WAS Beans Test

The WAS Beans test automatically discovers the EJBs deployed on the WebSphere server and reports critical statistics pertaining to each of the EJBs.

Target of the test : A WebSphere application server

Agent deploying the test : An internal agent

Outputs of the test : One set of results for each EJB deployed on the WebSphere application server

Configurable parameters for the test
Parameters Description

Test period

How often should the test be executed .

Host

The IP address of the WebSphere application server

Port

The port number of the WebSphere application server

ServerHostName

Specify the host name of the application server instance being monitored.

AppPort

Specify the port number to be used for accessing the egurkha application that has been deployed on the server.

NodeName

eG Enterprise can auto-discover and auto-manage the target application server that is hosted on a container. In such containerized environments, this test can auto-discover the node name corresponding to the target server instance and report the metrics. To this effect, this parameter is set to EG_ENV_WAS_NODE.

On the other hand, if the IBM WebSphere Application Server is directly installed in the target environment, you should specify the node name of the server instance being monitored. To know the node name, do the following:

  • Login to the WebSphere Administrative Console.
  • Expand the Servers node in the tree structure in the left pane of the console, and click on the Application Servers link within.
  • A list of application server instances and their corresponding node names will then appear in the right pane of the console. From this list, you can figure out the Node that corresponds to the application server instance being monitored, and specify that name against the NodeName parameter.

ServerName

eG Enterprise can auto-discover and auto-manage the target application server that is hosted on a container. In such containerized environments, this test can auto-discover the name of target server instance and report the metrics. To this effect, this parameter is set to EG_ENV_SERVER_NAME.

On the other hand, if the IBM WebSphere Application Server is directly installed in the target environment, you should provide the name of the server instance being monitored in the SERVERNAME text box. To know the server name, do the following:

  • Login to the WebSphere Administrative Console.
  • Expand the Servers node in the tree structure in the left pane of the console, and click on the Application Servers link within.
  • A list of application server instances and their corresponding node names will then appear in the right pane of the console. From this list, you can figure out the Name of the monitored server instance, and specify that name against the ServerName parameter.

If the server instance being monitored is part of a WebSphere cluster, then you need to provide the host name that corresponds to the connector port of the Deployment Manager of the cluster as the ServerName. To determine the ServerName in this case, do the following:

  • Connect to the WebSphere Administrative console using the URL: http://<IP address of the WebSphere server:Port number of the WebSphere server>\adminor https://<IP address of the WebSphere server:Port number of the WebSphere server>\admin.
  • Login to the WebSphere Administrative console
  • Expand the System Administration node in the tree-structure in the left pane of the console and click on the Deployment Manager sub-node within.
  • In the right panel, click on the Configuration tab page to view the configuration of the Deployment Manager. In the Additional Properties section of the Configuration tab page, expand the Ports node.
  • A list of ports will then appear. Click on the Details button alongside the ports list. 
  • If the SOAP port has been set as the connector port in your environment, then scroll down the page that appears next until you view the Port Name, SOAP_CONNECTOR_ADDRESS. Make note of the Host name that corresponds to this port name. If the RMI port is the connector port in your environment, then make note of the Host name that corresponds to the Port name, BOOTSTRAP_ADDRESS.
  • Specify this Host name as the ServerName.

ConnectorPort

The applications that are deployed on a server instance use the ConnectorPort for all internal communications with the application server. The connector port can be a SOAP port or an RMI port. The default connector port however, is the SOAP port. To know the connector port number, do the following:

  • Login to the WebSphere Administrative Console.
  • Expand the Servers node in the tree structure in the left pane of the console, and click on Application Servers within.
  • A list of application server instances and their corresponding node names will then appear in the right pane of the console. In the right pane, click on the server name link that corresponds to the server instance that is being monitored.
  • Doing so invokes the Configuration of the application server instance clicked on. Scroll down the Configuration tab page to view the Communications section.
  • Expand the Ports link in this section to view a list of ports. If the default connector port is in use, then the port number displayed against SOAP_CONNECTOR_ADDRESS should be specified as the ConnectorPort. If an RMI port has been explicitly set as the connector port, then specify the port number displayed against BOOTSTRAP_ADDRESS as the ConnectorPort.

