Startup Time Comparison - OpenJ9 vs. HotSpot

This section provides a tutorial example on how to compare startup time of OpenJ9 and HotSpot JVMs. My tests show that OpenJ9 total execution time is much slower than HotSpot on a CentOS Linux computer.

OpenJ9 document also claims that OpenJ9 JVM startup time is 66% faster than HotSpot. Here is what I did to verify this on my CentOS computer.

1. Verify OpenJDK/HotSpot installation:

[herong$ java -version
openjdk version "11.0.7" 2020-04-14 LTS
OpenJDK Runtime Environment 18.9 (build 11.0.7+10-LTS)
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM 18.9 (build 11.0.7+10-LTS, mixed mode, sharing)

2. Verify OpenJDK/OpenJ9 installation:

herong$ ./jdk-14.0.1+7-jre/bin/java -version
openjdk version "14.0.1" 2020-04-14
OpenJDK Runtime Environment AdoptOpenJDK (build 14.0.1+7)
Eclipse OpenJ9 VM AdoptOpenJDK (build openj9-0.20.0, JRE 14 Linux ...
OpenJ9   - 05fa2d361
OMR      - d4365f371
JCL      - 5757187cae based on jdk-14.0.1+7)

3. Use a simple Java program, Hello.java, to test startup.

class Hello {
   public static void main(String[] a) {
      System.out.println("Hello world!");
   }
}

4. Run Hello.java with OpenJDK/HotSpot, and measure the total execution time, which includes startup time with a shell script

herong$ more run-HotSpot
javac Hello.java
time java Hello

herong$ ./run-HotSpot
Hello world!

real  0m0.029s
user  0m0.038s
sys   0m0.008s

5. Run Hello.java with OpenJDK/OpenJ9, and measure the total execution time, which includes startup time with a shell script

herong$ more run-OpenJ9
./jdk-14.0.1+7-jre/bin/javac Hello.java
time ./jdk-14.0.1+7-jre/bin/java Hello

herong$ ./run-OpenJ9
Hello world!

real  0m0.090s
user  0m0.071s
sys   0m0.045s

6. Run Hello.java with OpenJDK/OpenJ9 with -Xquickstart, and measure the total execution time, which includes startup time with a shell script

herong$ more run-OpenJ9-quick
./jdk-14.0.1+7-jre/bin/javac Hello.java
time ./jdk-14.0.1+7-jre/bin/java -Xquickstart Hello

herong$ ./run-OpenJ9-quick
Hello world!

real  0m0.083s
user  0m0.059s
sys   0m0.046s

6. Compare test results:

                           Real     User      Sys
                           Time     Time     Time
                       -------   ------   ------
HotSpot                 0.029s   0.038s   0.008s
OpenJ9                  0.090s   0.071s   0.045s
% Slower                  201%      87%     463%

HotSpot                 0.029s   0.038s   0.008s
OpenJ9 w/ quickstart    0.083s   0.059s   0.046s
% Slower                  186%      55%     475%

My test shows that OpenJDK/OpenJ9 is much slower than OpenJDK/HotSpot. But mu measurements are total execution times that include JVM startup time, my program execution time, and JVM shutdown time. I can not conclude that OpenJDK/OpenJ9 startup time is slower than OpenJDK/HotSpot.

Table of Contents

 About This Book

 JVM (Java Virtual Machine) Specification

 Java HotSpot VM - JVM by Oracle/Sun

 java.lang.Runtime Class - The JVM Instance

 java.lang.System Class - The Operating System

 ClassLoader Class - Class Loaders

 Class Class - Class Reflections

 JVM Runtime Data Areas

 JVM Stack, Frame and Stack Overflow

 Thread Testing Program and Result

 CPU Impact of Multi-Thread Applications

 I/O Impact of Multi-Thread Applications

 CDS (Class Data Sharing)

 Micro Benchmark Runner and JVM Options

 Micro Benchmark Tests on "int" Operations

 Micro Benchmark Tests on "long" Operations

 Micro Benchmark Tests in JIT Compilation Mode

 Micro Benchmark Tests on "float" and "double" Operations

OpenJ9 by Eclipse Foundation

 What Is Eclipse OpenJ9

 Install OpenJ9 JVM with OpenJDK on CentOS Systems

 Footprint Comparison - OpenJ9 vs. HotSpot

Startup Time Comparison - OpenJ9 vs. HotSpot

 JRockit JVM 28.2.7 by Oracle Corporation

 Archived Tutorials

 References

 Full Version in PDF/EPUB