Yes, it is ridiculously large for what is effectively a TCP relay, but still, it's at least a step in the right direction.
My IB gateway takes around 20Mb of central memory and 80Mb of virtual memory with 12 securities data flowing. I have Win2000 with java 1.5.0.22 and I use Xmx96 in the start line. Even if hardware is cheap, Swing is a source of subtle errors, like the API page which doesn't open because open command is in another thread (I've seen it in a thread here at Elitetrader). Simple is better: the only things that never raise problems are the absent ones
Again, the Windows Task Manager doesn't work that well as that's just showing the resident memory. You need to use a good memory tool like 'pslist' or similar. On 32-bit XP I get about 300MB of memory used with a 96MB memory pool (which is probably not enough if you leave it running for a long time, but who knows). I see IB default startup uses a 512MB memory pool (about 700MB RAM used in that case). Pretty close to the same as Linux, it will use more on 64-bit systems. I'm curious to find out what the memory usage is after it has been running 24/7 for a week or more... if it can last that long. The pool might keep it from ever using more memory, but the pool might get full and crash the app...
I have kept it running continuosly since my first post in this thread. (201 securities). No problems so far. Will let you know if it crashes... (that machine has 1 Gb ram, win7) Tom
I'm quite new at this stuff, i keep seeing costs associated with this gateway feature. <b>Is there a cost to having this lightweight program? </B> Becuase my charting software needs TWS running to stream the data, but TWS keeps crashing my computer. I'm hoping this is the solution to this problem. THanks
no cost for gateway. look at >start>programs>InteractiveBrokers> IB Gateway (dont forgett to adjust the port)
One strange, but totally minor, thing that happened to me (win7) is that the Gateway does not seem to show in the program menu at the first installation. If you repeat the installation it shows. This happened also to friend of mine (xp). Have you, by any chance, experienced the same? Tom
top or ps is not going to give a reasonable estimate of the memory utilization of java apps. If you install the jdk, there is a application called jconsole that lets you look at heap size, heap utilization, garbage collection and lots of other interesting stuff for any java app. Very useful in picking up memory leaks too.
TWS really shouldn't crash your computer and would prompt me to: - make sure I had the latest java (-20) - check all my display drivers were current.
I agree with that. No reason to crash. It may (quite rarely) freeze, but crashing the pc... actually never seen it. Try doing a clean installation of operating system. Use a light antivirus, like avira (can use House Call weekly for deeper scan). Do no install unnecessary software... ckeck also you memory modules and video card... Tom