# How to tune JVM heap size in ELS 2.x?

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-tune-jvm-heap-size-in-els-2-x/36487>\
**Category:** Elasticsearch\
**Created:** [December 7, 2015, 2:45am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-tune-jvm-heap-size-in-els-2-x/36487 "2015-12-07T02:45:58Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 8\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![zkun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/8797f3/32.png) [@zkun](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/zkun)\
**Post date:** [December 7, 2015, 2:45am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-tune-jvm-heap-size-in-els-2-x/36487/1 "2015-12-07T02:45:58Z")

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I noticed that the '-X prop' in 1.7 has been obsoleted in the latest 2.1.0. Then how should I set heap size like that in the guide "-XmxNG -XmsNG"?

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**Author:** ![warkolm](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/warkolm/32/39224_2.png) [@warkolm](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/warkolm)\
**Post date:** [December 7, 2015, 3:27am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-tune-jvm-heap-size-in-els-2-x/36487/2 "2015-12-07T03:27:14Z")

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Using the sysconfig file is the recommended way.

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**Author:** ![zkun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/8797f3/32.png) [@zkun](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/zkun)\
**Post date:** [December 7, 2015, 6:30am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-tune-jvm-heap-size-in-els-2-x/36487/3 "2015-12-07T06:30:57Z")

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Thank you Mark. As far as I've researched the only way to set the value is to set env variable ES\_HEAP\_SIZE.  
Is there any alternative in any option of the yml config file?

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**Author:** ![Ivan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/df788c/32.png) [@Ivan](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Ivan)\
**Post date:** [December 7, 2015, 6:57pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-tune-jvm-heap-size-in-els-2-x/36487/4 "2015-12-07T18:57:23Z")

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The yml config file is read by the Java process after it has started, so I  
am guessing there is no alternative there. 🙂

Ivan

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**Author:** ![warkolm](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/warkolm/32/39224_2.png) [@warkolm](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/warkolm)\
**Post date:** [December 7, 2015, 10:22pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-tune-jvm-heap-size-in-els-2-x/36487/5 "2015-12-07T22:22:04Z")

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Did you install via a package, if so what OS?

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**Author:** ![zkun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/8797f3/32.png) [@zkun](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/zkun)\
**Post date:** [December 8, 2015, 1:56am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-tune-jvm-heap-size-in-els-2-x/36487/6 "2015-12-08T01:56:27Z")

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It's from the tar.gz on elastic.co, not from yum.  
The OS is RHEL 6.4

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**Author:** ![warkolm](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/warkolm/32/39224_2.png) [@warkolm](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/warkolm)\
**Post date:** [December 8, 2015, 3:09am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-tune-jvm-heap-size-in-els-2-x/36487/7 "2015-12-08T03:09:31Z")

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Probably better to use the yum repos then, but you can set it using that environment variable you mentioned.

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**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\
**Post date:** [July 5, 2017, 11:32pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-tune-jvm-heap-size-in-els-2-x/36487/8 "2017-07-05T23:32:52Z")

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