Increasing the memory available to PaperCut

By default, the PaperCut Application Server is restricted to a maximum RAM allocation of up to one quarter (1/4) of physical memory. This ensures that PaperCut does not consume too many resources and "plays nicely" with other applications that may be run on the same system.

If the server is dedicated to running PaperCut then you may choose increase the amount of memory made available to PaperCut. This can improve application performance, particularly on sites with many users or with large printing volumes. Increased RAM allocation helps PaperCut by allowing it to perform optimizations such as disk and data caching.

Running out of memory

If PaperCut runs out of memory an OutOfMemoryError will be displayed to the user and/or logged to the service.log file. If this occurs then this is an indication that the server requires more memory, and there are two possible solutions:

  • Add more RAM to the server. We recommend at least 1GB of RAM for busy servers.
  • Increase the maximum amount of memory available to PaperCut (see below). This should only be done if there are not other applications running on the server or if recommended by the support team.

Increasing maximum memory

Before making this change it is recommended to contact the technical support team to discuss available options.

To increase amount of memory available to PaperCut.

1. Create a text file in the directory: [app-dir]\server\custom\ directory called service.conf.

2. Open the file in a text editor and add the following line to make PaperCut use up to one third of physical RAM:

wrapper.java.additional.6=-XX:DefaultMaxRAMFraction=3
To make PaperCut use up to one half of physical RAM use the line:
wrapper.java.additional.6=-XX:DefaultMaxRAMFraction=2
NOTE: This can be used to increase the memory available to PaperCut up to 1GB. To increase this further contact the technical support team.

3. Save the text file

4. Restart the PaperCut Application Server service (On Windows do this in Control Panel->Admin Tools->Services).

5. After the service is restarted the server log file ([app-dir]\server\logs\server.log) will show the new "max memory" setting.

Page last modified on February 19, 2008, at 06:02 PM