Getting Memory Statistics in Java: Runtime vs. MemoryMXBean

java, memory-profiling

Solution

There are none. JMX bean can be accessed externally and is meant for management tools like hyperic ( or even nagios ) - It would delegate to Runtime anyway.

Problem

I am creating a scheduled executor to read the memory usage of the JVM. I have come across two ways to get memory statistics in a running JVM - Runtime & MemoryMXBean, with the following correspondence between their methods: ``` memoryMxBean.getHeapMemoryUsage().getUsed() <=> runtime.totalMemory() - runtime.freeMemory() memoryMxBean.getHeapMemoryUsage().getCommitted() <=> runtime.totalMemory() memoryMxBean.getHeapMemoryUsage().getMax() <=> runtime.maxMemory() ``` With the exception of the additional non-heap memory usage information provided by MemoryMXBean, are there any reasons why I should prefer it over Runtime, or vice-versa?

Original source