Setting the -XX:+Aggressiveheap flag can cause a failure of the JVM to start up due to insufficient memory. This can happen on Linux systems with 64k pages set. This failure was caught with the JTReg test: TestAggressiveHeap.java.

A simple run of java with the -XX:+AggressiveHeap flag set is shown below:

$ java -XX:+AggressiveHeap -Xlog:os+container=trace
[0.001s][trace][os,container] OSContainer::init: Initializing Container Support
[0.002s][trace][os,container] Path to /memory.limit_in_bytes is /sys/fs/cgroup/memory/memory.limit_in_bytes
[0.002s][trace][os,container] Memory Limit is: 9223372036854710272
[0.002s][trace][os,container] Path to /memory.limit_in_bytes is /sys/fs/cgroup/memory/memory.limit_in_bytes
[0.002s][trace][os,container] Memory Limit is: 9223372036854710272
[0.002s][trace][os,container] Path to /cpu.shares is /sys/fs/cgroup/cpu,cpuacct/cpu.shares
[0.002s][trace][os,container] CPU Shares is: 1024
[0.002s][trace][os,container] Path to /cpu.cfs_quota_us is /sys/fs/cgroup/cpu,cpuacct/cpu.cfs_quota_us
[0.002s][trace][os,container] CPU Quota is: -1
[0.002s][trace][os,container] Path to /cpu.cfs_period_us is /sys/fs/cgroup/cpu,cpuacct/cpu.cfs_period_us
[0.002s][trace][os,container] CPU Period is: 100000
[0.002s][trace][os,container] OSContainer::active_processor_count: 48
[0.003s][trace][os,container] Path to /memory.limit_in_bytes is /sys/fs/cgroup/memory/memory.limit_in_bytes
[0.003s][trace][os,container] Memory Limit is: 9223372036854710272
[0.005s][trace][os,container] Path to /cpu.shares is /sys/fs/cgroup/cpu,cpuacct/cpu.shares
[0.005s][trace][os,container] CPU Shares is: 1024
[0.005s][trace][os,container] Path to /cpu.cfs_quota_us is /sys/fs/cgroup/cpu,cpuacct/cpu.cfs_quota_us
[0.005s][trace][os,container] CPU Quota is: -1
[0.005s][trace][os,container] CPU Period is: 100000
[0.005s][trace][os,container] OSContainer::active_processor_count: 48
Error occurred during initialization of VM
Could not reserve enough space for 4503599627370496KB object heap