The Java Transactions Layer

By default, this layer will not be available for the IBM WebSphere Liberty server. This is because, the Java Business Transactions test mapped to this layer is disabled by default. To enable the test, follow the Agents -> Tests -> Enable/Disable menu sequence, select IBM WebSphere Liberty as the Component type, Performance as the Test type, and then select Java Business Transactions from the disabled tests list. Click the Enable button to enable the selected test, and click the Update button to save the changes.

Java Business Transactions Test

The responsiveness of a transaction is the key determinant of user experience with that transaction; if response time increases, user experience deteriorates. To make users happy, a Java business transaction should be rapidly processed by each of the JVM nodes in its path. Processing bottlenecks on a single JVM node can slowdown/stall an entire business transaction or can cause serious transaction errors. This in turn can badly scar the experience of users. To avoid this, administrators should promptly identify slow/stalled/errored transactions, isolate the JVM node on which the slowness/error occurred, and uncover what caused the aberration on that node – is it owing to SQL queries executed by the node? Or is it because of external calls – eg., async calls, SAP JCO calls, HTTP calls, etc. - made by that node? The Java Business Transactions test helps with this!

This test runs on a BTM-enabled JVM in an IT infrastructure, tracks all the transaction requests received by that JVM, and groups requests based on user-configured pattern specifications. For each transaction pattern, the test then computes and reports the average time taken by that JVM node to respond to the transaction requests of that pattern. In the process, the test identifies the slow/stalled transactions of that pattern, and reports the count of such transactions and their responsiveness. Detailed diagnostics provided by the test accurately pinpoint the exact transaction URLs that are slow/stalled, the total round-trip time of each transaction, and also indicate when such transaction requests were received by that node. The slowest transaction in the group can thus be identified.

For this test to run and report metrics on a IBM WebSphere Liberty server, you first need to BTM-enable the Liberty JVM. To know how, refer to the Installing eG Java BTM on an IBM WebSphere Liberty Server topic .

Then, proceed to configure this test. Refer to the Java Business Transactions Test topic to know how to configure this test and learn about the metrics it reports.