GlassFish EJB Method Statistics

This test auto-discovers the methods invoked by the GlassFish server, reports the time taken by the server to execute each method, and reveals errors that may have occurred during method execution. When application users complaint of a slowdown, then this test provides the method-level insight that is necessary for troubleshooting the slowdown. With the help of this test, administrators can quickly figure out which method is taking too long to execute and which methods are throwing exceptions often, and will thus be able to zero-in on the root-cause of the application slowdown.

Target of the test : A GlassFish server

Agent deploying the test : An internal/remote agent

Outputs of the test : One set of results for each method invoked by the GlassFish Enterprise server being monitored.

Configurable parameters for the test
Parameters Description

Test Period

How often should the test be executed.

Host

The host for which the test is to be configured.

Port

The port number at which the specified host listens

JMX Remote Port

To collect metrics from a GlassFish Enterprise server, the eG agent monitoring that server should be configured to use JMX to connect to the JRE used by the server and pull out the metrics of interest. By default, JMX support is enabled for the JRE used by the GlassFish Enterprise Server. The JMX connector listens on port 8686 by default. Therefore, type 8686 as the JMX Remote Port. If JMX listens on a different port in your environment, then specify the same here. To know the port at which JMX listens, open the domain.xml file in the <GLASSFISH_INSTALL_DIR>\Sun\AppServer\domains\domain1\config directory and look for the code block shown below:

<jmx-connector accept-all="false" address="0.0.0.0" auth-realm-name="admin-realm" enabled="true" name="system" port="8686" protocol="rmi_jrmp" security-enabled="false">

The port number specified against the Port parameter in the code block above refers to the JMX Remote Port.

JMX User,
JMX Password, and Confirm Password

By default, the JMX connector on the GlassFish Enterprise Server requires authentication. To enable the eG agent to use JMX therefore, you need to configure the agent with the credentials of a user who is authorized to use JMX. Typically, the GlassFish administrator has the right to use JMX. You can hence configure the JMX User and JMX Password parameters with the credentials of the administrator. However, if you prefer not to expose the credentials of an administrator owing to security considerations, you can use the credentials of any other user with access rights to JMX. To know the name of such a user, open the domain.xml file in the <GLASSFISH_INSTALL_DIR>\Sun\AppServer\domains\domain1\config directory and look for the code block shown below:

<jmx-connector accept-all="false" address="0.0.0.0" auth-realm-name="admin-realm" enabled="true" name="system" port="8686" protocol="rmi_jrmp" security-enabled="false">

The user name specified against the auth-realm-name parameter in the code block above can be configured as the JMX User, and the Password of that user can be specified against JMX Password. Confirm the JMX Password you specify by retyping that password in the Confirm Password text box.

JNDIName

The JNDIName is a lookup name for connecting to the JMX connector. By default, this is jmxrmi. If you have registered the JMX connector in the RMI registry using a different lookup name, then you can change this default value to reflect the same. 

JMX Provider

This test uses a JMX Provider to access the MBean attributes of the GlassFish Enterprise server and collect metrics. Specify the package name of this JMX Provider here. By default, this is set to com.sun.jmx.remote.protocol.

Timeout

Specify the duration (in seconds) for which this test should wait for a response from the GlassFish Enterprise server. If there is no response from the server beyond the configured duration, the test will timeout. By default, this is set to 240 seconds. 

Measurements made by the test
Measurement Description Measurement Unit Interpretation

Success methods

Indicates the number of invocations of this method that were successful during the last measurement period.

Number

 

Error methods

Indicates  the number of invocations of this method that resulted in errors during the last measurement period.

Number

Ideally, the value of this measure should be 0.

Error

Indicates the percentage of this method's invocations that resulted in errors.

Percent

A very low value is desired for this measure. Too many errors in method execution can adversely impact application performance.

Execution time

Indicates the time taken for this method to execute during the last measurement period.

Secs

A very low value is desired for this measure. A high value is indicative of problems in method execution, which can cause slowdowns in application performance.

Statistics

Indicates the number of times this method was invoked in the last measurement period.

Number