If the server instance being monitored is part of a WebSphere cluster, then you need to provide the SOAP/RMI port of the Deployment Manager of the cluster as the ConnectorPort. To determine the ConnectorPort in this case, do the following:

  • Connect to the WebSphere Administrative console using the URL: http://<IP address of the WebSphere server:Port number of the WebSphere server>\adminor https://<IP address of the WebSphere server:Port number of the WebSphere server>\admin.
  • Login to the WebSphere Administrative console.
  • Expand the System Administration node in the tree-structure in the left pane of the console and click on the Deployment Manager sub-node within.
  • In the right panel, click on the Configuration tab page to view the configuration of the Deployment Manager. In the Additional Properties section of the Configuration tab page, expand the Ports node.
  • A list of ports will then appear. If the default connector port is in use, then the port number displayed against SOAP_CONNECTOR_ADDRESS should be specified as the ConnectorPort. If an RMI port has been explicitly set as the connector port, then specify the port number displayed against BOOTSTRAP_ADDRESS as the ConnectorPort.

SSL

Select Yes if SSL (Secured Socket Layer) is to be used to connect to the WebSphere server, and No if it is not.

User

If security has been enabled for the WebSphere server being monitored, then provide a valid USER name to login to the WebSphere server. While monitoring IBM Websphere Application server 8.x and above, if the user belongs to an external LDAP directory, then, ensure that the User is assigned the Monitor role. If the WebSphere server does not require any authentication, then the USER text box should contain the default value 'none'.

Password

If security has been enabled for the WebSphere server being monitored, then provide the Password that corresponds to the specified User name. If the WebSphere server does not require any authentication, then leave the Password text box with its default setting.

Confirm Password

If security has been enabled, confirm the specified Password by retyping it in the Confirm Password text box.  If the WebSphere server does not require any authentication, then leave the Confirm Password text box with its default setting.

Measurements made by the test

Measurement

Description

Measurement Unit

Interpretation

Create count

Indicates the number of times this EJB was created during the last measurement period.

Number

 

Avg create time

Indicates the average time taken by a bean create call.

Secs

Ideally, this value should be low.

Remove count

Indicates the number of times this bean was removed during the last measurement period.

Number

 

Avg remove time

Indicates the average time taken by a bean remove call.

Secs

 

Activation count

Indicates the number of times this bean was activated during the last measurement period.

Number

 

Avg activation time

Indicates the average time taken by a bean activate call, including the time at the database.

Secs

Ideally, this value should be low.

Store count

Indicates the number of times this bean was stored in the persistent storage during the last measurement period.

Number

 

Avg store time

Indicates the average time for storing this bean in a persistent storage.

Secs

 

Instantiates count

Indicates the number of times this bean was instantiated during the last measurement period.

Number

A sudden increase in the number of instantiations indicates a bottleneck on the server. It may be due to greater load on the server or there might be a loophole in the application.

Freed count

Indicates the number of times during the last measurement period this bean object was freed.

Number

A very low value indicates a bottleneck on the server. This might affect the performance of the application.

Ready count

Indicates the number of concurrently ready beans.

Number

Greater the ready beans count, better will be the application performance.

Passive count

Indicates the number of beans in the passivated state during the last measurement.

Number

 

Pooled count

Indicates the number of objects currently in the pool.

Number

 

Drains count

Indicates the number of times during the last measurement period the daemon found the pool was idle and attempted to clean it.

Number

 

Retrieve count:

Indicates the number of calls during the last measurement period retrieving an object from the pool.

Number

 

Retrieve success count

Indicates the number of times a retrieve found an object in the pool, during the last measurement period.

Number

 

Returns count

Indicates the number of calls returning an object to the pool, during the last measurement period.

Number

 

Returns discard count

Indicates the number of times during the last measurement period the returning object was discarded because the pool was full.

Number

Ideally, this value should be low. A consistent high value could indicate a full pool, and consequently, an overloaded server. You might then want to consider resizing the pool in order to accommodate more number of objects.

Methods call count

Indicates the number of method calls during the last measurement period.

Number

A high value indicates that the server is busy.

Methods response time

Indicates the average response time of the bean methods.

Secs

This value should be low for optimal performance of the application server. The value may go high, if there are more objects in the pool, which is a sign of overload.

Avg passivate time

The average time taken by a bean passivate call, including the time at the database

Secs

 

Load count

The number of times this bean was loaded from the persistent storage during the last measurement period

Number

 

Avg load time

The average time for loading a bean data from the persistent storage

Secs

Ideally, this value should be low.