HP HPjmete User Manual

HPjmeter 4.2 User's Guide

HP Part Number: 5900-2022
Published: December 2011
Edition: 1

© Copyright 2005-2011 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.

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Table of Contents

About This Document.......................................................................................................10

Intended Audience................................................................................................................................10

Typographic Conventions.....................................................................................................................10

Additional HPjmeter Documents.........................................................................................................10

Related Information..............................................................................................................................10

Publishing History................................................................................................................................11

HP Encourages Your Comments..........................................................................................................11

1 Introducing HPjmeter 4.2.00.00 ...............................................................................12

Features.................................................................................................................................................12

Concepts................................................................................................................................................13

JVM Agent.......................................................................................................................................13

Node Agent.....................................................................................................................................13

2 Completing Installation of HPjmeter .........................................................................14

Platform Support and System Requirements.......................................................................................14

Agent Requirements........................................................................................................................14

Console Requirements.....................................................................................................................14

Completing the installation..................................................................................................................15

File Locations........................................................................................................................................15

Attaching to the JVM Agent of a Running Application.......................................................................15

Configuring your Application to Use HPjmeter Command Line Options..........................................15

Preparing to run Java.......................................................................................................................15

Example Usage...........................................................................................................................16

JVM Agent Options.........................................................................................................................17

Showing Version Information....................................................................................................17

Selecting Other JVM Agent Options..........................................................................................17

JVM Options Usage Examples...................................................................................................21

Security Awareness...............................................................................................................................21

Securing Communication Between the HPjmeter Node Agent and the Console...........................21

Ensuring the Integrity of HPjmeter Console/Node Agent Data Transfer..................................21

Protecting Data Confidentiality During HPjmeter Console/Node Agent Communication......21

Working with Firewalls .............................................................................................................21

Configuring User Access............................................................................................................22

Securing Communication Between the JVM and the HPjmeter Node Agent ................................22

3 Getting Started ............................................................................................................23

Are You Monitoring an Application or Analyzing Collected Data?....................................................23

Using HPjmeter to Monitor Applications.............................................................................................23

Configure and Start Your Application............................................................................................23

Confirm that the Node Agent is Running.......................................................................................23

Start the Console..............................................................................................................................23

Connect to the Node Agent from the Console................................................................................23

Set Session Preferences....................................................................................................................26

Changing Session Preferences During a Session.............................................................................29

View Monitoring Metrics During Your Open Session....................................................................29

Using HPjmeter to Analyze Profiling Data..........................................................................................29

Using HPjmeter to Analyze Garbage Collection Data.........................................................................31

Monitoring Demonstration Instructions...............................................................................................32

Memory Leak Applications.............................................................................................................33

Thread Deadlock Sample.................................................................................................................34

Table of Contents 3

4 Monitoring Applications ............................................................................................36

Controlling Data Collection and Display.............................................................................................36

Setting Data Collection Preferences......................................................................................................36

Managing Node Agents........................................................................................................................37

Managing Node Agents On HP-UX................................................................................................37

Running Node Agent as a Daemon...........................................................................................37

Verifying HP-UX Daemon is Running.......................................................................................37

Starting Node Agents Manually................................................................................................37

Stopping Node Agents...............................................................................................................38

Node Agent Access Restrictions......................................................................................................38

Running Multiple Node Agents......................................................................................................38

Saving Monitoring Metrics Information...............................................................................................38

Saving Data from the Console.........................................................................................................39

Naming Monitoring Data Files.............................................................................................................39

Diagnosing Errors When Monitoring Running Applications..............................................................39

Identifying Unexpected CPU Usage by Method.............................................................................39

Viewing the Application Load........................................................................................................40

Checking for Long Garbage Collection Pauses...............................................................................40

Checking for Application Paging Problems....................................................................................40

Identifying Excessive Calls to System.gc()......................................................................................41

Reviewing the Percentage of Time Spent in Garbage Collection....................................................41

Checking for Proper Heap Sizing....................................................................................................43

Confirming Java Memory Leaks......................................................................................................43

Determining the Severity of a Memory Leak..................................................................................43

Identifying Excessive Object Allocation..........................................................................................44

Identifying the Site of Excessive Object Allocation.........................................................................44

Identifying Abnormal Thread Termination....................................................................................44

Identifying Multiple Short-lived Threads.......................................................................................44

Identifying Excessive Lock Contention...........................................................................................45

Identifying Deadlocked Threads.....................................................................................................45

Identifying Excessive Thread Creation...........................................................................................45

Identifying Excessive Method Compilation....................................................................................46

Identifying Too Many Classes Loaded............................................................................................47

Using the JMX Viewer...........................................................................................................................47

Understanding the JMX Summary View.........................................................................................48

JMX Summary Tab.....................................................................................................................48

JMX Memory Tab.......................................................................................................................49

JMX Threads Tab........................................................................................................................51

JMX Runtime Tab.......................................................................................................................52

JMX Notifications Tab................................................................................................................52

Changing Mbean Values and Monitoring the Result......................................................................52

Using the Functions in the JMX Server View..................................................................................53

The MBean Filter........................................................................................................................53

The MBean Attribute Tab...........................................................................................................54

The MBean Operations Tab........................................................................................................55

The MBean Notifications Tab.....................................................................................................56

The MBean Information Tab......................................................................................................56

5 Profiling Applications .................................................................................................58

Profiling Overview................................................................................................................................58

Tracing.............................................................................................................................................59

Sampling..........................................................................................................................................59

Tuning Performance........................................................................................................................59

Preparing a Benchmark........................................................................................................................60

Collecting Profile Data..........................................................................................................................61

4 Table of Contents

Profiling with -Xeprof......................................................................................................................61

Profiling with Zero Preparation......................................................................................................62

Profiling with -agentlib:hprof..........................................................................................................63

Naming Profile Data Files...............................................................................................................65

–Xeprof and –agentlib:hprof Profiling Options and Their Corresponding Metrics.............................65

Approaches to Analyzing Performance Data.......................................................................................68

Looking at the Data from the Bottom Up........................................................................................68

Looking at the Data from the Top Down........................................................................................68

Looking for Inefficiencies in Memory Usage..................................................................................68

Considerations in Interpreting the Data...............................................................................................68

Inclusive Versus Exclusive Time.....................................................................................................69

Time Units.......................................................................................................................................69

CPU Versus Clock Time.............................................................................................................69

Locating Summary Information for Saved Data Sets...........................................................................69

Adjusting Scope....................................................................................................................................70

Comparing Profiling Data Files ...........................................................................................................71

Scaling Comparison Data.....................................................................................................................72

Reading Profiling Histograms..............................................................................................................73

