Why does DITA CMS Web display errors when opening topics?

You can increase the amount of memory allocated to the Tomcat server.

Symptom

When trying to open a topic in DITA CMS Web, a Document cannot be loaded or a 500 internal server error appears. The %DITACMSWeb_install_dir%/apache-tomcat-7.0.75/logs/ditacms.log file also shows the following error: Caused by: java.lang.OutOfMemoryError: GC overhead limit exceeded.

Problem

The Tomcat server is running out of memory.

Solution

For a Windows installation, perform the following:
  1. On the Tomcat server, click Start > Administrative Tools > Services.
  2. In the Services window, right-click the Tomcat entry. Click Properties.
  3. Copy the Service name and paste it into a Notepad file.
  4. In a command window, type %DITACMSWeb_install_dir%\apache-tomcat-7.0.75\bin\tomcat7w.exe" //ES//%Tomcat_service_name% where %Tomcat_service_name% is the value pasted into Notepad. For example, type the following: C:\Ixiasoft\cmsweb\apache-tomcat-7.0.75\bin\tomcat7w.exe //ES//tomcat7-ditacms
  5. In the Ixiasoft Tomcat7 DITA CMS Properties dialog box, on the Java tab, change the Maximum memory pool value to 2048
  6. Click OK.
  7. In the Services window, right-click the Tomcat entry. Click Stop.
  8. Rght-click the Tomcat entry. Click Start.
For a Linux installation, perform the following:
  1. Edit the %DITACMSWeb_install_dir%/apache-tomcat-7.0.75/bin/setenv.sh file.
  2. Change -Xmx1024m to -Xmx2048m.
  3. At a Linux prompt, type the following: /sbin/service tomcat7.ditacms restart