# Initial heap size not equal to maximum heap size

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/initial-heap-size-not-equal-to-maximum-heap-size/50499>\
**Category:** Elasticsearch\
**Created:** [May 19, 2016, 10:11pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/initial-heap-size-not-equal-to-maximum-heap-size/50499 "2016-05-19T22:11:52Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Mike\_Wurtz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@Mike\_Wurtz](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Mike_Wurtz)\
**Post date:** [May 19, 2016, 10:11pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/initial-heap-size-not-equal-to-maximum-heap-size/50499/1 "2016-05-19T22:11:52Z")

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I'm trying to start elasticsearch v5 alpha 2 on an AWS EC2 instance with 8GB memory, and keep getting this error on startup:

`initial heap size [268435456] not equal to maximum heap size [1073741824]`

Then elasticsearch fails to start.

I've tried setting the ES\_HEAP\_SIZE environment variable, and I've tried launching elasticsearch with -Xmx4g -Xms4g, and still get the same error.

What is the correct way to set the heap size?

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**Author:** ![anhlqn](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/anhlqn/32/5454_2.png) [@anhlqn](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/anhlqn)\
**Post date:** [May 19, 2016, 10:21pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/initial-heap-size-not-equal-to-maximum-heap-size/50499/2 "2016-05-19T22:21:53Z")

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> <https://github.com/elastic/elasticsearch/issues/18318#event-659527231>

Have you checked the jvm.options file?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Mike\_Wurtz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@Mike\_Wurtz](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Mike_Wurtz)\
**Post date:** [May 19, 2016, 11:09pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/initial-heap-size-not-equal-to-maximum-heap-size/50499/3 "2016-05-19T23:09:53Z")

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Updating jvm.options solved the problem..

Thanks.

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**Author:** ![jasontedor](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/jasontedor/32/66992_2.png) [@jasontedor](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/jasontedor)\
**Post date:** [May 20, 2016, 2:24am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/initial-heap-size-not-equal-to-maximum-heap-size/50499/4 "2016-05-20T02:24:10Z")

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A different issue to link to is [#18462](https://github.com/elastic/elasticsearch/issues/18462). While the issue that you link to was correct at the time, we have reverted the decision on which that issue was closed on the basis of (the position there being that we had decided to ship with default min equal to the default max). The issue [#18462](https://github.com/elastic/elasticsearch/issues/18462) contains our current thinking.

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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, 10:50pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/initial-heap-size-not-equal-to-maximum-heap-size/50499/5 "2017-07-05T22:50:18Z")

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