Agents Administration - Tests
 

Configuration of JvmThreadTest

This test reports the status of threads running in the JVM. Details of this test can be used to identify resource-hungry threads.

Note:

If the MODE parameter of this test is set to SNMP, then stack trace will not be available. Also, detailed diagnostics will not report CPU Time.

The default parameters associated with this test are as follows:

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

  • In the HOST text box, the host name of the server for which the test is to be configured has to be specified.

  • The port number at which the specified HOST listens should be specified in the PORT listbox.

  • 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.

  • For the eG agent to collect metrics from the target IBM WebSphere Liberty server, the local connector should be enabled on the target server. Once the connector is enabled, a com.ibm.ws.jmx.local.address file will be created in the ${server.output.dir}/logs/state folder. The eG agent uses this file to connect to the target server and collect the required metrics from it. Therefore, specify the exact path to this file in the SERVICE URL PATH text box. For example, in case of Windows environments, the Service URL Path can be C:\wlp\usr\servers\server1\logs\state and in case of Linux environments, the SERVICE URL PATH can be /opt/wlp/ur/servers/server1/logs/state.

  • 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.

  • The SNMPVERSION parameter appears only if the MODE is set to SNMP. The default selection in the SNMPVERSION list is v1. However, for this test to work, you have to select SNMP v2 or v3 from this list, depending upon which version of SNMP is in use in the target environment.

  • The SNMPCOMMUNITY parameter appears only if the MODE is set to SNMP. Here, specify the SNMP community name that the test uses to communicate with the mail server. The default is public. This parameter is specific to SNMP v1 and v2 only. Therefore, if the SNMP version 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 be MIB. Therefore, specify the name of such a user against this 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.

  • Specify the duration (in seconds) for which this test should wait for a response from the target Java application. If there is no response from the target beyond the configured duration, the test will timeout. By default, the TIMEOUT parameter is set to 240 seconds.

  • 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.

  • By default, the PCT MEDIUM CPU UTIL THREADS parameter is set to 50. This implies that, by default, the threads for which the current CPU consumption is between 50% and 70% (the default value of the pct high cpu util threads parameter) will be counted as medium CPU-consuming threads. The count of such threads will be reported as the value of the Medium CPU threads measure.

    This default setting also denotes that threads that consume less than 50% CPU will, by default, be counted as Low CPU threads. 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. This will consequently alter the count of low CPU-consuming threads as well.

  • 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.

  • By default, the MAX THREAD COUNT parameter is set to 20. This implies that the detailed diagnosis of the Runnable threads, Waiting threads, and Timed waiting threads measures will by default display only the top-20 JVM threads in terms of CPU consumption. To view more threads as part of detailed diagnostics, increase the value of this parameter. To view all threads that are in the said state (eg., runnable, waiting, and timed waiting), specify All or * against this parameter.

  • 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, this 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 this 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_SIR>\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 this parameter.

  • To make diagnosis more efficient and accurate, the eG Enterprise suite embeds an optional detailed diagnostic capability. With this capability, the eG agents can be configured to run detailed, more elaborate tests as and when specific problems are detected. To enable the detailed diagnosis capability of this test for a particular server, choose the On option. To disable the capability, click on the Off option.

    The option to selectively enable/disable the detailed diagnosis capability will be available only if the following conditions are fulfilled:

    • The eG manager license should allow the detailed diagnosis capability.

    • Both the normal and abnormal frequencies configured for the detailed diagnosis measures should not be 0.

  • If multiple components of the same component type are awaiting configuration, then an APPLY TO OTHER COMPONENTS check box will appear in this page. Clicking on this check box will allow you to apply the configuration to all/selected components of that type.

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

When changing the configuration for specific servers, a “*” beside the text box corresponding to the parameter signifies that these values have to be manually configured by the user. The parameter values that require to be configured will typically be prefixed with a “$“ or contain a series of “*”. A value of "none" in the parameter value indicates that the corresponding parameter value can be changed if required.