[java] What are the -Xms and -Xmx parameters when starting JVM?

Please explain the use of Xms and Xmx parameters in JVMs. What are the default values for them?

You can specify it in your IDE. For example, for Eclipse in Run Configurations ? VM arguments. You can enter -Xmx800m -Xms500m as

Run the command java -X and you will get a list of all -X options:

C:\Users\Admin>java -X
-Xmixed           mixed mode execution (default)
-Xint             interpreted mode execution only
-Xbootclasspath:<directories and zip/jar files separated by ;>
                      set search path for bootstrap classes and resources
-Xbootclasspath/a:<directories and zip/jar files separated by ;>
                      append to end of bootstrap class path
-Xbootclasspath/p:<directories and zip/jar files separated by ;>
                      prepend in front of bootstrap class path
-Xdiag            show additional diagnostic messages
-Xnoclassgc       disable class garbage collection
-Xincgc           enable incremental garbage collection
-Xloggc:<file>    log GC status to a file with time stamps
-Xbatch           disable background compilation
-Xms<size>        set initial Java heap size.........................
-Xmx<size>        set maximum Java heap size.........................
-Xss<size>        set java thread stack size
-Xprof            output cpu profiling data
-Xfuture          enable strictest checks, anticipating future default
-Xrs              reduce use of OS signals by Java/VM (see documentation)
-Xcheck:jni       perform additional checks for JNI functions
-Xshare:off       do not attempt to use shared class data
-Xshare:auto      use shared class data if possible (default)
-Xshare:on        require using shared class data, otherwise fail.
-XshowSettings    show all settings and continue
-XshowSettings:all         show all settings and continue
-XshowSettings:vm          show all vm related settings and continue
-XshowSettings:properties  show all property settings and continue
-XshowSettings:locale      show all locale related settings and continue

The -X options are non-standard and subject to change without notice.

I hope this will help you understand Xms, Xmx as well as many other things that matters the most. :)

The question itself has already been addressed above. Just adding part of the default values.

As per http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E13150_01/jrockit_jvm/jrockit/jrdocs/refman/optionX.html

The default value of Xmx will depend on platform and amount of memory available in the system.

-Xms initial heap size for the startup, however, during the working process the heap size can be less than -Xms due to users' inactivity or GC iterations. This is not a minimal required heap size.

-Xmx maximal heap size