Key to Thread States Reported by ..................................................................................................73

Interpreting the Histogram Presentation........................................................................................74

Using Call Graph Trees.........................................................................................................................75

Interpreting Call Graph Data..........................................................................................................75

Example of Node Color Display................................................................................................76

Options for Manipulating the Call Tree Display.............................................................................77

Tree Pruning...............................................................................................................................77

Auto-Expanding the Call Tree...................................................................................................77

Using Sub-Trees..........................................................................................................................77

Searching the Trees.....................................................................................................................78

Using Heuristics to Locate Possible Hot Spots.....................................................................................78

6 Analyzing Garbage Collection Data .......................................................................80

Obtaining Garbage Collection Data......................................................................................................80

Data Collection with -Xverbosegc...................................................................................................80

Collecting Allocation Site Statistics for Viewing in HPjmeter...................................................83

Collecting Glance Data for Viewing in HPjmeter......................................................................83

Collecting GC Data with Zero Preparation.....................................................................................83

Data Collection with -Xloggc...........................................................................................................84

Naming GC Data Files.....................................................................................................................85

-Xverbosegc and -Xloggc Options and Their Corresponding Metrics.................................................85

Locating Summary Information for Saved Data Sets...........................................................................86

Comparing Garbage Collection Data Files ..........................................................................................86

Basic Garbage Collection Concepts......................................................................................................87

Key to Garbage Collection Types Recognized by HPjmeter...........................................................87

Understanding the Summary Presentation of GC Data..................................................................88

Understanding the System Details Captured with GC Data..........................................................90

7 Using the Console .......................................................................................................93

Starting the Console..............................................................................................................................93

Starting the Console On HP-UX......................................................................................................93

Starting the Console On Linux........................................................................................................93

Starting the Console On Microsoft Windows..................................................................................93

Using the Main Window Functions......................................................................................................93

Data Representation........................................................................................................................94

Icons and Their Meaning.................................................................................................................95

Node Agent................................................................................................................................95

JVM Agent..................................................................................................................................95

Table of Contents 5

Open and Cached Sessions........................................................................................................96

Time Slice Entries.......................................................................................................................96

Saving Data................................................................................................................................96

Console Tool Bar Buttons................................................................................................................97

Console Menu Choices....................................................................................................................97

The Monitor Menu.....................................................................................................................98

Console Guide.................................................................................................................................99

Status Bar.......................................................................................................................................100

Setting Monitoring Session Preferences .............................................................................................100

Specifying Metrics to Collect for Monitoring................................................................................100

Enabling Monitoring Alerts...........................................................................................................101

Specifying Filters for Monitoring .................................................................................................102

Editing Filters...........................................................................................................................102

Adding Filters...........................................................................................................................102

Specifying Filter Sets................................................................................................................103

Viewing Monitoring Data in HPjmeter...............................................................................................103

Using Alerts........................................................................................................................................103

Using the Alert Controller.............................................................................................................105

Viewing a Log of the Alert History..........................................................................................107

Editing E-mail Notification Attributes..........................................................................................107

Responding to Alerts.....................................................................................................................108

Abnormal Thread Termination Alert.......................................................................................108

Uncaught Exception Statistics.............................................................................................109

Excessive Compilation Alert....................................................................................................110

Expected Out Of Memory Error Alert......................................................................................110

GC Duration Notification.........................................................................................................110

Heap Usage Notification..........................................................................................................111

Java Collection Leak Locations Alert.......................................................................................111

Array Leak Locations Alert......................................................................................................112

Process CPU Usage Alert.........................................................................................................113

System CPU Usage Alert..........................................................................................................114

Thread Deadlock Alert.............................................................................................................115

Unfinalized Queue Growth......................................................................................................115

8 Using Visualizer Functions .......................................................................................116

Visualizer Behavior When Monitoring Behavior or Analyzing Data.................................................116

Locating Information About a JVM and its Environment..................................................................117

Using Monitoring Displays.................................................................................................................117

Monitor Code and/or CPU Activity Menu....................................................................................118

Java Method HotSpots..............................................................................................................118

Guidelines...........................................................................................................................119

Details..................................................................................................................................119

Thrown Exceptions...................................................................................................................120

Thrown Exceptions with Stack Traces......................................................................................120

Monitor Memory and/or Heap Activity Menu.............................................................................122

Heap Monitor...........................................................................................................................122

Guidelines...........................................................................................................................122

Details..................................................................................................................................123

Garbage Collections..................................................................................................................123

Guidelines...........................................................................................................................124

Details..................................................................................................................................124

GC Duration.............................................................................................................................124

Guidelines...........................................................................................................................124

Details..................................................................................................................................125

Percentage of Time Spent in Garbage Collection.....................................................................125

6 Table of Contents

Guidelines...........................................................................................................................125

Details..................................................................................................................................125

Unfinalized Objects..................................................................................................................126

Guidelines...........................................................................................................................126

Details..................................................................................................................................126

Allocated Object Statistics by Class..........................................................................................127

Guidelines...........................................................................................................................127

Details..................................................................................................................................127

Allocating Method Statistics.....................................................................................................128

Guidelines...........................................................................................................................128

Details..................................................................................................................................128

Current Live Heap Objects.......................................................................................................129

Details..................................................................................................................................130

Monitor Threads and/or Locks Menu............................................................................................131

Thread Histogram....................................................................................................................131

Guidelines...........................................................................................................................132

Details..................................................................................................................................132

Lock Contention.......................................................................................................................133

Guidelines...........................................................................................................................133

Details..................................................................................................................................133

Monitor JVM and/or System Activity Menu.................................................................................134

Method Compilation Count.....................................................................................................134

Guidelines...........................................................................................................................134

Method Compilation Frequency..............................................................................................135

Guidelines...........................................................................................................................135

Loaded Classes.........................................................................................................................135

Guidelines...........................................................................................................................135

Percent (%) CPU Utilization.....................................................................................................136

Guidelines...........................................................................................................................136

Viewing Profiling or GC Data in HPjmeter........................................................................................137

Using Profile Displays.........................................................................................................................137

Menu Choices................................................................................................................................140

Profile Code and/or CPU Activity.................................................................................................140

Method Call Count...................................................................................................................140

Exclusive Method Times (CPU)...............................................................................................141

Exclusive Method Clock Times................................................................................................141

Call Graph Tree with Call Count..............................................................................................141

Call Graph Tree with CPU........................................................................................................142

Call Graph Tree with Clock Time.............................................................................................142

Inclusive Method CPU Times...................................................................................................142

Inclusive Method Clock Times.................................................................................................142

Average Exclusive Method CPU Times*..................................................................................142

Average Exclusive Method Clock Times*................................................................................143

