Weblogic 10.3.6 Patching Error Using BSU - "java.lang.OutOfMemoryError: GC overhead limit exceeded"

Applies To:
Oracle WebLogic Server - Version 10.3.6 to 12.1.1.0 Information in this document applies to any platform.

Symptoms:
When attempting to apply a patch, the following error occurs:
Exception in thread "main" java.lang.OutOfMemoryError: GC overhead limit exceeded
  at java.lang.Class.getDeclaredMethods0(Native Method)
  at java.lang.Class.privateGetDeclaredMethods(Class.java:2521)
  at java.lang.Class.getMethod0(Class.java:2764)
  at java.lang.Class.getMethod(Class.java:1653)
  at com.bea.cie.common.dao.xbean.XBeanDataHandler.isValueSet(XBeanDataHandler.java:958)
 com.bea.cie.common.dao.xbean.XBeanDataHandler.getValueFromObject(XBeanDataHandler.java:589)com.bea.cie.common.dao.xbean.XBeanDataHandler.getSimpleValue(XBeanDataHandler.java:431
  at com.bea.plateng.patch.dao.cat.PatchDetail.getId(PatchDetail.java:42)
  at com.bea.plateng.patch.dao.cat.PatchCatalogHelper.getPatchDetails(PatchCatalogHelper.java:700)
  at com.bea.plateng.patch.dao.cat.Version.getPatchDetails(Version.java:41)
 com.bea.plateng.patch.dao.cat.PatchCatalogHelper.getFilteredPatchDetailMap(PatchCatalogHelper.java:1202) com.bea.plateng.patch.dao.cat.PatchCatalogHelper.getPatchDetails(PatchCatalogHelper.java:1398)
 com.bea.plateng.patch.dao.cat.PatchCatalogHelper.getEveryPatchDetail(PatchCatalogHelper.java:76com.bea.plateng.patch.dao.cat.PatchCatalogHelper.getInvalidatedPatchMap(PatchCatalogHelper.java:1622)  at com.bea.plateng.patch.PatchSystem.updatePatchCatalog(PatchSystem.java:436)
  at com.bea.plateng.patch.PatchSystem.refresh(PatchSystem.java:130)
  at com.bea.plateng.patch.PatchSystem.setCacheDir(PatchSystem.java:201)
  at com.bea.plateng.patch.Patch.main(Patch.java:306)

Changes:

None

Cause:

The heap size specified for BEA Smart Update (BSU) is not sufficient.

Solution:

Follow these steps to resolve the issue:
Go to $FMW_Home/utils/bsu.
Edit bsu.sh (for UNIX) or bsu.cmd (for Windows).
Here you will find the following: MEM_ARGS="-Xms256m -Xmx512m"
Increase these values as needed: for example, to "-Xms2048m -Xmx2048m".

Reference metalink Doc ID 2007492.1