Itanium 1.6.0_11 Release Notes

About Itanium 1.6.0_11

Itanium 1.6.0_11 is a port of JDK 6 update 11 to the Itanium (64 bit) architecture platform.

The full internal version number for this update release is 1.6.0_11-b0305 (where "b" means "build"). The external version number is 6u11. Included in JDK 6u11 for Itanium (64 bit architecture) platform is version 11.0 of the Java HotSpot Server Virtual Machine.

The following JDK, JRE tools are not included in Itanium JDK, JRE 6u11 release:

  • Java Plug-in
  • Java Web Start
  • Java Update
  • JavaDB (JavaDB is included only into Linux self-extracting JDK distributive)
  • Java VisualVM
  • Serviceablity Agent

Please refer to JDK tools and Utilities for JDK tools description.

Only offline installation is available for JDK, JRE 6u11.

Changes in Itanium 1.6.0_11

  • See changes in 1.6.0_11 common for all platforms in Java SE 6 Update 11 Release Notes.
  • Bug fixes
    This release contains a number of bug fixes in Java HotSpot Server Virtual Machine and fixes for one or more security vulnerabilities. For more information, please see Sun Alerts 244986, 244987, 244990, 244991, 244992, 245246, 246266, 246286, 246346, 246366, 246387.
  • Performance improvements
    OSR (On Stack Replacement) is turned on by default. This will likely improve performance of applications that contain long-running loops, and will not affect performance of other kinds of applications.

Supported System Configurations

Platform Version Desktop Managers Browsers JRE JDK
Windows 64 bit
Windows IA64 Windows Server 2003 SP2 Windows/Active for Windows
N/A
 64-bit Install 64-bit Install
Windows Server 2008 for Itanium-Based Systems SP1
Linux 64 bit
Linux IA64 Linux Suse Enterprise Linux Server 9 SP3, Suse Enterprise Linux Server 10 SP1 N/A
N/A
 64-bit Install 64-bit Install
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.0 U5, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.0 U2

JDK, JRE Installation for Microsoft Windows (Itanium)

Installation procedure installs the JDK or JRE 6u11 but not the Java Plugin or Java Web Start (which are not available for 64-bit Windows) or public Java Runtime Environment (when JDK is installed).

To install, go to Java SE Downloads page, section "JDK 6 Update 11 for Intel ItaniumPH*PH*PH\uFFFDPH*PH*PH" if you need JDK, or "JRE 6 Update 11 for Intel ItaniumPH*PH*PH\uFFFDPH*PH*PH" if you need JRE.

On the Java SE Development Kit for Itanium 6u11 page (if JDK) or Java SE Runtime Environment for Itanium 6u11 page (if JRE), select "Windows" platform.

Download jdk-6u11-windows-ia64.exe or jre-6u11-windows-ia64.exe file and then follow the 32-bit Windows JDK installation or 32-bit Windows JRE installation "Windows Offline Installation" instructions.

JDK, JRE Installation for Linux (Itanium)

Installation procedure installs the JRE or JDK 6u11 but not the Java Plugin or Java Web Start (which are not available for 64-bit Linux) or the public Java Runtime Environment (when JDK is installed).

To install, go to Java SE Downloads page, section "JDK 6 Update 11 for Intel ItaniumPH*PH*PH\uFFFDPH*PH*PH" if you need JDK, or "JRE 6 Update 11 for Intel ItaniumPH*PH*PH\uFFFDPH*PH*PH" if you need JRE.

On the Java SE Development Kit for Itanium 6u11 page (if JDK) or Java SE Runtime Environment for Itanium 6u11 page (if JRE), select "Linux" platform.

The JDK, JRE for Linux 64-bit comes bundled in two install formats - Linux self-extracting files jdk-6u11-linux-ia64.bin, jre-6u11-linux-ia64.bin and Linux RPM in self-extracting files jdk-6u11-linux-ia64-rpm.bin, jre-6u11-linux-ia64-rpm.bin.

Download necessary file and then follow the 32-bit Linux JDK installation or 32-bit Linux JRE installation instructions.

Known installation issues

  • On Linux systems (specifically, on SLES 9) *-rpm.bin installation can report dmidecode unaligned access:

    

dmidecode(18485): unaligned access to 0x600000000000801a, ip=0x4000000000007390                   
dmidecode(18485): unaligned access to 0x600000000000801e, ip=0x40000000000073a1                   
dmidecode(18485): unaligned access to 0x6000000000008065, ip=0x4000000000003151                   
dmidecode(18485): unaligned access to 0x60000000000080f7, ip=0x4000000000003151
    The bundles install successfully. Message printing can be disabled by command 'prctl --unaligned=silent'. The message is a warning for user that application (dmidecode) works inefficient from performance perspective. The issue is resolved in dmidecode 2.7.
  • On Linux systems, when *-rpm.bin file is used for JDK (JRE) installation, JDK (JRE) of lower version can not be installed if on the same system JDK (JRE) of higher version is installed.

