Because the container is *not* doing nothing, even when it appears to be doing nothing. Lots of things happening in Java subsystems, all of which require memory, not to mention the act of observing the JVM via VisualVM is creating work for the process; what you see is normal.
From: Frizz [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Wednesday, October 21, 2015 4:53 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Sawtooth memory consumption pattern (used heap) [ EXTERNAL ] I recently monitored the memory consumption of my Karaf container. It looks like this here: https://mingqin.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/karaf-felix1.png My container is doing "nothing", still the "used heap" size steadily increases - until, after a few minutes, it sharply drops (GC?). What's the explanation for this? This e-mail transmission may contain information that is proprietary, privileged and/or confidential and is intended exclusively for the person(s) to whom it is addressed. Any use, copying, retention or disclosure by any person other than the intended recipient or the intended recipient's designees is strictly prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient or their designee, please notify the sender immediately by return e-mail and delete all copies. OppenheimerFunds may, at its sole discretion, monitor, review, retain and/or disclose the content of all email communications.
