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Comments on Can I set a memory limit for the .NET Core garbage collector to collect objects more aggressively?

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Can I set a memory limit for the .NET Core garbage collector to collect objects more aggressively?

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I have an ASP.NET Core 5 web application that provides functionality that involves file upload + rather large processing (memory consumption mainly). After each processing (with success or not) the memory could be reclaimed.

I have a stress test the endpoint with large files and checked the w3wp.exe process Memory (it runs in IIS) which goes something like this:

  • step 1: 400M
  • step 2: 800M
  • step 3: 1200M
  • step 4: 1800M
  • step 5: 1300M

So there seems to be no memory leak, but GC kicks in very late. I would like for it to begin the cleanup faster, but I cannot seem to find a way to do this. What I have found/tried:

  • why the delay in collection? - objects larger than 85KB are considered large by the GC and will be collected less frequent than smaller objects
  • forcing the GC collection after each operation - this can be done using GC.Collect(), but it is not recommended to do so
  • Runtime configuration options for garbage collection - I have checked GC settings and applied a limit for System.GC.HeapHardLimit, the final configuration looking like this:
{
  "runtimeOptions": {
    "tfm": "net5.0",
    "framework": {
      "name": "Microsoft.AspNetCore.App",
      "version": "5.0.0"
    },
    "runtimeOptions": {
      "configProperties": {
        "System.GC.HeapHardLimit": 1000000000
      }
    },
    "configProperties": {
      "System.GC.Server": true,
      "System.Reflection.Metadata.MetadataUpdater.IsSupported": false,
      "System.Runtime.Serialization.EnableUnsafeBinaryFormatterSerialization": false
    }
  }
}

The memory still goes beyond 1GB and stays like this until I process more data and it is finally reclaimed.

  • IIS application pool memory limit - setting the memory limit on the application pool will cause it to be recycled, not forcing the GC to act faster

The application runs on an internal shared server and I would like to have a reasonable peak memory for it.

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1 comment thread

Why is that a problem? (4 comments)
Why is that a problem?
meriton‭ wrote almost 3 years ago

Does this memory use cause an actual problem for you? Most modern servers comes with hundreds of GB of memory, so you should have memory to spare?

Alexei‭ wrote almost 3 years ago

Unfortunately, the application I am developing now is running on servers that are shared by multiple .NET applications and the memory is not that generous (although its price is pretty low when compared to other software development costs).

meriton‭ wrote almost 3 years ago

I see. Knowing that you are concerned about peak memory use, rather than, say, the length of garbage collector pauses helps writing targeted answers.

Alexei‭ wrote almost 3 years ago

meriton‭ Yes, I have not realized the XY problem in my post. I have added a paragraph to clarify this.