Inside the Sun's JVM memory

Yesterday, my manager asked me about a problem concerning the eden space memory. So, this is a summary of JVM's memory management.

Heap Size
The allocation of memory for the JVM is specified using -X options when starting ColdFusion

JVM option Meaning
-Xms initial java heap size
-Xmx maximum java heap size
-Xmn the size of the heap for the young generation

(extended options)
-XX:MaxPermSize maximum permanent generation size (for creating object instances)

For efficient garbage collection, the -Xmn value should be lower than the -Xmx value.

Heap size does not determine the amount of memory your process uses
If you monitor your java process with an OS tool like top or taskmanager, you may see the amount of memory you use exceed the amount you have specified for -Xmx. -Xmx limits the java heap size, java will allocate memory for other things, including a stack for each thread. It is not unusual for the total memory consumption of the VM to exceed the value of -Xmx.

Garbage collection
There are essentially two GC threads running. One is a very lightweight thread which does "little" collections primarily on the Eden (a.k.a. Young) generation of the heap. The other is the Full GC thread which traverses the entire heap when there is not enough memory left to allocate space for objects which get promoted from the Eden to the older generation(s).
If there is a memory leak or inadequate heap allocated, eventually the older generation will start to run out of room causing the Full GC thread to run (nearly) continuously. Since this process "stops the world", ColdFusion won't be able to respond to requests and they'll start to back up.
The amount allocated for the Eden generation is the value specified with -Xmn. The amount allocated for the older generation is the value of -Xmx minus the -Xmn. Generally, you don't want the Eden to be too big or it will take too long for the GC to look through it for space that can be reclaimed.

Stack size
Each thread in the VM get's a stack. The stack size will limit the number of threads that you can have, too big of a stack size and you will run out of memory as each thread is allocated more memory than it needs.
JVM option Meaning
-Xss the stack size for each thread
-Xss determines the size of the stack: -Xss1024k. If the stack space is too small, eventually you will see an exception class java.lang.StackOverflowError .