Memory Management and Configuration

BigMemory manages memory and data for both the MashZone NextGen Analytics In-Memory Stores and all caches for Business Analytics and the Integrated MashZone Server. The initial configuration for memory when you install Business Analytics uses only heap memory on the local host, as shown in this figure:

Heap memory is configured for the JVM and used by Business Analytics, the Integrated MashZone Server, the Event Service and the application server that hosts Business Analytics. By default, heap is also used for In-Memory Stores and Business Analytics and MashZone caches.

Off-heap memory is direct memory that is not controlled by the JVM. You can adjust Business Analytics memory configuration to make use of off-heap memory for both In-Memory Stores and Business Analytics caches, as shown in the previous figure.

Note:

Off-heap memory is only accessible if you have installed BigMemory Servers and added the BigMemory license to Business Analytics.

Using off-heap memory can improve performance if available memory is more than the recommended minimum for MashZone NextGen Analytics.

Remaining direct memory is used by the operating system and other applications running on the local host, such as browsers or other applications.

With BigMemory Servers and optional mirrors, memory is distributed as shown in the following figure:

Business Analytics, the Integrated MashZone Server and the Event Service use heap memory from the local host as usual, as do MashZone caches. Some local host memory is allocated for off-heap which is combined with a much large allocation of off-heap memory from the host for BigMemory.

The data for the MashZone NextGen Analytics In-Memory Stores and Business Analytics caches are distributed across both local and external off-heap memory both of which are managed by BigMemory. Off-heap memory managed by BigMemory can also contain external In-Memory Stores created by other systems. And of course some memory is allocated for the operating system or other applications on both the Business Analytics and BigMemory hosts.

You can also install BigMemory in a cluster to provide more memory capacity or support failover and other high availability features. .

Note:

This is a high-level summary of memory use and storage tiers available with BigMemory. For more detailed information, see the BigMemory documentation.