sorting, grouping large datasets, or running complex transformations and jobs. You will need to increase the memory limit for both the Pentaho Server and the PDI client. If you choose to not increase the memory limit, PDI uses the default memory settings in the PDI startup scripts.

The way that you increase the memory settings for the Pentaho Server depends on your operating system and how you installed PDI:

  • Increase Pentaho Server memory limit for installations on Windows
  • Increase Pentaho Server memory limit for installations on Linux
  • Increase Pentaho Server memory limit for custom installations on Windows or Linux

Increase Pentaho Server memory limit for installations on Windows

If you used the Pentaho Installation Wizard to install the Pentaho Server on a Windows machine, you can increase the server's memory limits by editing the Java memory settings for Tomcat. Tomcat is the web application server that the Pentaho Server runs on, and is installed by the Pentaho Installation Wizard. If you did not use the installation wizard or you are not running PDI on a Windows machine, refer to the appropriate section below.

Procedure

  1. Stop the Pentaho Server if it is running.

  2. Type services.msc into the Windows Search Box.

  3. Find the Pentaho Server name and open it so you can find the service name.

    The service name should appear at the top of the first tab (General). It will be pentahoserver.
  4. Go into the bin file (C:\pentaho\server\pentaho-server\tomcat\bin\) and rename the tomcat8w.exe file to match the service name (pentahoserverw.exe).

    This will ensure that the server starts with the software.
  5. After you have renamed the file, open it by double-clicking on it.

    This will not open the file, it will allow you to edit it. You may need to right-click and select Run as Administrator. This depends on your user permission settings.The Properties Window will open.
  6. Select the Java tab.

  7. Set the memory setting to a minimum of 4096 M and a maximum of 6144 M, depending on your computer's memory capabilities.

  8. Start the Tomcat server or service.

Results

Your Tomcat server now has increased minimum and maximum memory limits. You can adjust the JvmMx parameter to a higher number if you prefer. However, if the Java virtual machine refuses to start with increased limits, then you will have to add more RAM to your system, stop some memory-intensive services, or reduce the maximum memory limit. This problem occurs when there is not enough contiguous memory available to assign to the JVM.

Next steps

Increase Pentaho Server memory limit for installations on Linux

If you used the Pentaho Installation Wizard to install PDI on your Linux machine, you can increase memory limits by editing a variable in one of the Pentaho-supplied scripts. If you did not use the installation wizard, see the Increase Pentaho Server memory limit for custom installations on Windows or Linux section below.

Procedure

  1. Go to /pentaho/server/pentaho-server/tomcat/bin/ directory and run the ./shutdown.sh command to stop the appropriate server.

  2. Change the directory to pentaho-server/scripts.

  3. Edit the ctl.sh file.

  4. Locate the line under start tomcat, which looks like this:

    export JAVA OPTS="-Dpentaho.installed.licenses.file=/opt/pentaho/.installedLicenses.xml -Xms128m Xmx768m -XX-MaxPermSize=256m -Dsun.rmi.dyc.client.gcInterval=3600000 -Dsun.rmi.dgc.server.gcInterval=3600000"
  5. Set the memory to a minimum of 4096 M and a maximum of 6144 M, depending on your computer's memory capabilities.

  6. Start the Tomcat server or service.

Results

Your Tomcat server now has increased minimum and maximum memory limits. You can adjust the JvmMx parameter to specify a higher maximum limit if you prefer. However, if the Java virtual machine refuses to start with increased limits, then you will have to add more RAM to your system, stop some memory-intensive services, or reduce the maximum memory limit. This problem occurs when there is not enough contiguous memory available to assign to the JVM.

Next steps

Increase Pentaho Server memory limit for custom installations on Windows or Linux

If you used a custom method to install PDI on your Windows or Linux machine, you can increase memory limits by editing the Tomcat or JBoss startup script as described in the article Configure and start the Pentaho Server after manual installation. If you used the Pentaho Installation Wizard to install PDI, then refer to the previous sections of this article.

Make sure to also increase the Spoon memory limit.