inspectIT 1.6 - Using Java Management Extensions (JMX)

Recently, we released the inspectIT version 1.6.9 which introduced some brand-new features and improvements. For that reason, we published a series of articles in the NovaTec Blog to demonstrate them. Until now, we talked about the simplified setup procedure and the improved usability for Mac users. Furthermore, we demonstrated the new configuration interface. In this article, we will show you a new feature: the JMX sensor.

What is JMX?

JMX (Java Management Extensions) is a Java technology, to quote Daniel Fuchs from Oracle:

To make it short, JMX is a technology that lets you implement management interfaces for Java applications. (source)

A management interface provides resources for other applications. Objects called Management Beans, or in short, MBeans represent these resources. In most cases, they contain data for monitoring or management purpose, like memory information or different counters (for instance thread counters, pool sizes, etc.). Using the new JMX sensor, inspectIT is able to collect and monitor this data.

How to Setup the JMX Sensor?

The setup and use of the new JMX sensor is very easy, especially when using the new configuration interface.

At first, go to the Configuration Interface perspective and add a new profile. This profile represents your configuration of the sensor.

Then, set the type to “JMX Definition” and enter a name and description for the profile.

Once you created the profile, inspectIT opens the profile in a new view. Now, use the “Add” button (1) to create a new MBean specification. After that a panel will appear in the lower part of the window, where you can enter a filter pattern. This pattern consists of a domain (2) and any number of properties (3). On the right side, you can chose to monitor all of the MBean’s attributes or select a specified subset (4).

Finally, you have to active the profile. To do this, you have to open the settings of the “Default Environment” and mark the checkbox in front of the desired profile. The last step is to save the profile and environment settings. Done!

Monitoring JMX Resources

Now that we have configured inspectIT to monitor JMX resources or MBeans, respectively, it is ready to be used. In order to get an overview of all gathered MBeans, we created a view which lists all of them, including the corresponding information. This can be accessed via the “Analyze” perspective.

Some entries have a chart icon in front of them. This means that a history graph is available via the context menu. The following image shows an example of such a visualization of a monitored MBean.

That’s it!

Yes that’s it! You see, with just a few clicks you are able to monitor the JMX resources of your application! Isn’t that great?

Finally, if you like inspectIT, don’t forget to star our GitHub repository. By doing this, you are supporting us and you will always get the latest version of inspectIT 🙂

—Marius