Going AOT with GraalVM and latest Java features 🚀

1. Going AOT: Everything you need
to know about GraalVM for Java
applications
Alina Yurenko
Devoxx Greece

2. •Alina Yurenko / @alina_yurenko
•Developer Advocate for GraalVM at
Oracle
•Love open source and
communities 🤝
•Love both programming 👩💻 &
natural languages 🗣
•🐱🐶
About me
2

3. 3
GraalVM 🚀

4. An advanced JDK with ahead-of-time
Native Image compilation
4

5. native-image MyMainClass
./mymainclass
JIT AOT
java MyMainClass

6. 2017 Year
2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
2005 2011
... ...
Sun Labs’
Maxine Java
JVM initial
release
December
Native Image
open sourced
April
Twitter uses
Graal JIT for
core
microservices
October
Micronaut
1.0 with
Native
Image
support
April
GraalVM 1.0
released
April
Thomas
Wuerthinger
joins Oracle and
starts Graal
compiler project
March
Spring Native
goes beta
November
Quarkus
1.0 with
Native
Image
support
May
GraalVM
goes GA
(19.0
release)
September
MicroDoc
announces
GraalVM for
embedded
July
Alibaba
deploys
Native
Image in
production
July
Facebook
deploys
GraalVM in
production
May
AWS SDK
support for
Native
Image
November
Spring Boot 3
with Native
Image support
December
OpenJDK
Galahad
project
proposed
July
Google Cloud
Platform SDK
support for
Native Image
June
GraalVM Free
Terms and
Conditions
license
September
GraalOS &
Layered
Native
Image
announced
March
Azure SDK
support for
Native
Image
September
Oracle Cloud
runs services
on GraalVM
Graal History

7. Copyright © 2024, Oracle and/or its affiliates
GraalVM Native Image AOT Compilation
7
Ahead-of-Time
Compilation
Application
Libraries
JDK
Substrate VM
Points-to Analysis
Run Initializations
Heap Snapshotting
Input:
All classes from application,
libraries, and VM
Code in
Text Section
Image Heap in
Data Section
Image Heap
Writing
Output:
Native executable

8. Compact
Packaging
8
GraalVM Native Image—Fast Start Up and Much More
Improved
Security
Fast Start
& Scale
Lower Resource
Usage
Predictable
Performance
Supported
Azure
AWS
GCP
OCI

9. 9
Demo 🚀

10. 10
Ready for GraalVM Native Image
graalvm.org/native-image/libraries-and-frameworks

11. Libraries, dynamic Java features, and Native Image
11
• Libraries might be Native-Image friendly out of the box
• twitter.com/YunaMorgenstern/status/1729039787351536084
• Libraries might include config for Native Image:
• github.com/h2database/h2database/blob/master/h2/src/main/META-INF/native-image/
• Libraries might contain config in the Reachability Metadata Repository
• github.com/oracle/graalvm-reachability-metadata/tree/master/metadata/io.netty
• You can use framework support to produce custom “hints” for Native Image
runtimeHints.resources().registerPattern(“config/app.properties”); //register resource
@Reflective //flag elements that require reflection
• You can use the Tracing Agent to produce the necessary config automatically
• graalvm.org/latest/reference-manual/native-image/metadata/AutomaticMetadataCollection/
• You can provide/extend config for reflection, JNI, resources, serialization, and predefined classes manually
in JSON:
• graalvm.org/latest/reference-manual/native-image/metadata/#specifying-metadata-with-json
Happy path;
most of the cases
Custom code

12. GraalVM Native Image & JUnit
12
@EnabledInNativeImage
• used to signal that the annotated test class or test method is
only enabled when executing within GraalVM native images
• when applied at the class level, all test methods within that class will be
enabled within a native image
@DisabledInNativeImage
• used to signal that the annotated test class or test method is
only disabled when executing within a GraalVM native image.