Average Inclusive Method CPU Times*...................................................................................143

Average Inclusive Method Clock Times*.................................................................................143

Starvation by Method*..............................................................................................................143

Starvation Ratio*.......................................................................................................................144

Methods with Loops*...............................................................................................................144

Exclusive Class CPU Times*.....................................................................................................144

Exclusive Class Clock Times*...................................................................................................144

Profile Memory and/or Heap Activity..........................................................................................144

Objects Created by Method......................................................................................................145

Created Objects (Count)...........................................................................................................145

Created Objects (Bytes)............................................................................................................145

Live Objects (Count).................................................................................................................145

Table of Contents 7

Live Objects (Bytes)..................................................................................................................145

Live Array Sizes........................................................................................................................145

Unfinalized Objects..................................................................................................................146

Reference Graph Tree...............................................................................................................146

Reference Sub-Trees by Size.....................................................................................................146

Object and Primitive Value Tables......................................................................................147

Related Topics.....................................................................................................................149

Class Loaders............................................................................................................................150

Guidelines...........................................................................................................................151

Residual Objects (Count)..........................................................................................................152

Residual Objects (Bytes)...........................................................................................................152

Profile by Threads..........................................................................................................................152

Threads Histogram...................................................................................................................152

Thread Groups Histogram.......................................................................................................153

Profile by Locks.............................................................................................................................153

Contested Lock Claims by Method..........................................................................................154

All Lock Claims by Method.....................................................................................................154

Lock Delay - Method Exclusive................................................................................................154

Lock Delay - Call Graph Tree...................................................................................................154

Lock Delay - Method Inclusive................................................................................................155

Lock Contention Ratio by Method*..........................................................................................155

Average Exclusive Method Lock Delay*..................................................................................155

Exclusive Method Lock Delay / Clock Time*...........................................................................155

Average Inclusive Method Lock Delay*...................................................................................155

Inclusive Method Lock Delay / Clock Time*............................................................................155

Exclusive Class Lock Delay*.....................................................................................................156

Using Heuristic Metrics from the Estimate Menu.........................................................................156

Inline Candidates.....................................................................................................................156

Exceptions Thrown...................................................................................................................156

Memory Leaks..........................................................................................................................156

Using Specialized Garbage Collection Displays.................................................................................157

Heap Usage After GC....................................................................................................................157

Duration (Stop the World).............................................................................................................158

Cumulative Allocation...................................................................................................................159

Creation Rate.................................................................................................................................160

Allocation Site Statistics.................................................................................................................161

How a Snapshot of Allocation Sites Statistics is Shown in GC Visualizers.............................166

User-Defined X-Y Axes..................................................................................................................167

Multiple User-Defined...................................................................................................................168

Glance Data....................................................................................................................................170

Glance System Call Data................................................................................................................174

Using Visualizer Tool Bars..................................................................................................................176

Common Tool Bar Buttons.............................................................................................................176

Tool Bar Buttons for Manipulating Tabular Data..........................................................................177

Tool Bar Buttons for Manipulating Graphical Data......................................................................177

Tool Bar Buttons for Manipulating Garbage Collection Data..................................................177

Special Button or Other Gadget Functions....................................................................................178

Mark an Item for Search...........................................................................................................178

Using the Marked Object List on the Console....................................................................179

Find a Search Pattern................................................................................................................179

Editing the Finder...............................................................................................................181

Pause or Resume Graphical Time-based Scrolling...................................................................181

Changing Time Interval in GC Data Visualizers......................................................................181

Select a Subset of the Available Data..................................................................................181

Apply Selected Interval Across All Metrics........................................................................183

8 Table of Contents

Reset Interval to Default Settings Across All Metrics.........................................................184

Changing Time Interval in Monitoring Visualizers.................................................................184

Change Color Selection for Histogram Display..................................................................................185

9 Understanding How HPjmeter Works ....................................................................187

Performance Overhead on Running Applications..............................................................................187

Application Server Startup Time...................................................................................................187

Monitoring Overhead....................................................................................................................187

Changes in Memory Overhead With Dynamic Attach............................................................187

Profiling Overhead and Intrusion.................................................................................................187

Node Agent Overhead...................................................................................................................187

Console Overhead..........................................................................................................................188

Data Sampling Considerations...........................................................................................................188

Using Confidence Interval to Indicate Sample Validity................................................................188

How Memory Leak Detection Works.................................................................................................189

Tapping in to Standard Management of the Java Virtual Machine....................................................190

10 Troubleshooting ......................................................................................................192

Documentation and Support..............................................................................................................192

Identifying Version Numbers.............................................................................................................192

Installation...........................................................................................................................................192

Console ...............................................................................................................................................193

JVM agent............................................................................................................................................194

Node agent..........................................................................................................................................195

Zero Preparation Profiling..................................................................................................................195

Unexpected Behavior in Visualizers...................................................................................................196

A Quick References.......................................................................................................197

Connecting to the HPjmeter Node Agent...........................................................................................197

Determining Which HPjmeter Features Are Available With a Specific JVM Version........................197

Default Location of Xverbosegc and Allocation Site Statistics Data Files..........................................198

Glossary ........................................................................................................................199

Index...............................................................................................................................202

Table of Contents 9

About This Document

This document provides updated information about product features, known problems, and
workarounds for the 4.2 release of HPjmeter.

Intended Audience

This document is intended for application administrators and software developers responsible
for monitoring Java application performance and operation on HP-UX. Users are expected to
have some knowledge of concepts and/or commands for the HP-UX operating system, usage of
the Java Virtual Machine on HP-UX, and Java application performance. When running the
HPjmeter console on a Microsoft® Windows® platform, the user is expected to be familiar with
installing executables and navigating the Windows file system.

Typographic Conventions

This document uses the following typographical conventions.
audit(5) A man page. The man page name is audit, and it is located in Section 5.

Command

ComputerOut

ENVIRONVAR The name of an environment variable, for example, PATH.

[ERRORNAME]

A command name or qualified command phrase.

Text displayed by the computer.

The name of an error, usually returned in the errno variable.

Key The name of a keyboard key. Return and Enter both refer to the same key.

UserInput

Variable

... The preceding element can be repeated an arbitrary number of times. A vertical

| Separates items in a list of choices.

Commands and other text that you type.

The name of a placeholder in a command, function, or other syntax display
that you replace with an actual value.

ellipsis indicates the continuation of a code example.

Additional HPjmeter Documents

• HPjmeter 4.2.00.00 Release Notes and Installation Guide: http://www.hp.com/go/

hpux-hpjmeter-docs.

• HPjmeter overview and access to software: https://h20392.www2.hp.com/portal/swdepot/

displayProductInfo.do?productNumber=HPJMETER .

