Java Monitoring

Monitor Java application performance with complete end-to-end visibility

The role of Java applications in modern architecture cannot be overstated. Their unparalleled versatility and scalability make them the preferred choice for building a broad spectrum of systems and services. This includes enterprise-level applications to agile microservices and dynamic web and mobile apps. While Java applications are undeniably powerful, Java application management comes with its own set of hurdles:

• Navigating data volume - One of the key challenges with Java applications is the sheer volume of data they generate. This makes it overwhelming to effectively collect, process, and analyze all the metrics. Additionally, Java applications often run on distributed systems, cloud environments, and containers. This adds layers of complexity to monitoring setups.
• Insights into JVM performance - Understanding the intricacies of Java virtual machines (JVM) requires a thorough knowledge of how it works. The JVM manages memory usage and garbage collection, and any abnormal behavior in these areas can significantly impact performance.
• Addressing legacy code complexity - Legacy Java code, built without monitoring in mind, can further complicate the process. These applications are dynamic in nature and often involve multiple threads and interactions with external systems. Untangling these interactions and pinpointing the source of issues can be a time-consuming task.

Applications Manager: The ultimate solution for your Java monitoring needs

Applications Manager offers comprehensive Java monitoring, providing a holistic view of your Java ecosystem. This includes JVM instances and their metrics, containerized deployments, virtual and physical hosts, and any application running on the Java platform. With these insights, our Java monitor will empower you to proactively identify and troubleshoot performance issues before they impact users. By delving deeper into key metrics, you can pinpoint bottlenecks, optimize resource allocation across containers and hosts, and ultimately ensure the overall health and performance of your Java applications.

Key features of our Java monitoring tool

Monitor and optimize Java application performance

Uncover real-time insights across your entire Java application stack with APM Insight, our lightweight application performance monitoring agent. Monitoring Java application performance will enable you to:

• Gain code-level insights into the performance of your Java applications, identify erroneous code, and optimize them for better performance.
• Identify slow internal method calls within Java code and visualize the entire pathway in a tree view for clear analysis.
• Gauge the performance of your database by tracking slow database calls, usage, response time, throughput, errors, transactions, and more.
• Leverage distributed tracing to track calls made from one application to another across your microservices architecture. Assess the services impacted and collaborate with concerned teams to fix it.
• Utilize thread profiling to tackle production issues efficiently. Pinpoint high CPU-consuming threads and time-consuming methods to prevent application performance degradation.
• Address performance slowdowns due to a high number of hits by monitoring the frequency of interactions with database calls, service calls, or user-defined framework calls.
• Get an instant snapshot of your environment's health and operational status through our automated service maps. Identify areas of concern and dive into detailed analysis, narrowing down issues to specific hosts or external components.

Our Java application performance monitoring tool collects information on web transactions and non-web transactions (background tasks) and typically produces performance data automatically. However, for additional monitoring needs, you have the option to implement custom instrumentation. This enables you to track interactions that might not be automatically captured by Applications Manager, providing a way to identify critical issues by adding specific details to your transactions.

Learn more about Java transaction monitoring.

Keep tabs on your JVM metrics

The JVM is at the core of Java applications by translating Java byte code into actions on the hosting platform. This means that performance issues within the JVM can significantly affect the functioning of application servers running on it such as Tomcat, JBoss, WebSphere, WebLogic, etc. That is why monitoring JVM is an integral part of Java application performance monitoring strategy. Some of the key JVM metrics you can track with Applications Manager include:

• Memory usage (including heap and non-heap memory): Monitor memory usage, including heap and non-heap memory, to prevent issues like out of memory (OOM) errors and sudden crashes. Continuous increases in heap memory usage may indicate unreferenced objects, while non-heap memory trends could reveal memory leaks in metaspace. Proactive monitoring allows for early detection and mitigation of memory-related issues and ensures application stability.
• Thread details: Monitoring thread health is vital for optimal application performance. Track key thread details like peak usage, active threads, and their states (runnable, blocked, waiting, etc.). An imbalance between busy and free threads can lead to problems. Too few free threads (runnable) create bottlenecks, causing requests to queue up and hinder user experience. Conversely, an excessive number of idle threads indicates underutilized resources. By monitoring thread utilization, including daemons and deadlocked threads, you can identify potential issues like thread pool saturation, inefficient task scheduling, or resource contention. This data empowers you to optimize thread pool configurations, ensuring smooth application performance and a positive user experience.
• Java garbage collection (GC): Java GC is crucial for memory management, but poor performing GC can negatively impact application responsiveness. Frequent or lengthy GC cycles can cause pauses, hindering user experience. To optimize GC and monitor its behavior, you need to track how often it runs, how long each cycle takes, and how much memory is reclaimed. This data helps identify potential issues like memory leaks or inappropriate GC settings. By understanding GC performance, you can take steps to improve memory management and ensure a smooth user experience.

Furthermore, you can debug Java-based web applications in your production environment with our thread dump analyzer feature. This will enable you to quickly detect, analyze Java thread dumps to isolate and resolve problems like memory leaks, memory freezes, JVM crashes, deadlocks, thread contentions, and more. You will also be able to gain insight into JVM configuration details including version, PID, classes, processors, and more.

Learn more about JVM monitoring.

Get deep insights into your Java Runtime Environments

The Java Runtime Environment (JRE) is a software layer that provides the necessary environment for Java applications to run on a user's machine. It provides the necessary libraries and resources for Java programs to function on any operating system, making Java applications truly platform independent. However, even with a reliable JRE, ensuring the smooth operation requires monitoring Java. Some of the key metrics you need to look out for include:

• Concurrency:: Monitor various thread related metrics and prevent thread pool exhaustion. Analyze thread dumps to discover reasons for application performance degradation.
• Memory metrics:: Monitor both physical and virtual memory usage and ensure optimal resource allocation. Additionally, obtain a quick summary of the garbage collection process and specific collector stats.
• Java application server metrics:: Keep tabs on key metrics of your application servers running in your JRE including JVM memory usage and JMS queue stats to avoid sudden application crashes.

Learn more about JRE monitoring.

Track JMX performance with ease

JMX monitoring plays a crucial role in maintaining the health, performance, and reliability of Java applications and the underlying JVM. It provides a centralized and standardized approach to monitor and manage Java applications in real-time. Applications Manager's Java application monitor helps you monitor the JMX console and Java/J2EE applications that expose management information via JMX. With Applications Manager, you can:

• Obtain insights into custom metrics within your application deployment, such as memory management status, logging activity, platform configuration, and beyond.
• Pinpoint transactions, threads, and connection pools that are consuming JVM resources.
• Query and report any managed beans (MBeans) from your application.
• Configure automatic remedial actions—invoke MBean operations or execute custom scripts when thresholds are violated.

Learn more about JMX monitoring.

Leverage AI for proactive fault management and reporting

With our Java monitoring solution, you can get a centralized view into all the variables affecting the performance of your services:

• Eliminate blindspots by gaining holistic visibility and drilling down to the root cause of issues.
• Avoid alert barrages by receiving alerts only for issues that matter. Receive notifications via your preferred channel— email, Slack, SMS, and more—when thresholds are violated.
• Reduce manual intervention by automating corrective actions. Seamlessly integrate with your ITSM tool (ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus or ServiceNow) and track incidents with ease.
• Gain visibility into how various command line parameters and garbage collection algorithms impact the Java application performance with our statistical reports.
• Preempt resource usage spikes with forecast reports that employ machine learning techniques to predict usage.
• Improve collaboration among teams with our customized widgets and dashboards.

Besides monitoring Java applications, Applications Manager also offers monitoring and management of over 150 technologies—all from a single console. To explore Java performance monitoring with Applications Manager first-hand, download our 30-day free trial or schedule a personalized demo for a guided tour.