node --max_old_space_size is not working

Node Version: 6.9.x

My application was giving me FATAL ERROR: CALL_AND_RETRY_LAST Allocation failed - JavaScript heap out of memory error.

So I tried changing the memory allocation using max_old_space_size flag

While executing my server.js, I am giving the --max_old_space_size=4096 argument.

However, it keeps crashing with same error as before. Also, I noticed the numbers in the error thrown while crashing. Looks like its still the default allocation of 1.4 GB.

Here's my error message:

<--- Last few GCs --->

   84567 ms: Mark-sweep 1375.1 (1401.9) -> 1374.7 (1402.9) MB, 88.7 / 0.4 ms (+ 0.8 ms in 3 steps since start of marking, biggest step 0.5 ms) [allocation failure] [GC in old space requested].
   84648 ms: Mark-sweep 1374.7 (1402.9) -> 1374.7 (1402.9) MB, 81.3 / 0.0 ms [allocation failure] [GC in old space requested].
   84734 ms: Mark-sweep 1374.7 (1402.9) -> 1374.3 (1401.9) MB, 86.0 / 0.0 ms [last resort gc].
   84825 ms: Mark-sweep 1374.3 (1401.9) -> 1374.0 (1400.9) MB, 90.9 / 0.0 ms [last resort gc].


<--- JS stacktrace --->

==== JS stack trace =========================================

Security context: 0x1bf641bcfb39 <JS Object>
    1: slowToString [buffer.js:460] [pc=0x2f7049a5d3d5] (this=0x93e46a2d6b1 <an Uint8Array with map 0x13be78e068d9>,encoding=0x1bf641bdd309 <String[4]: utf8>,start=53,end=3522765)
    2: toString [buffer.js:~488] [pc=0x2f70499b77a6] (this=0x93e46a2d6b1 <an Uint8Array with map 0x13be78e068d9>)
    3: arguments adaptor frame: 3->0
    4: deserialize [/opt/myServer/node_modu...

FATAL ERROR: CALL_AND_RETRY_LAST Allocation failed - JavaScript heap out of memory
 1: node::Abort() [node]
 2: 0x10d2fbc [node]
 3: v8::Utils::ReportApiFailure(char const*, char const*) [node]
 4: v8::internal::V8::FatalProcessOutOfMemory(char const*, bool) [node]
 5: v8::internal::Factory::NewRawOneByteString(int, v8::internal::PretenureFlag) [node]
 6: v8::internal::Factory::NewStringFromOneByte(v8::internal::Vector<unsigned char const>, v8::internal::PretenureFlag) [node]
 7: v8::internal::Factory::NewStringFromUtf8(v8::internal::Vector<char const>, v8::internal::PretenureFlag) [node]
 8: v8::String::NewFromUtf8(v8::Isolate*, char const*, v8::String::NewStringType, int) [node]
 9: node::StringBytes::Encode(v8::Isolate*, char const*, unsigned long, node::encoding) [node]
10: node::Buffer::Utf8Slice(v8::FunctionCallbackInfo<v8::Value> const&) [node]
11: v8::internal::FunctionCallbackArguments::Call(void (*)(v8::FunctionCallbackInfo<v8::Value> const&)) [node]
12: 0x9da914 [node]
13: 0x9daffe [node]
14: 0x2f7047a092a7
Aborted (core dumped)

In the "Last few GCs" section, the memory size mentioned is always around 1404 MB. What am I doing wrong?

Is the system not able to allocated it any more memory?

via Dushyant Bangal