Agents Administration - Tests
 

Default parameters for JvmThreadTest

This test reports the status of threads on the JVM, and also reveals resource-hungry threads, so that threads that are unnecessarily consuming CPU resources can be killed.

This page depicts the default parameters that need to be configured for the JvmThreadTest.

  • The TEST PERIOD list box helps the user to decide how often this test needs to be executed. 

  • This test can extract metrics from the Java application using either of the following mechanisms:

    • Using SNMP-based access to the Java runtime MIB statistics;
    • By contacting the Java runtime (JRE) of the application via JMX
      • To configure the test to use SNMP, select the SNMP option. On the other hand, choose the JMX option to configure the test to use JMX instead. By default, the JMX option is chosen in the MODE text box.

  • The JMX REMOTE PORT parameter appears only if the MODE is set to JMX . Here, specify the port at which the JMX listens for requests from remote hosts. Ensure that you specify the same port that you configured in the management properties file in the <JAVA_HOME>\jre\lib\management folder used by the target application.

  • The USER, PASSWORD, and CONFIRM PASSWORD parameters appear only if the MODE is set to JMX. If JMX requires authentication only (but no security), then ensure that the USER and PASSWORD parameters are configured with the credentials of a user with read-write access to JMX. To know how to create this user, refer to Section 1.1.1.2 of the Monitoring Java Applications document. Confirm the password by retyping it in the CONFIRM PASSWORD text box.

  • The JNDINAME parameter appears only if the MODE is set to JMX. The JNDINAME is a lookup name for connecting to the JMX connector. By default, this is jmxrmi. If you have resgistered the JMX connector in the RMI registery using a different lookup name, then you can change this default value to reflect the same.

  • The SNMPPORT parameter appears only if the MODE is set to SNMP. Here specify the port number through which the server exposes its SNMP MIB. Ensure that you specify the same port you configured in the management.properties file in the <JAVA_HOME>\jre\lib\management folder used by the target application.

  • By default, the eG agent supports SNMP version 1. Accordingly, the default selection in the SNMPVERSION list is v1. However, if a different SNMP framework is in use in your environment, say SNMP v2 or v3, then select the corresponding option from this list.

  • The community string of the java application has to be provided in the SNMPCOMMUNITY text box. This parameter is specific to SNMP v1 and v2 only. Therefore, if the SNMPVERSION chosen is v3, then this parameter will not appear.

  • The USERNAME parameter appears only when v3 is selected as the SNMPVERSION. SNMP version 3 (SNMPv3) is an extensible SNMP Framework which supplements the SNMPv2 Framework, by additionally supporting message security, access control, and remote SNMP configuration capabilities. To extract performance statistics from the MIB using the highly secure SNMP v3 protocol, the eG agent has to be configured with the required access privileges - in other words, the eG agent should connect to the MIB using the credentials of a user with access permissions to the MIB. Therefore, specify the name of such a user against the USERNAME parameter.

  • The CONTEXT parameter appears only when v3 is selected as the SNMPVERSION. An SNMP context is a collection of management information accessible by an SNMP entity. An item of management information may exist in more than one context and an SNMP entity potentially has access to many contexts. A context is identified by the SNMPEngineID value of the entity hosting the management information (also called a contextEngineID) and a context name that identifies the specific context (also called a contextName). If the USERNAME provided is associated with a context name, then the eG agent will be able to poll the MIB and collect metrics only if it is configured with the context name as well. In such cases therefore, specify the context name of the USERNAME in the CONTEXT text box. By default, this parameter is set to none.

  • Specify the password that corresponds to the above-mentioned USERNAME in the AUTHPASS text box. This parameter once again appears only if the SNMPVERSION selected is v3.

  • Confirm the AUTHPASS by retyping it in the CONFIRM PASSWORD text box.

  • The AUTHTYPE parameter too appears only if v3 is selected as the SNMPVERSION. From the AUTHTYPE list box, choose the authentication algorithm using which SNMP v3 converts the specified USERNAME and PASSWORD into a 32-bit format to ensure security of SNMP transactions. You can choose between the following options:

    • MD5 - Message Digest Algorithm
    • SHA - Secure Hash Algorithm

  • The ENCRYPTFLAG appears only when v3 is selected as the SNMPVERSION. By default, the eG agent does not encrypt SNMP requests. Accordingly, the ENCRYPTFLAG is set to NO by default. To ensure that SNMP requests sent by the eG agent are encrypted, select the YES option.

  • If the ENCRYPTFLAG is set to YES, then you will have to mention the encryption type by selecting an option from the ENCRYPTTYPE list. SNMP v3 supports the following encryption types:

    • DES - Data Encryption Standard
    • AES - Advanced Encryption Standard

  • Specify the encryption password in the ENCRYPTPASSWORD text box.