    For example, JDK (JRE) 6u7 can not be installed using jdk(jre)-6u7-linux-ia64-rpm.bin file if, on the same machine, JDK (JRE) 6u11 was previously installed using jdk(jre)-6u11-linux-ia64-rpm.bin.

    Installation reports:

    Preparing... ########################################### [100%] package jdk-1.6.0_11-fcs (which is newer than jdk-1.6.0_07-fcs) is already installed JDK (JRE) 6u7 is not installed.

    Workarounds are:

    • Un-install JDK (JRE) 6u11, then, install JDK (JRE) 6u7 using jdk(jre)-6u7-linux-ia64-rpm.bin, or
    • Install JDK (JRE) 6u7 using jdk(jre)-6u7-linux-ia64.bin file
    • If JDK (JRE) 6u11 was installed using jdk(jre)-6u11-linux-ia64-rpm.bin, installation of JRE (JDK) 6u7 using jre(jdk)-6u7-linux-ia64-rpm.bin passes successfully.
  • On Windows systems after installation of JDK (or JRE) the registry key PH*PH*PH\uFFFDPH*PH*PHHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\JavaSoft\Java Development Kit\1.6PH*PH*PH\uFFFDPH*PH*PH (for JDK), PH*PH*PH\uFFFDPH*PH*PHHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\JavaSoft\Java Runtime Environment\1.6PH*PH*PH\uFFFDPH*PH*PH (for JRE) should contain value PH*PH*PH\uFFFDPH*PH*PHJavaHomePH*PH*PH\uFFFDPH*PH*PH with the full path name of the directory in which JDK (or JRE) of the highest version is installed.
    After installation of Itanium JDK (or JRE) 6u11, PH*PH*PH\uFFFDPH*PH*PHJavaHomePH*PH*PH\uFFFDPH*PH*PH contains the path to the last installed JDK (or JRE) instead of the path to the JDK (or JRE) of the highest installed version. After un-installation the value is removed.
    Workaround is to put the correct value to the Windows registry manually. See Deploying the JRE on Windows for more details about registry values.

Performance

  • Recommended options for running server applications with high performance are: 
    

-XX:+AggressiveOpts               
-XX:+AggressiveHeap               
-XX:+UseParallelGC               
-XX:CompileThreshold=10000               
-XX:MaxPermSize=256m               
-XX:PermSize=256m               
-XX:ReservedCodeCacheSize=128m               
-XX:+UseLargePages               
-XX:LargePageSizeInBytes=16m for Windows               
-XX:LargePageSizeInBytes=256m for Linux               
PH*PH*PH\uFFFDPH*PH*PHXmx, -Xms, PH*PH*PH\uFFFDPH*PH*PHXmn should have big values.

Known issues and limitations

  • JVM can intermittently crash with SIGILL on Linux RHEL4 Itanium when it is executed from NFS.

    This is a known bug in kernels of version less than 2.6.22. Processors older than Montecito (e.g. Madison, McKinley) are not affected.

    RHEL4 (Nahant Update 5), kernel 2.6.9-55.EL has this bug. In RHEL5.2(Tikanga), kernel 2.6.18-92.el5 the bug is fixed.

    Possible workarounds are:

    • Run java not from NFS.
    • Migrate to newer kernel in which this bug is fixed, for example, to RHEL5.2 or RHEL4.6.
    • Apply patch linux-2.6-mm-ia64-flush-i-cache-before-set_pte.patch (from kernel-2.6.18-92.el5.src.rpm) to your kernel.
  • JVM can intermittently crash when executed on Montecito or Montvale microprocessors, SLES 9 (any SP) operating system with Hyper-Threading enabled.

    Typically, the crash is caused by SIGILL (si_errno=0, si_code=1 (ILL_ILLOPC)) signal.

    Workarounds are:

    • Disable Hyper-Threading either completely (in BIOS) or partially for JVM process only using 'taskset' utility.
    • Use SLES 10.
  • Support for NUMA architectures is not fully implemented on Itanium yet, usage of option -XX:+UseNUMA may cause instability of the JVM.
  • JVM can intermittently crash on Windows 2003 Itanium platform when it is run from network drive. A workaround is to install the JRE on local disk. The problem disappears after installing "Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 for Itanium-based Systems"
  • ALSA (Advanced Linux Sound Architecture, http://www.alsa-project.org/wiki/Main_Page) sound support is not included in this release.
  • Java 6 does not support Sun PKCS#11 and SunMSCAPI providers for Windows 64-bit (see native security features availability in various operating systems in Leveraging Security in the Native Platform Using Java SE 6 Technology article). These providers are not a part of Java 6 for Windows Itanium. If necessary, one can use implementations of these providers offered by third parties.