Related Information

• JSR 174: Monitoring and Management Specification for the Java™ Virtual Machine at Java
Community Process web site: http://www.jcp.org/en/jsr/detail?id=174

• Java™ Troubleshooting Guide for HP-UX Systems: http://www.hp.com/go/hpux-java-docs

• Patch Information for Java on HP-UX: http://ftp.hp.com/pub/softlib/hpuxjava-patchinfo/

index.html

• HP-UX Secure Shell Getting Started Guide: http://www.hp.com/go/hpux-security-docs

• HP-UX System Administrator's Guide: Security Management, “Securing Remote Sessions Using
HP-UX Secure Shell” : http://www.hp.com/go/hpux-core-docs-11iv3

• Memory Management in the Java HotSpot™ Virtual Machine (Sun Developer Network): http://

java.sun.com/j2se/reference/whitepapers/memorymanagement_whitepaper.pdf

Publishing History

The document publication date and part number indicate this document's current edition. The
publication date changes when a new edition is printed. Document updates may be issued
between editions to correct errors or document product changes. To ensure that you receive the
updated or new editions, subscribe to the appropriate product support service. See your HP
sales representative for details. You can find the latest version of this document on the HP Business
Support Center at http://www.hp.com/go/hpux-hpjmeter-docs.

Publication DateEdition NumberSoftware Version NumberHP Part Number

December 201114.2.00.005900-2022

September 201014.1.00.005900-1025

May 200914.0.00.005992-5899

June 200813.1.0.005992-0757

November 200613.0.0.005991-6757

September 200622.15991-6686

July 200612.15991-5846

February 200612.05991-5437

HP Encourages Your Comments

We encourage your comments concerning this document. We are committed to providing
documentation that meets your needs.

Please send your comments via the Customer Feedback web page: http://www.hp.com/bizsupport/

feedback/ww/webfeedback.html. Include the document title, HP part number, and any comment,

error found, or suggestion for improvement you have concerning this document. Also, please
let us know what we did right so we can incorporate it into other documents.

1 Introducing HPjmeter 4.2.00.00

HPjmeter is a performance analysis tool for deployed Java applications. It will help you identify
performance problems in your production environment as well as during development.

NOTE: You cannot use HPjmeter to monitor Java applets in a production environment.

HPjmeter helps you diagnose many types of Java application problems that occur only after a
product is deployed. The types of problems you can identify include:

• Memory-retention problems

• Performance bottlenecks in Java code

• Improper JVM heap settings

• Certain application logic errors, such as deadlocks

• Ineffective or problematic garbage collection
These problems may not be apparent or reproducible before you deploy your application because

they depend on unique conditions present only in deployment.

With HPjmeter you can also gain a comprehensive overview of certain states of a running JVM
and running applications, including details on memory usage, garbage collection, runtime, and
class loading, for example. Using HPjmeter's ability to interact with the Java Management
Extensions (JMX) component in the JVM, you can also manipulate operations during a monitoring
session to control the state of some logging mechanisms, to gather snapshots of stack traces and
memory details, and to force a garbage collection.

Features

With its application and JVM metrics, HPjmeter helps close the loop between developers and
operations staff.

HPjmeter has two modes of operation: you can use it to monitor live applications, and you can
analyze data collected from applications that have been run using profiling or garbage collection
options.

Specifically, HPjmeter provides these monitoring capabilities:

• Dynamic display of heap size and live objects in the heap

• Dynamic display of garbage collection events and percentage time spent ingarbage collection

• Memory leak detection alerts with leak rate

• Java Method HotSpots, which represent CPU usage per method

• Thread views displaying thread states over time

• Object allocation percentage by method and by object type

• Method compilation count in the JVM dynamic compiler

• Number of classes loaded by the JVM over time

• Thrown exception statistics

• Thread deadlock detection

• Visibility into standard MBean attributes, operations, and notifications (JSR 174) within the

• Visibility into user-defined MBeans, with the ability to modify attributes and trigger

• Multi-application, multi-node monitoring from a single console

HPjmeter provides these profiling capabilities:

• Graphic display of profiling data

• Heuristics on inlining, thrown exceptions, and memory leaks

Java Virtual Machine, with the ability to trigger operations from HPjmeter and enable or
disable notifications.

operations in real time, then monitor the resulting application behavior.

12 Introducing HPjmeter 4.2.00.00

• Interactive call graph with call count, or with CPU or clock time, if available

• Per thread, per thread group, or per process display

• Allocated and residual objects with object reference graph

• Comparison capability for performance improvement tracking

HPjmeter provides these metrics for garbage collection (GC) analysis:

• Details and graphical display of object creation rate, changes in cumulative memory allocation

• Detailed summaries of GC activity and system resource allocation, along with other system

HPjmeter also provides these notification functions:

• Set notification thresholds for abnormal thread termination, excessive compilation, expected

• Set notification thresholds for levels of heap usage, process CPU, and system CPU.

• Enable or disable notifications.

• Change notification thresholds in real time to efficiently monitor targeted events

Concepts

HPjmeter contains these major components:

• The console – the primary control window where monitoring sessions are initiated and

• The monitoring agent – represents HPjmeter on each managed node. The agent has two

and in heap usage as related to GC events and types, and duration of GC events in the
recorded time period.

and JVM runtime and version data.

out-of-memory error, and memory leak rates.

controlled and where data files are opened and listed for access. The console presents data
in viewing windows that contain controls and functions specific to the data type and the
activity of the user.

subcomponents:
— The JVM agent: Each running JVM has an associated JVM agent that collects data and

sends it to a node agent, which sends it to the console.

— The HPjmeter node agent: Each managed node has a node agent that communicates

between the console and JVM agents.

JVM Agent

The JVM agent uses standard Java profiling interfaces (JVMTI and JVMPI) and a standard
monitoring and management interface (JSR174) to collect data from a running application and
to provide metrics to help detect and fix problems in that deployed application.

The JVM agent shares a process with a running JVM and forwards data through the node agent
to a console. Multiple consoles can connect to each of the multiple node agents on a managed
node. However, only one console and node agent can maintain an active session with a specific
JVM agent at any given time.

Node Agent

Node agents manage communication between JVM agents and consoles. The preferred way of
using node agents is to start the node agent as a daemon as root on each managed node.

Related Topics

• Managing Node Agents On HP-UX (page 37)

Concepts 13

2 Completing Installation of HPjmeter

NOTE: This chapter assumes that you have installed the HPjmeter components on the
appropriate server(s) and are ready to configure the agents. For information on initial installation,
see HPjmeter Release Notes and Installation Guide.

