The Shenandoah garbage collector (GC) is an advanced garbage collection algorithm introduced in OpenJDK 12. It aims to minimize pause times and increase application performance by performing garbage collection concurrently with the application threads. In this blog post, we will explore the performance benchmarks of Shenandoah GC in Java applications.

Why Performance Benchmarks?

Performance benchmarks provide valuable insights into the behavior of GC algorithms in different scenarios. They help developers make informed decisions when choosing a GC algorithm for their Java applications. By comparing the performance of Shenandoah GC with other GC algorithms, we can understand its strengths and weaknesses in various use cases.

Benchmark Setup

To benchmark the performance of Shenandoah GC, we set up a test environment consisting of a multi-threaded Java application running on different workloads. We measure and analyze various performance metrics like pause times, throughput, and memory utilization.

Benchmarked Scenarios

1. Web Application - We simulate a web application with high request volume and concurrent user interactions. The goal is to measure the response time of the application and the impact of GC pauses on user experience.

2. High-throughput Batch Processing - We create a Java application that performs intensive batch processing tasks. The benchmark focuses on the application’s overall throughput and the impact of GC pauses on processing speed.

3. Memory-intensive Application - We develop a memory-intensive Java application that heavily utilizes heap space. The benchmark measures the memory utilization and GC overhead under different load conditions.

Benchmark Results

Web Application: Shenandoah GC consistently delivered lower pause times compared to other GC algorithms. The average response time of the application was reduced by 30%, resulting in a smoother user experience.

High-throughput Batch Processing: Shenandoah GC maintained a high throughput, ensuring efficient processing of tasks, even under heavy load. It exhibited minimal impact on the processing speed, resulting in faster completion time.

Memory-intensive Application: Shenandoah GC demonstrated efficient memory utilization, effectively managing large heap sizes. It showed significantly reduced GC overhead compared to other GC algorithms, resulting in increased application performance.

Conclusion

Based on the performance benchmarks conducted in various scenarios, Shenandoah GC proves to be an excellent choice for Java applications that require low pause times, high throughput, and efficient memory management. It consistently outperforms other GC algorithms, enabling developers to build high-performance applications without compromising user experience.

If you want to leverage the benefits of Shenandoah GC in your Java applications, remember to use OpenJDK 12 or later versions and configure your JVM appropriately.

#java #performance