Jira is Unable to Start due to the error "Could not reserve enough space for object heap"
Platform Notice: Data Center - This article applies to Atlassian products on the Data Center platform.
Note that this knowledge base article was created for the Data Center version of the product. Data Center knowledge base articles for non-Data Center-specific features may also work for Server versions of the product, however they have not been tested. Support for Server* products ended on February 15th 2024. If you are running a Server product, you can visit the Atlassian Server end of support announcement to review your migration options.
*Except Fisheye and Crucible
Problem
Jira is unable to startup on a Windows machine.
Environment
Jira Data Center running on a Windows 32-bit operating system.
Diagnosis
- The following appears in the Tomcat log, for example
jira-stdout.2015-04-29.log:2015-04-29 00:28:22 Commons Daemon procrun stdout initialized Error occurred during initialization of VM Could not reserve enough space for object heap The architecture of the operating system can be confirmed by reviewing the logs for the below or following the instructions in How to determine whether a computer is running a 32-bit version or 64-bit version of the Windows operating system.
os.arch : x86
Cause
The Java Virtual Machine (JVM) is not able to obtain the amount of memory that is required from the operating system, and will fail with the above error. This is because of the operating system limitations on 32-bit architecture and the way JVM needs contiguous memory blocks to run. Windows DLLs fragment the address space, so the limitation of memory is around 1400mb for a single Java process. This is explained in further detail in Java maximum memory on Windows XP.
Workaround
Reduce the amount of maximum memory (Xms) that is provided to JIRA until the JVM can start.
Resolution
Migrate onto a 64-bit operating system and use the 64-bit standalone of JIRA from our JIRA downloads section.