Platform Support and System Requirements

Although the agents and console can execute on the same system, this document assumes they
are installed on separate systems—the recommended configuration.

Agent Requirements

These are the requirements for systems running JVM agents and node agents.

Table 2-1 Agent Requirements

HP-UX on HP 9000 PA-RISC serversOperating system and

architecture

11.11 (11i v1),

11.23 (11i v2),

11.31 (11i v3)

HP-UX on Itanium®-based HP Integrity servers

11.23 (11i v2),

11.31 (11i v3)

Java • HP 1.4.2.02 or later 1.4.x, 5.x and 6.x versions on PA 2.0 for HP-UX (HP 9000

Patches and updates

Processor and memory

Zero Preparation Data Collection:

If you are running the HP JDK/JRE 5.0.04 or later, you can send a signal to the running JVM to
start and stop an eprof profiling data collection period with zero preparation and no interruption
of your application. See Profiling with Zero Preparation (page 62).

If you are running the HP JDK/JRE 5.0.14 (or later) or the 6.0.02 version (or later), you can send
a signal to the running JVM to start and stop a verbose GC data collection period with zero
preparation and no interruption of your application. See Collecting GC Data with Zero Preparation

(page 83).

Console Requirements

PA-RISC) 11.11 (11i v1) and 11.23 (11i v2), 11.31 (11i v3)

• HP 1.4.2.02 or later 1.4.x , 5.x , 6.x, and 7.x versions on HP-UX (HP Integrity)

11.23 (11i v2), 11.31 (11i v3)

HPjconfig canhelp you determine which Java patches are recommended or required

for best operation of the HPjmeter agent on HP-UX.

The agent is designed to be lightweight and low overhead, and does not require
any additionalprocessing power or memory beyond that requiredby the application
being monitored.

10 MBDisk space

These are the requirements for systems running the console.

Table 2-2 Console Requirements

Operating system and
architecture

14 Completing Installation of HPjmeter

The console is a pure Java application, so it should execute on any platform that
supports Java.

Java 5.x, Java 6.x, and 7.x versions.Java

Table 2-2 Console Requirements (continued)

Patches and updates

Processor and memory • Minimum 500 MHz processor is recommended.

Completing the installation

After installation, the HPjmeter console is available as a standalone tool or through Java Web
Start from a server of your choice, such as the HP Systems Insight Manager central management
server.

To complete installation, you need to configure the HPjmeter JVM agent by modifying the
command line for each application for which you want to monitor or collect data. Then you need
to start the HPjmeter node agent. The following sections will help you complete the installation.

• Platform Support and System Requirements (page 14)

• File Locations (page 15)

• Configuring your Application to Use HPjmeter Command Line Options (page 15)

• Working with Firewalls (page 21)

• For additional information on agents: Managing Node Agents (page 37)

File Locations

HPjconfig canhelp you determine which Java patches are recommended or required

for best operation of the HPjmeter agent on HP-UX.

• Minimum 256 MB memory is required.

10 MBDisk space

The default installation paths by operating system are as follow:

• On HP-UX and Linux: /opt/hpjmeter

• On Microsoft® Windows: C:\Program Files\HPjmeter

Attaching to the JVM Agent of a Running Application

For applications running with Java 6.0.03 or later, HPjmeter 4.2.00.00 can automatically identify
the JVMs running on the server and display them symbolically in the console for attachment
and monitoring. This includes JVMs for which no HPjmeter switches were used in the java
command that started the applications. With few exceptions (discussed elsewhere in this guide),
HPjmeter monitoring functionality is the same whetherthe JVM agent is loaded from the console
(through dynamic attachment) or from the command line when starting the application.

Configuring your Application to Use HPjmeter Command Line Options

For most supported versions of Java, it is still necessary to start the application using HPjmeter
options on the java command and to modify two environment variables. Or, you may want to
use command line options to control the bytecode instrumentation.

Preparing to run Java

For most installations, linkage to the appropriate libraries is completed automatically as part of
the installation process. Go to step 2 if you have a standard installation of the Java Runtime
Environment.

Completing the installation 15

To Take Advantage of Dynamic Attach:

Check that JM_JAVA_HOME in $JMETER_HOME/config/hpjmeter.conf is set to a Java 6
directory (6.0.03 or later) to be able to later dynamically attach to a running JVM from the HPjmeter
console without first setting HPjmeter options on the command line.

When HPjmeter is installed on a system that has Java 6 installed in the usual location, the
installation procedurewill automatically store the JDK location in hpjmeter.conf configuration
file. If the Java 6.x JDK is installed in a non-standard location, or Java 6.x is installed after HPjmeter
is installed, then it is necessary to update the hpjmeter.conf file manually. The typical contents
of the file are:

JM_JAVA_HOME=/opt/java6

1. The HPjmeter installation process will configure JDKs that are installed in the standard
location. Some systems have JDKs installed in nonstandard locations, and some applications
run with an embedded Java Runtime Environment. In these situations, it is necessary to
explicitly indicate the location of HPjmeter libraries.

Assuming that JMETER_HOME represents your installation directory, modify the shared
library path in your environment as follows:

• On HP-UX running on HP Precision Architecture systems, add

$JMETER_HOME/lib/$ARCH to SHLIB_PATH where $ARCH is PA_RISC2.0 or
PA_RISC2.0W.

• On HP-UX running on Itanium-based systems with Java 5.x or later, add

$JMETER_HOME/lib/$ARCH to LD_LIBRARY_PATH where $ARCH is IA64N or IA64W.

• On HP-UX running on Itanium-based systems, for JDK 1.4.x versions, use the

SHLIB_PATH environment variable to specify the shared library path.

2. On HP-UX and running Java 1.4.x, specify the Xbootclasspath in your java command:

$ java -Xbootclasspath/a:$JMETER_HOME/lib/agent.jar
$ ...

On Java 5.0 and later, -Xbootclasspath is optional.

3. Specify the HPjmeter switch in your java command:

On Java 5.0 and later:

$ java -agentlib:jmeter[=options] ...

On Java 1.4.x :

$ java -Xrunjmeter[:options] -Xbootclasspath/a:$JMETER_HOME/lib/agent.jar ...

NOTE: If you use the 64-bit version of the JVM (using the -d64 option), then you will need
to use the 64-bit version of the JVM agent. For example, type

$ java -d64 HelloWorld

when SHLIB_PATH is $JMETER_HOME/lib/$ARCH and

where $ARCH equals PA_RISC2.0W or IA64W.

See JVM Agent Options (page 17) for the list of available options and their descriptions.

