How can you effectively use heap dumps to debug Enterprise Software?

4 Fixing memory leaks

To fix memory leaks, you need to understand why the leaked objects are being held in memory and how to break the references that keep them alive. You can use the path to GC roots view to see the chain of references that reach the leaked objects from the GC roots, such as static fields, threads, or JNI handles. You can also use the OQL (Object Query Language) view to execute queries on the heap dump and find specific objects or patterns. Once you identify the source of the leak, you can modify your code or configuration to eliminate or reduce the unnecessary references.

5 Finding performance bottlenecks

A performance bottleneck is a situation where an application consumes more CPU or memory resources than expected, resulting in slow response times, high latency, or low throughput. To find performance bottlenecks, you need to correlate heap dumps with other sources of information, such as thread dumps, CPU profiles, or logs. For example, you can use the thread overview view to see the state and stack trace of each thread in the heap dump. You can also use the shallow heap view to see the memory usage of each object, without counting the objects it references.

6 Fixing performance bottlenecks

To fix performance bottlenecks, you need to optimize your code or configuration to reduce the CPU or memory consumption of your application. You can use various techniques, such as caching, pooling, lazy loading, or batching, to improve the efficiency and scalability of your application. You can also use best practices, such as avoiding finalizers, using weak references, or choosing the right data structures and algorithms, to avoid memory overhead and garbage collection pauses. Finally, you can tune your JVM parameters, such as heap size, GC algorithm, or GC frequency, to match your application's needs and behavior.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?