diff --git a/pkg/controllers/cassandra/nodepool/resource.go b/pkg/controllers/cassandra/nodepool/resource.go
index 79b6a0bb4..bcc4a01af 100644
--- a/pkg/controllers/cassandra/nodepool/resource.go
+++ b/pkg/controllers/cassandra/nodepool/resource.go
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ import (
 
 	"github.com/jetstack/navigator/pkg/apis/navigator/v1alpha1"
 	"github.com/jetstack/navigator/pkg/controllers/cassandra/util"
+	"github.com/jetstack/navigator/pkg/controllers/common"
 	"github.com/jetstack/navigator/pkg/util/ptr"
 )
 
@@ -218,7 +219,8 @@ func StatefulSetForCluster(
 									Name: "JVM_OPTS",
 									Value: fmt.Sprintf(
 										"-javaagent:%s/jolokia.jar=host=%s,port=%d,agentContext=%s "+
-											"-javaagent:%s/jmx_prometheus_javaagent.jar=8080:%s/jmx_prometheus_javaagent.yaml",
+											"-javaagent:%s/jmx_prometheus_javaagent.jar=8080:%s/jmx_prometheus_javaagent.yaml "+
+											common.JVMCgroupOpts,
 										sharedVolumeMountPath,
 										jolokiaHost,
 										jolokiaPort,
diff --git a/pkg/controllers/common/common.go b/pkg/controllers/common/common.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..4157cb50c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/controllers/common/common.go
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+package common
+
+const (
+	JVMCgroupOpts =
+	// allow using cgroup flags
+	"-XX:+UnlockExperimentalVMOptions " +
+
+		// use cgroup limit instead of host
+		"-XX:+UseCGroupMemoryLimitForHeap " +
+
+		// use 100% of the available memory
+		"-XX:MaxRAMFraction=1 "
+)
diff --git a/pkg/controllers/elasticsearch/actions/create_nodepool.go b/pkg/controllers/elasticsearch/actions/create_nodepool.go
index 6f445bc69..901720823 100644
--- a/pkg/controllers/elasticsearch/actions/create_nodepool.go
+++ b/pkg/controllers/elasticsearch/actions/create_nodepool.go
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ import (
 
 	"github.com/jetstack/navigator/pkg/apis/navigator/v1alpha1"
 	"github.com/jetstack/navigator/pkg/controllers"
+	"github.com/jetstack/navigator/pkg/controllers/common"
 	"github.com/jetstack/navigator/pkg/controllers/elasticsearch/util"
 	"github.com/jetstack/navigator/pkg/util/ptr"
 )
@@ -200,6 +201,10 @@ func elasticsearchPodTemplateSpec(controllerName string, c *v1alpha1.Elasticsear
 							Name:  "PLUGINS",
 							Value: plugins,
 						},
+						{
+							Name:  "ES_JAVA_OPTS",
+							Value: common.JVMCgroupOpts,
+						},
 						{
 							Name: "LEADER_ELECTION_CONFIG_MAP",
 							// TODO: trim the length of this string