Configuring Java arguments

You might need to increase the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) memory allocated to Java services to improve performance in your Puppet Enterprise (PE) deployment.

Important: When you enable high availability, you must use Hiera or pe.conf only — not the console — to specify configuration parameters. Using pe.conf or Hiera ensures that configuration is applied to both your master and replica.

Increase the Java heap size for PE Java services

The Java heap size is the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) memory allocated to Java services in Puppet Enterprise (PE). Because these are profile classes, you can use the console to change the Java heap size for console services, Puppet Server, orchestration services, or PuppetDB.

Before you begin

Ensure that you have sufficient free memory before increasing the memory that is used by a service.

Tip: To configure java_args for Razor, you must hard code them in the init script. 
  1. In the console, click Classification. In the PE Infrastructure node group, select the appropriate node group.
    Service Node group Class
    pe-console-services PE Console puppet_enterprise::profile::console
    Puppet Server PE Master puppet_enterprise::profile::master
    pe-orchestration-services PE Orchestrator puppet_enterprise::profile::orchestrator
    PuppetDB PE PuppetDB puppet_enterprise::profile::puppetdb
  2. Click Configuration and scroll down to the appropriate class.
  3. Click the Parameter name list and select java_args. Increase the heap size by replacing the parameter with the appropriate JSON string.
    Note: The increases shown here are examples.
    Service Default heap size New heap size JSON string
    pe-console-services 256 MB 768 MB {"Xmx": "768m", "Xms": "768m"}
    Puppet Server 2048 MB 3840 MB {"Xmx": "3840m", "Xms": "3840m"}
    orchestration-services 192 MB 768 MB {"Xmx": "768m", "Xms": "768m"}
    PuppetDB 256 MB 1024 MB {"Xmx": "1024m", "Xms": "1024m"}
  4. Click Add Parameter and then commit changes.
  5. Run Puppet on the appropriate nodes to apply the change. If you're running it on the console node, the console is unavailable briefly while pe-console-services restarts.
    Service Node
    pe-console-services console
    Puppet Server master and compilers
    pe-orchestration-services master
    PuppetDB PuppetDB

Disable Java garbage collection logging

Java garbage collection logs can be useful when diagnosing performance issues with JVM-based PE services. Garbage collection logs are enabled by default, and the results are captured in the support script, but you can disable them.

Use Hiera or pe.conf to disable garbage collection logging by adding or changing the following parameters, as needed: 
puppet_enterprise::console_services::enable_gc_logging: false
puppet_enterprise::master::puppetserver::enable_gc_logging: false
puppet_enterprise::profile::orchestrator::enable_gc_logging: false
puppet_enterprise::puppetdb::enable_gc_logging: false
puppet_enterprise::profile::amq::broker::enable_gc_logging: false