Java Memory Structure

There are two memory regions in the JVM: the heap and the stack. Local variables and methods reside on the stack, everything else on the heap.

Additionally class definitions are hold in a part of heap called permanent generation.

This Java heap memory is structured again into regions, called generations. The longer an object lives, the higher the chance it will be promoted to an older generation. Young generations(such as Eden on Sun JVM) are more garbage collected than older generations(survivor and tenured on Sun JVM). However, there is also some separate heap space called permanent generation. Since it is a separate region, it is not considered part of the Java Heap space. Objects in this space are relatively permanent. Class definitions are stored here, as are static instances.

The OutOfMemoryError: PermGen Space error occurs when the permanent generation heap is full. Although this error can occur in normal circumstances, usually, this error is caused by a memory leak.

The first thing one can do is to make the size of the permanent generation heap space bigger.

This cannot be done with the usual –Xms(set initial heap size) and –Xmx(set maximum heap size) JVM arguments, since as mentioned, the permanent generation heap space is entirely separate from the regular Java Heap space, and these arguments set the space for this regular Java heap space. However, there are similar arguments which can be used(at least with the Sun/OpenJDK jvms) to make the size of the permanent generation heap bigger:

-XX:MaxPermSize=256m

would set its maximum size to 256m, which is 4 times bigger than the default size.

Reference:
http://www.integratingstuff.com/2011/07/24/understanding-and-avoiding-the-java-permgen-space-error/