Example Usage

• Using -agentlib on Java 5.x to run the JVM agent:

$ /opt/java1.5/bin/java -Xms256m -Xmx512m -agentlib:jmeter myapp

• Setting -Xbootclasspath and using -Xrunjmeter on Java 1.4 to run the JVM agent:

16 Completing Installation of HPjmeter

$ /opt/java1.4/bin/java -Xms256m -Xmx512m

-Xbootclasspath/a:/opt/hpjmeter/lib/agent.jar -Xrunjmeter myapp

NOTE:

With the addition of JVMTI in JDK 5.0, you should use the -agentlib switch to take
advantage of improvements in JDK 5.0 and reduce the impact of data sampling on application
performance. While -Xrunjmeter can still be used to specify the JVM agent with Java 5
versions, the impact on application performance is significantly greater than when using

-agentlib.

Starting with Java 5.0, -agentlib is the standard way to specify the JVM agent. Therefore,
this document will refer primarily to -agentlib.

• Using an alternate HPjmeter library to work with applications that are run with the –V2

option on PA systems:

$ /opt/java1.5/bin/java -V2 –agentlib:jmeter_v2 myapp

JVM Agent Options

This section provides the list of options for changing the JVM agent behavior and determining
the Java version running on the system.

Showing Version Information

To show the version information, use

-agentlib:jmeter=version

OR

-Xrunjmeter:version

Selecting Other JVM Agent Options

Add other options using this syntax

-agentlib:jmeter[[=version]|[=option[[,option]]...]]

OR

-Xrunjmeter[:[version]|[option[[,option]]...]]

where option may be any of these:

appserver_port=port

Associates a port number with a JVM process when it is displayed in the console. This port
number is unrelated to the port number used by the node agent, and so it is also unrelated
to the optional port number that can be specified in the console when attaching to a managed
node.

• It does not affect any communication, and is only part of the user interface. The

appserver_port= usually corresponds to the port to which the application server
listens.

• Example usage: -agentlib:jmeter=appserver_port=7001

group_private

Specifies that the JVM will be visible only to node agents run with the same group-id; that
is, run by the user belonging to the same group, as the one who runs the JVM. This limitation
does not apply to node agents run as root (the installation default). This is the default
behavior on HP-UX systems.

• You can specify only one of the options owner_private, group_private or public.

• Example usage: -agentlib:jmeter=group_private

Configuring your Application to Use HPjmeter Command Line Options 17

include=filter1[:filter2]..., exclude=filter1[:filter2]...

Creates a colon-separated list of classes to specify which classes or packages are instrumented.
Method-level filtering is not supported.

• If a class is not instrumented, the JVM agent metrics that use bytecode instrumentation
(BCI) do not provide any output related to the class methods. To see the list of filters in

effect while the data was collected, including default agent filters, click the icon when
you see it in the console.

• Class filtering minimizes the overhead and focuses attention on user-produced code.

• By default, the JVM agent instruments bytecode of all loaded classes to implement some
of the metrics, except those classes that belong to one of these:

— Application servers, for performance reasons.
— HPjmeter management tools, in order to focus on user-created code.
— A set of implementation-dependent classes that HPjmeter cannot instrument. These

cannot be overridden.

• Some metrics display results for all classes regardless of filters, because class filters apply
only to those metrics that use bytecode instrumentation.

NOTE: JVM agent filters are distinct from console monitoring filters. For more
information, see Setting Monitoring Session Preferences (page 100).

JVM agent filters are configured when you start the JVM, and cannot be dynamically

changed.

Console filters are configured when you open a session with a JVM agent, and can be

changed from session to session. With HPjmeter 4.0 and later, these filters can also be
changed during a session.

If the JVM agent has filtered out a class, the console will be unable to see metrics from
that class even if you try to remove the console filter for the class.

• HPjmeter always excludes these packages:

$Proxy

com.ibm.misc.
com.ibm.jvm.

com.hp.jmeter.jvmagent.
com.hp.jmeter.share.jmx.
com.hp.jmeter.asm.

• The default filters also exclude the following packages. However, you can use the

include option to override the default behavior:

COM.rsa.com.jrockit. COM.jrockit.

jrockit.

org.jboss org.jbossmq.

com.sun. java. javax. sun.
sunw.io. sunw.util.

org.omg.org.ietf.org.apache.

com.hp.ov.org.xml.org.w3c.

weblogic. com.bea. com.beasys.p0. p1.i2.

org.hsql.org.enhydra.com.ibm. com.tivoli.

com.netscape.server.http.com.iplanet.EDU.oswego.

oracle.com.orionserver.com.evermind.

18 Completing Installation of HPjmeter

• The default filters always include the following packages. They cannot be overriden
with an exclude option:

sun.jdbc.odbc.

weblogic.jdbc.informix4.
weblogic.jdbc.mssqlserver4.
weblogic.jdbc.oci.
weblogic.jdbc.rowset.
com.bea.p13n. com.bea.netuix.

org.apache.jsp.
org.apache.jasper.

com.bea.medrec.oracle.evermind.sql.oracle.jdbc. oracle.sql.

com.sun.ebank.com.sun.j2ee.blueprints.com.ibm.samples.

• You can change the default behavior by using the include option. For example:

-agentlib:jmeter=include=com.ibm.ws,exclude=com.ibm.ws.io

This effect is similar to the previous example, except that the classes belonging to the
com.ibm.ws.io package, and its sub-packages if any, will be excluded from the
instrumentation. Otherclasses belonging to the com.ibm.ws package or its sub-packages
other than io will be instrumented. Classes belonging to sub-packages other than ws of
the com.ibm package will be still excluded by the default rule.

• In general, you can specify multiple package or class names with the include or exclude
option. The behavior with respect to any loaded class will be as defined by the most
specific rule (filter) that applies to the fully qualified class name.

• An include filter rule will override an exclude filter rule when the same package name
is provided on both options, even if one of the options is an implicit default. For example:

-agentlib:jmeter=exclude=sun.jdbc.odbc:other-package-names

In this example, the sun.jdbc.odbc package is not excluded because the implicit
default include of this package overrides the explicit exclude.

logging=FINEST|FINER|FINE|CONFIG|INFO|WARNING|SEVERE|OFF

Sets a log level for the JVM agent, which allows you to collect varying amounts of information
about the node agent and JVM agent. Available log levels in order of impact on performance
are:

FINEST (Most impact on performance)
FINER
FINE
CONFIG
INFO
WARNING (Default setting)
SEVERE (Least impact on performance)
OFF (Turn off logging)

monitor_batch[:file=filename]

Enables all metrics and sends the collected data to a file. The default name for the file is
javapid.hpjmeter. Use the optional monitor_batch:file=your_file_name to
override the default.