13. 13
Let’s talk performance 🚀

14. Spring PetClinic on Oracle GraalVM - Peak Throughput
14

15. Spring PetClinic on Oracle GraalVM - Memory Efficiency
15

16. Spring PetClinic Performance on Oracle GraalVM
16
GraalVM CE with C2 JIT Oracle GraalVM Native Image
Memory Usage (max RSS) 1,029 MB 641 MB
Peak throughput 11,066 req/s 11,902 req/s
Throughput per memory 12,488 req/(GB*s) 18,569 req/(GB*s)
Tail latency (P99) 7.2ms 5.15ms
Startup 7,090ms 210ms
-38% lower
+8% higher
+49% better
-28% lower
34x faster

17. 17
Tips, tricks, and best practices 👩🔬

18. Copyright © 2024, Oracle and/or its affiliates
Container Size (MB)
0
125
250
375
500
Debian 12-slim
+ JDK 21
Distroless Java 21 Distroless Java Base
+ jlink
Distroless Java Base
+ Native Image
Distroless Base
+ Native Image
Distroless Static
+ Native Image
18.1
36.3
48.9
127
199
405
95.5% container image size reduction
JDK’s Simple Web Server
18
GraalVM Native Image
JVM
Compact
Packaging

19. Cross-Platform Builds on GitHub Actions
19
Windows
Executable
macOS
Executable
Linux
Executable
.class
.jar
.class
.jar
GraalVM GitHub
Action 🏗

20. 20
• Reduced attack surface area
due to dead code removal—
unused classes, methods, and
fields not included in
executable
Improved
Security • Not vulnerable to JIT
compiler attacks
all code is AOT compiled
• SBOM supporting industry
standards
Embedded in executables
CycloneDX format
• Not vulnerable to
deserialization attacks via
class loading—executable
includes only required and
specified classes
Reduced Attack Surface 🛡

21. • Migrate 🚀
• Add Native Build Tools
• Alternatively, use recent versions of frameworks
• Evaluate libraries: graalvm.org/native-image/libraries-and-frameworks
• Build and deploy 👷
• Build and test on GraalVM as the JVM, build with Native Image closer to the deployment
• Quick build mode with `-Ob`
• Use CI/CD systems (e.g. GitHub actions) for deployment and cross-platform builds
• Run faster 🚀
• PGO
• ML-enabled PGO
• G1 GC
• `-march=native`
Recommendations

22. 22
What’s next for GraalVM

23. • Java 22 features
• The fastest GraalVM yet :)
• Developer experience improvements
Learn more: medium.com/graalvm
GraalVM for JDK 22 🚀
23

24. 24
Demo 🚀

25. Layered Native Images
25
Micronaut base
Micronaut extensions
(Web, Data, Test)
Spring base
App 1
App 2 App 3
Deployment: resources sharing ☁
JDK base
Application code
Development: fast recompilation 🚀
JDK base + Micronaut base+ all extensions
App 4

26. GraalOS—Advanced cloud native application deployment platform
26
Fast Start
GraalOS applications
start fast with
virtually no cold start
cost
Low Latency
Excellent 99th
percentile latency
makes GraalOS
applications highly
responsive
Run On Demand
GraalOS applications
are automatically
suspended and
resumed on demand
—with no idle cost
Applications, not
Containers
GraalOS uses the latest
advances in x86 and
AArch64 processor
architectures for hardware
enforced application
isolation without containers
Reduced Memory
GraalOS applications
require significantly
less memory
resulting in reduced
operating costs
Cloud Native
With support for
stateful and stateless
services and
functions, GraalOS is
ideal for cloud native
applications
Runs applications as small, fast GraalVM Native Image compiled machine executables

27. Compact
Packaging
27
GraalVM Native Image—Ideal for Cloud Native Applications
Improved
Security
Fast Start
& Scale
Lower Resource
Usage
Predictable
Performance
Supported
Azure
AWS
GCP
OCI

28. Questions & let’s connect! GraalVM resources

29. Ευχαριστώ!
@alina_yurenko
29