  • Confirm the encryption password by retyping it in the CONFIRM PASSWORD text box.

    • Note:

    If the MODE for the JVM Threads test is set to SNMP, then the detailed diagnosis of this test will not display the Blocked Time and Waited Time for the threads. To make sure that detailed diagnosis reports these details also, do the following:

    • Login to the application host.
    • Go to the <JAVA_HOME>\jre\lib\management folder used by the target application, and edit the management.properties file in that folder.
    • Append the following line to the file: com.sun.management.enableThreadContentionMonitoring
    • Finally, save the file.

  • Specify the duration (in seconds) within which the SNMP query executed by this test should time out in the TIMEOUT text box. The default is 10 seconds.

  • By default, the PCT LOW CPU UTIL THREADS parameter is set to 30. This implies that, by default, the threads that are currently consuming over 30% of CPU time are counted as low CPU-consuming threads. The count of such threads will be reported as the value of the Low CPU threads measure. If need be, you can modify the value of this parameter to change how much CPU should be used by a thread for it to qualify as a low CPU-consuming thread.

  • By default, the PCT MEDIUM CPU UTIL THREADS parameter is set to 50. This implies that, by default, the threads that are currently consuming over 50% of CPU time are counted as medium CPU-consuming threads. The count of such threads will be reported as the value of the Medium CPU threads measure. If need be, you can modify the value of this parameter to change how much CPU should be used by a thread for it to qualify as a medium CPU-consuming thread.

  • By default, the PCT HIGH CPU UTIL THREADS parameter is set to 70. This implies that, by default, the threads that are currently consuming over 70% of CPU time are counted as high CPU consumers. The count of such threads will be reported as the value of the High CPU threads measure. If need be, you can modify the value of this parameter to change how much CPU should be used by a thread for it to qualify as a high CPU-consuming thread.

  • The USEPS flag is applicable only for AIX LPARs. By default, on AIX LPARs, this test uses the tprof command to compute CPU usage. Accordingly, the USEPS flag is set to No by default. On some AIX LPARs however, the tprof command may not function properly (this is an AIX issue). While monitoring such AIX LPARs therefore, you can configure the test to use the ps command instead for metrics collection. To do so, set the USEPS flag to Yes.

    Note:

    Alternatively, you can set the AIXusePS flag in the [AGENT_SETTINGS] section of the eg_tests.ini file (in the <EG_INSTALL_DIR>\manager\config directory) to yes (default: no) to enable the eG agent to use the ps command for CPU usage computations on AIX LPARs. If this global flag and the USEPS flag for a specific component are both set to no, then the test will use the default tprof command to compute CPU usage for AIX LPARs. If either of these flags is set to yes, then the ps command will perform the CPU usage computations for monitored AIX LPARs.

    In some high-security environments, the tprof command may require some special privileges to execute on an AIX LPAR (eg., sudo may need to be used to run tprof). In such cases, you can prefix the tprof command with another command (like sudo) or the full path to a script that grants the required privileges to tprof. To achieve this, edit the eg_tests.ini file (in the <EG_INSTALL_DIR>\manager\config directory), and provide the prefix of your choice against the AixTprofPrefix parameter in the [AGENT_SETTINGS] section. Finally, save the file. For instance, if you set the AixTprofPrefix parameter to sudo, then the eG agent will call the tprof command as sudo tprof.

  • The DD FREQUENCY refers to the frequency with which detailed diagnosis measures are to be generated for this test. The default is 1:1. This indicates that, by default, detailed measures will be generated every time this test runs, and also every time the test detects a problem. You can modify this frequency, if you so desire. Also, if you intend to disable the detailed diagnosis capability for this test, you can do so by specifying none against DD FREQUENCY.

  • By default, in an IT environment, all data transmission occurs over UDP. Some environments however, may be specifically configured to offload a fraction of the data traffic - for instance, certain types of data traffic or traffic pertaining to specific components - to other protocols like TCP, so as to prevent UDP overloads. In such environments, you can instruct the eG agent to conduct the SNMP data traffic related to the monitored target over TCP (and not UDP). For this, set the DATA OVER TCP flag to Yes. By default, this flag is set to No.

  • Once the necessary values have been provided, clicking on the Update button will register the changes made.

When changing default configurations of tests, the values with "$" indicate variables that will be replaced by the eG system according to the specific server being managed - for instance, $hostName is the host/nickname of the target host, $port is the port number of the server being monitored. E.g., for a server xyz:80, $hostName will be changed automatically by the eG manager to "xyz" and $port will be changed to "80" when configuring a test.