Sun Java System Web Server 7.0 Update 3 Performance Tuning, Sizing, and Scaling Guide

Solaris Platform-Specific Performance Monitoring

This section describes some of the Solaris-specific tools and utilities you can use to monitor your system's behavior, and includes the following topics:

The tools described in this section monitor performance from the standpoint of how the system responds to the load that Web Server generates. For information about using Web Server's own capabilities to track the demands that users place on the Web Server itself, see Monitoring Server Performance.

Short-Term System Monitoring

Solaris offers several tools for taking “snapshots” of system behavior. Although you can capture their output in files for later analysis, the tools listed below are primarily intended for monitoring system behavior in real time:

Long-Term System Monitoring

It is important not only to "spot-check" system performance with the tools mentioned above, but to collect longer-term performance histories so you can detect trends. If nothing else, a baseline record of a system performing well will help you figure out what has changed if the system starts behaving poorly. Enable the system activity reporting package by doing the following:

“Intelligent” Monitoring

The SE toolkit is a freely downloadable software package developed by Sun performance experts. In addition to collecting and monitoring raw performance statistics, the toolkit can apply heuristics to characterize the overall health of the system and highlight areas that need adjustment. You can download the toolkit and its documentation from the following location:

http://www.sunfreeware.com/setoolkit.html