Increase the Pentaho Server memory limit
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
Procedure
Stop the Pentaho Server if it is running.
Type services.msc into the Windows Search Box.
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.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.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.Select the Java tab.
Set the memory setting to a minimum of 4096 M and a maximum of 6144 M, depending on your computer's memory capabilities.
Results
Next steps
Increase Pentaho Server memory limit for installations on Linux
Procedure
Go to /pentaho/server/pentaho-server/tomcat/bin/ directory and run the ./shutdown.sh command to stop the appropriate server.
Change the directory to pentaho-server/scripts.
Edit the ctl.sh file.
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"
Set the memory to a minimum of
4096 M
and a maximum of6144 M
, depending on your computer's memory capabilities.Start the Tomcat server or service.
Results
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.