• Once data has been collected and saved to a file on the managed node, you can view the
file from the console using the Open File button or using drag and drop. You may need
to copy the file to a file system visible from the console. For more information, see Saving

Monitoring Metrics Information (page 38).

• Example usage:
— To use default file name:

-agentlib:jmeter=monitor_batch

— To specify a file name:

-agentlib:jmeter=monitor_batch:file=mysaveddata.hpjmeter

Configuring your Application to Use HPjmeter Command Line Options 19

noalloc

Reduces dormant overhead by skipping bytecode instrumentation that applies to object
allocation metrics: Allocated Object Statistics by Class and Allocating Method Statistics. The
noalloc option makes those metrics unavailable.

Example usage: -agentlib:jmeter=noalloc

nohotspots

Reduces dormant overhead by skipping the bytecode instrumentation that supports Java
Method HotSpots. Any console connecting to an application initially started with this agent
flag does not enable Java Method HotSpots, and this metric is not listed in the Session
Preferences dialog.

Example usage: -agentlib:jmeter=nohotspots

noexception

Reduces dormant overhead by skipping bytecode instrumentation that applies to the Thrown
Exception metrics. Any console connecting to an application initially started with this attribute
does not enable Thrown Exception metrics, and these metrics are not listed in the Session
Preferences dialog.

Example usage: -agentlib:jmeter=noexception

nomemleak

Reduces dormant overhead by skipping bytecode instrumentation that applies to memory
leak location events. When you specify this option, the memory leak location alert is
unavailable in the console for the lifetime of this application.

Example usage: -agentlib:jmeter=nomemleak

noarrayleak

Reduces dormant overhead by skipping bytecode instrumentation that applies to array leak
location events. When you specify this option, the array leak location alert is unavailable in
the console for the lifetime of this application.

Example usage: -agentlib:jmeter=noarrayleak

owner_private

Specifies that the JVM is visible only to the node agents run with the same effective user ID;
that is, run by the same user as the one who runs the JVM. This limitation does not apply to
node agents run as root (the installation default).

• You can specify only one of the options owner_private, group_private, or public.

• Example usage: -agentlib:jmeter=owner_private

public

Specifies that the JVM is visible to all node agents run on the same host as the JVM.

• You can specify only one of the options owner_private, group_private, or public.

• Example usage: -agentlib:jmeter=public

verbose[:file=filename]

Prints information about the bytecode instrumentation rules in effect, such as include or
exclude settings, and about the individual instrumentation decisions made for all loaded

classes. By default, the information is printed on stdout. You can overridethis by specifying
a file name, for example verbose:file=bci.txt.

Example usage: -agentlib:jmeter=verbose

version

Displays the JVM agent version and quits immediately without running any Java applications
at all. You cannot use this option with any other options.

Example usage: -agentlib:jmeter=version

20 Completing Installation of HPjmeter

JVM Options Usage Examples

Here are some examples of JVM agent option usage:

$ -agentlib:jmeter=noalloc,appserver_port=7001,public,include=weblogic:com.bea
$ -agentlib:jmeter=nohotspots,owner_private,verbose:file=bcifilters.txt
$ -agentlib:jmeter=version
$ -agentlib:jmeter

Security Awareness

Securing Communication Between the HPjmeter Node Agent and the Console

IMPORTANT: The data stream between the HPjmeter console and agents is not protected from
tampering by a network attacker. You can help ensure that the data you view in HPjmeter
visualizers is an accurate reflection of your application's operation and that data confidentiality
is protected where needed.

Ensuring the Integrity of HPjmeter Console/Node Agent Data Transfer

For key applications in production, you may want increase your confidence that the data has
not been tampered with en route between the agents and console before you take action based
on HPjmeter metrics. Where you deem it necessary, confirm that the HPjmeter data looks
reasonable according to the usual behavior of your application. You can also pursue using secure
socket layer (SSL) tunneling to protect the integrity of data packets and to enhance the reliability
of the data reaching the HPjmeter console.

Want to Know More About Secure Socket Layer Tunneling?:

HP-UX IPSec and HP-UX Secure Shell are two HP products that provide secure socket layer
tunneling. To learn more:

• HP-UX IPSec technical documentation

• HP-UX Secure Shell overview and download

• HP-UX Secure Shell technical documentation

See also Connecting to the HPjmeter Node Agent (page 197).

Protecting Data Confidentiality During HPjmeter Console/Node Agent Communication

Data sent to the console is not encrypted by HPjmeter. If you are concerned about confidentiality
of this data, you can protect confidentiality by using SSL tunneling to encrypt the header and
data portion of each packet during transfer.

Working with Firewalls

NOTE: The console first attempts to use a port between 9505 and 9515 when arranging a port
for its server socket. If it is unable to successfully use a port from this range, it will use an ephemeral

port number.

The node agent has an open socket. Any HPjmeter console on any machine on the network (that
is not blocked by a firewall) can communicate with this node agent. If you want to have a console
contact a node agent through a firewall, you must provide a tunneling port so that the console
can contact the node agent.

Security Awareness 21

IMPORTANT: If youchoose to open a port through a firewall to enable communication between
a node agent and a console, secure the tunneling port using HP-UX Secure Shell or HP-UX IPSec.

Configuring User Access

The node agent must be started by either the same user or group as the running JVM
(recommended) or root to establish contact.

IMPORTANT: Setting access for owner or group should not be considered a security solution
because node agent to JVM communications are not secured by default—see below.

Securing Communication Between the JVM and the HPjmeter Node Agent

IMPORTANT: The data stream between the JVM and the node agent is not protected from
tampering by a user loggedinto the system runningthe JVM. For keyapplications in production,
you may want to increase your confidence that the data has not been tampered with en route
between the JVM and agent before you take action based on HPjmeter metrics.

Where you deem it necessary, either secure the communication mechanism between the JVM
and node agent (HP-UX 11i v2 or later only), or confirm that the HPjmeter data looks reasonable
according to the usual behavior of your application by independently validating its output.

To secure the communication mechanism between the JVM and node agent on HP-UX 11i v2 or
later operating systems, set the umask of the JVM process to 77 (no access except for the owner)
by executing the command

% umask 77

before running the JVM.

Related Topics

• Managing Node Agents On HP-UX (page 37)

• Node Agent Access Restrictions (page 38)

• Connecting to the HPjmeter Node Agent (page 197)

22 Completing Installation of HPjmeter

3 Getting Started

Are You Monitoring an Application or Analyzing Collected Data?

HPjmeter helps you to monitor a live run of your application. You can also view saved data
captured using HPjmeter during a live session, by using profiling or garbage collection options
when you start your application, or if you are running HP JDK/JRE 5.0.04 (or higher), by starting
and stopping profiling data collection from the command line.

