How to find a memory leak (Heap Dump analysis)?

To diagnose memory leaks through Heap Dump analysis in Java, the following steps are usually performed:

1. Obtaining the Heap Dump — tools like jmap can be used or configure the JVM to create a dump when certain conditions are met.

2. Loading the Heap Dump into an analyzer — popular tools include Eclipse MAT (Memory Analyzer Tool), VisualVM, YourKit.

3. Searching for suspicious objects:

   • Use reports on "objects with the largest retained size" — these are objects holding a lot of memory.
   • Analyze retention paths to these objects to understand why they are not collected by the garbage collector.

4. Identifying the cause of the leak:

   • Leaks are often related to collections that grow continuously (e.g., Map, List).
   • Check if objects are retained through static fields, listeners, caches.

5. Fixing the code — after identifying the cause, change the logic, for example, clear collections, remove listeners.

Example of using Eclipse MAT:

// Open heap dump
// Run "Leak Suspects Report"
// Study objects with large retained size
// Trace GC roots to understand retention

Thus, Heap Dump analysis helps localize and eliminate memory leaks.