Java Tuning for Performance and IBM POWER6 Support

This paper describes suggested practices for and performance results of using an IBM Software Development Kit (SDK) for Java™ on systems powered by the new IBM POWER6™ processor. It discusses memory-related performance and tuning, providing suggestions for tuning the Java heap and descriptions of various garbage collector configurations. It also describes thread-related performance tuning, touching on the AIX® threading model used by Java, as well as how dynamic logical partitions are exploited. The paper also provides a description of improvements to startup times, general Java coding guidelines and exploitation of various POWER6 hardware features including simultaneous multithreading and decimal floating-point hardware.

This paper is targeted towards and will benefit developers, technical support engineers, and system engineers who have basic knowledge of Java and tunable parameters.