Jenkins JVM configuration should be set on the playbook.

playbooks/edx-east/jenkins_testeng_master.yml

@@ -7,9 +7,10 @@
   sudo: True
   gather_facts: True
   vars:
-    COMMON_DATA_DIR: "/mnt"
+    COMMON_DATA_DIR: "/mnt2"
     COMMON_ENABLE_DATADOG: True
     COMMON_ENABLE_SPLUNKFORWARDER: True
+    jenkins_jvm_args: "-Djava.awt.headless=true -Xmx7168m -XX:MaxPermSize=512m"
 
     SPLUNKFORWARDER_LOG_ITEMS:
       - source: '/var/lib/jenkins/jobs/*/builds/*/junitResult.xml'

playbooks/roles/jenkins_master/defaults/main.yml

@@ -7,7 +7,8 @@ jenkins_port: 8080
 jenkins_version: "1.630"
 jenkins_deb_url: "http://pkg.jenkins-ci.org/debian/binary/jenkins_{{ jenkins_version }}_all.deb"
 jenkins_deb: "jenkins_{{ jenkins_version }}_all.deb"
-jenkins_jvm_args: "-Djava.awt.headless=true -Xmx6144m"
+# Jenkins jvm args are set when starting the Jenkins service, e.g., "-Xmx1024m"
+jenkins_jvm_args: ""
 
 jenkins_plugins:
     - { name: "build-name-setter", version: "1.3" }

playbooks/roles/jenkins_master/tasks/main.yml

@@ -39,11 +39,11 @@
   service: name=jenkins state=stopped
 
 - name: set jvm args
-  lineinfile: >
-    backup=yes
-    dest=/etc/default/jenkins
-    regexp='^JAVA_ARGS'
-    line='JAVA_ARGS=\"{{ jenkins_jvm_args }}\"'
+  lineinfile:
+    backup: yes
+    dest: /etc/default/jenkins
+    regexp: '^JAVA_ARGS'
+    line: 'JAVA_ARGS=\"{{ jenkins_jvm_args }}\"'
   notify:
     - restart Jenkins
   tags: