Java¶

Interactive Usage¶

After connecting to Iceberg (see Establishing a SSH connection), start an interactive session with the qrsh or qsh command.

The latest version of Java (currently 1.8.0u112) is made available with the command:

module load apps/java

Alternatively, you can load a specific version with one of

module load apps/java/1.8.0u112
module load apps/java/1.8u71
module load apps/java/1.7.0u55
module load apps/java/1.7
module load apps/java/1.6

Check that you have the version you expect. First, the runtime:

java -version

java version "1.8.0_112"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0_112-b15)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 25.112-b15, mixed mode)

Now, the compiler

javac -version

javac 1.8.0_112

Virtual Memory¶

By default, Java requests a lot of virtual memory on startup. This is usually a given fraction of the physical memory on a node, which can be quite a lot on Iceberg. See What are the rmem (real memory) and (deprecated) mem (virtual memory) options? for explanations of the difference between virtual and real/physical memory.

The default amount of virtual memory that Java uses at startup is controlled in two different ways on Iceberg:

For versions prior to 1.8.0u112 we created a wrapper script to java that uses the -Xmx1G switch to force Java to restrict its heap size to a maximum of 1 GB of memory. If this is amount is insufficient, you are free to allocate as much memory as you require by setting your own value for -Xmx.

For example, consider the following submission script:

#!/bin/bash
#Request 9 gigabytes of real memory from the scheduler (mem)
#$ -l rmem=9G

# load the Java module
module load apps/java/1.8u71

#Run java program allocating 5 Gigabytes
java -Xmx5G HelloWorld

Note that the above is not possible if an appliation (e.g. a startup script for another software package on the cluster) starts java itself (instead of you explicitly starting it) and the above also will not help if an application uses an internally packaged version of Java (rather than one that can be activated using module load).

For versions 1.8.0u112 onwards the maximum heap size is instead to be restricted using an environment variable. The following is set when you run module load ...:

_JAVA_OPTIONS='-Xmx1G'

You can override this default value by running something like:

export _JAVA_OPTIONS='-Xmx6G'

before starting your application that depends on Java. _JAVA_OPTIONS can be interpretted by Java programs you start and Java programs started by other programs, as well as by Java Virtual Machines (JVMs) that you activate using module load and JVMs that are packaged within applications.

Installation notes¶

These are primarily for administrators of the system.

setenv _JAVA_OPTIONS -Xmx1G

#!/bin/bash
#
# Java version 1.8 cannot be invoked without specifying the java virtual
# machine size due to the limitations imposed by us via SGE on memory usage.
# Therefore this script intercepts the java invocations and adds a
# memory constraint parameter to java engine unless there was one already
# specified on the command parameter.
#
#
  if test -z "`echo $* | grep -e -Xmx`"; then
# user has not specified -Xmx memory requirement flag, so add it.
    /usr/local/packages6/apps/binapps/java/jdk1.8.0_71/bin/java -Xmx1G $*
else
# user specified the -Xmx flag, so don't add it.
    /usr/local/packages6/apps/binapps/java/jdk1.8.0_71/bin/java $*
fi

#%Module10.2#####################################################################

## Module file logging
source /usr/local/etc/module_logging.tcl
##


proc ModulesHelp { } {
    global helpmsg
    puts stderr "\t$helpmsg\n"
}


set version 1.8

set javahome /usr/local/packages6/apps/binapps/java/jdk1.8.0_71/

if [ file isdirectory $javahome/bin ] {
    module-whatis "Sets JAVA to version $version"
    set helpmsg "Changes the default version of Java to Version $version"
    # bring in new version
    setenv JAVA_HOME $javahome
    prepend-path PATH $javahome/bin
    prepend-path PATH $javahome/shef
    prepend-path MANPATH $javahome/man
} else {
    module-whatis "JAVA $version not installed"
    set helpmsg "JAVA $version not installed"
    if [ expr [ module-info mode load ] || [ module-info mode display ] ] {
      # bring in new version
      puts stderr "JAVA $version not installed on [uname nodename]"
    }
}