Choose the get started information appropriate for your activity:

• Using HPjmeter to Monitor Applications (page 23)

• Using HPjmeter to Analyze Profiling Data (page 29)

• Using HPjmeter to Analyze Garbage Collection Data (page 31)

• Profiling with Zero Preparation (page 62)

Need a jumpstart?:

To aid in starting your use of HPjmeter, the console can display a beginning console guide
containing hints for getting started. The guide provides hints according to data set selected in
the console main pane.

To enable or disable the console guide, click Edit→ Window Preferences and toggle to the
desired option.

Using HPjmeter to Monitor Applications

The following sections summarize how to use HPjmeter to monitor applications. Detailed
descriptions of the behavior of HPjmeter are linked to from each section.

Configure and Start Your Application

1. Set the command line of your Java application to use the JVM agent and any desired agent
options.

2. Start your application with the JVM agent.

For details, see:

• Configuring your Application to Use HPjmeter Command Line Options (page 15)

• JVM Agent Options (page 17)

Confirm that the Node Agent is Running

With a standard installation, the node agent should be running on the systems where it was
installed.

For details about the node agent, see:

• Managing Node Agents On HP-UX (page 37)

Start the Console

Start the console from a local installation on your client workstation.

For starting instructions by platform, see Starting the Console.

Connect to the Node Agent from the Console

Procedure 3-2 Connection to Server (Default Mode)

To connect to a node agent:

Are You Monitoring an Application or Analyzing Collected Data? 23

1. Choose Connect from the File menu or click Connect to server [ ]

2. In the Connect to Server dialog box, type the complete host name (server.domain.com)
on which a Java application and a corresponding node agent are running.

3. Optionally, in the Optional Port box, specify the same port number that was used when the
node agent was started.

4. Click Connect.

After a few moments, the running JVM for each application identified should appear in the
console main window pane marked with one of the following symbols:

• — A JVM that has already loaded an HPjmeter JVM agent

• — A JVM that has not yet loaded an HPjmeter JVM agent

5. Repeat the previous steps if you want to connect to several node agents on several servers
at once.

Procedure 3-3 Secured Connection to Server

To connect to a node agent via a SecureShell (SSH) tunnel:

24 Getting Started

1. Choose Connect from the File Menu or click Connect to server [ ]

2. In the Connect to Server dialog box,type the complete host name (server.domain.com)

of the system that is the designated host for the SSH tunnel (the SSH delegate machine).

3. Optionally, in the Optional Port box, specify a port number through which information can

pass from the SSH delegate to the node agent.

4. Check the box labeled Use SSH Options.

The Connect to Server dialog expands to reveal required SSH attributes.

5. Type the IP address External IP) of the SSH delegate.

6. Type the port number (External Port) on the SSH delegate through which information can
pass from the SSH delegate machine to the console.

7. Type the port number (Internal Port) listened to on the console side that can accept
information from the SSH delegate machine.

8. Click Connect.

After a few moments, the running JVM for each application identified should appear in the
console main window pane marked with one of the following symbols: or .

Using HPjmeter to Monitor Applications 25

9. Repeat the previous steps if you want to connect to several node agents.

Set Session Preferences

1. Double-click on the JVM icon in the data pane for the application that you want to monitor.

This opens the Session Preferences dialog box.

26 Getting Started

NOTE:

When the Optional Port Box Is Not Used

The console automatically attempts to use a port on the remote system between 9505 and
9515 when arranging a port for its server socket. If it is unable to successfully use a port
from this range, it will use an ephemeral port number.

2. By clicking the tabs in this dialog, you can see the default settings for metrics, filters, and
alerts. Enable or disable the settings as desired.

Interdependencies Exist Among Some Metrics and Between Some Metrics and Alerts:

Some metrics are obtained together and do not display independently from one another.
When this occurs, checking one metric may activate others, as shown in the following image.

Using HPjmeter to Monitor Applications 27

Some alerts require collection of specific metrics such that even if a metric is de-selected, it
may be activated by selection of a related alert.

3. Once all selections are made, click OK. The preferences window will close and the new Open
Session will be visible, marked by this icon:

Though it is possible to begin viewing application activity immediately in the monitoring
visualizers, you may want to wait for a short period of time before viewing some of the
metrics. The length of time needed to collect sufficient data depends on the application size,
the load imposed on the application, and on the selected preferences. Typically, a wait of 5
to 30 minutes provides sufficient data to begin seeing significant clues to the application

28 Getting Started

behavior and performance. A longer collection time gives you greater accuracy in the results.
For details, see: Setting Monitoring Session Preferences (page 100) .

Changing Session Preferences During a Session

With HPjmeter 4.0 and later, it is possible to change session preferences during a session.

1. Double-click the “Open Session” line in the console for the session that you want to change.

The Session Preferences window opens.

2. Alternately, selecting the “Open Session” line on the console enables the Session Preferences

icon on the console tool bar. Click the icon to open the Session Preferences window.

View Monitoring Metrics During Your Open Session

1. Click on the open session or time slice to highlight the data that you would like to view.

2. Use the Monitor menu on the console main window to select the metrics that you want to

see. Mousing over each category in the cascading menu will reveal the relevant metrics for
that category.

3. Click a metric to open a metric visualizer displaying the chosen data.

For details on individual metrics and how to interpret the data display, see:

• Using Monitoring Displays (page 117)

• Monitoring Applications (page 36)

See also:

• Saving Monitoring Metrics Information (page 38)

• Using Visualizer Functions (page 116)

Using HPjmeter to Analyze Profiling Data

The following steps summarize how to use HPjmeter to view profiling information from your
applications.

Using HPjmeter to Analyze Profiling Data 29

NOTE: If you are running the HP JDK/JRE 5.0.04 or later, you can send a signal to the running
JVM to start and stop a profiling data collection period with zero preparation and no interruption
of your application. See Profiling with Zero Preparation (page 62).

1. Configure your application.

Change the command line of your Java application to collect the desired type of data: -Xeprof
to collect execution profiling information, -agentlib:hprof to generate heap dump at program
exit, or -XX:+HeapDump to enable generation of heap dumps using the SIGQUIT signal.
There are additional heap dump options. For more details, see the Java™ Troubleshooting

Guide for HP-UX Systems .

2. Run the application to create a data file.

3. Start the console from a local installation on your client workstation.

4. Click File→Open File to browse for and open the data file, or drag and drop the file onto
the console.

5. For all profiling data types, a viewer window opens and displays a set of tabs containing
summary and graphical metric data. You will also see the Metrics and Estimate menus
containing additional metric display choices, and a control menu for changingthread scope.

30 Getting Started