Setting up the BEA JRockit Management Console

Before you start running and using the Management Console, it is a good idea to set up the different connections for the JVMs you want to view. The Management Console is best run remotely on a computer connected to the management server. That way the console is the least intrusive on the JRockit that is running in your system.

Configuring—or “setting up”—the Management Console includes these tasks:

Managing Connections

The connection browser (Figure 4-2) displays a collection of saved connections to BEA JRockit JVMs organized in folders. If necessary, you can add your own folders and connection nodes to the tree structure.

Creating a New Connection

Select the folder in which the connection should be placed
Click Connection > New Connection.

The Add new connection dialog box (Figure 5-1) appears:

Figure 5-1 Add New Connection Dialog Box

Add New Connection Dialog Box

Type in a name of the server, the port (the port number of the enabled JMX server), and the new connection in the appropriate text fields or retain the default values.

Note:

If you have enabled auto discovery when you started the Management Console, you will see a list of all running JRockit instances under Server name (for more information see Auto Discovery Settings).

Type in a user name for the connection and a password. If you want to store the password in the settings file, select the store option (the password is stored unencrypted).
Type in a connection name.
Select or deselect Connect now depending on if you want to monitor your JRockit VM at once or not.
Click Add.

The connection will now appear in the Connections folder.

Creating a New Folder

Select the existing Connections folder.
Click Connection > New Folder.

The new folder appears in the connection browser (Figure 5-2).

Figure 5-2 New Folders

New Folders

Select the new folder once to activate the folder, then click again to highlight the name.
Type in a name for the folder and press Enter.

Connecting to BEA JRockit

From your list of connections, select the BEA JRockit JVM connection you wish to activate.

To connect an entire folder, select the folder.

Click Connection > Connect.

When the connection is made, the status bar will read “Connected” and activity on the console will commence.

Disconnecting from BEA JRockit

From your list of connections, select the BEA JRockit JVM connection you want to disconnect.

To disconnect an entire folder, select the folder.

Click Connection > Disconnect.

The connection will be lost and the status bar will indicate that you’ve been disconnected.

Renaming a Connection or Folder

Select the BEA JRockit JVM connection or folder to rename.
Click once more to change the name.
Type in a new name and press Enter.

Removing a Connection or Folder

Select the connection subfolder you want to remove.
Click Connection > Remove.

The selected connection disappears from the connection browser.

Hiding Disconnected Connections

Sometimes you only want to display information about the active BEA JRockit JVM connections. To hide information about disconnected connections:

To show the information about disconnected connections again, simply deselect Hide Disconnected in same way that you made the selection.

About the Ignore List

Enabling Console Settings

The Management Console has different preferences that can be set. These preferences are grouped into the following main groups: General, Persistence, and Communication (see Figure 5-3). The Communication preference is only visible in developer mode.

Opening the Preferences Window

Mode of Operation

The Management Console can be run in two different operating modes depending on the type of information you want to access:

Developer Mode: This is the default mode and provides more features (compared to the Administrator mode) such as a rudimentary method profiler and exception count functionality. Additional tabs are also available: the Method Profiler tab and the Exception Count tab.
Administrator Mode: This mode is designed for system administrators who are mostly interested in observing the state of the BEA JRockit JVM.

Graphics and E-mail Settings

In addition to setting the operation mode, you use General Preferences to change the following:

Turn on or off the anti-aliasing setting. This is good if you are running the Management Console on a Linux system. Using anti-aliasing over a remote X connection over Linux slows down the GUI considerably.
Change the default e-mail settings for the notification system, for example, the system sends an e-mail to this address when a certain heap size is reached.

Auto Discovery Settings

The Auto discovery option allows you to have the Management Console look for additional JRockit instances in your network. By leaving Block auto discovery messages unselected, the Management Console automatically searches for other JRockit instances in your network. The JRockits that are found will appear in the Server name drop down list in the Add New Connection window (see Figure 5-1).

Persistence Directory

The persistence directory is where the Management Console saves the persisted values of attributes (in the attribute subscription log). Values that are saved are, for example, any changes that you make to MBeans, i.e., name changes or such. The attribute subscription logs are saved upon exiting the Management Console. If there, for some reason, arises problems with the logs, you can clear the logs by deleting them and then have the Management Console create a new one for you (see Clearing All Attribute Subscription Logs).

When you enable log rotation, you can set a size on the persisted log. By doing so, you let the Management Console create a new log file as soon as the limit is reached. If you combine the log rotation setting with a setting for the maximum log size, you will enable full log rotation, i.e. the Management Console will delete the oldest log file as soon as the maximum log size limit is reached, and you will always know how much space the log files take on your computer.

Setting the Persistence Directory

Click Tools > Preferences.
Select the Persistence option.
Click Choose to find another location for the attribute subscription logs.
Click Yes when you are asked to disconnect JRockit connections.
Select a location for the files.

The default location for the files are <User_Home>\.ManagementConsole\data\.

Click Open.

Every time you exit the Management Console, a new aspect value log is saved in the specified directory. It i not recommended to change these logs by hand.

Close the Preferences window.

Clearing All Attribute Subscription Logs

Click Tools > Preferences.
Select the Persistence option.
Click Clear all attribute subscription logs.
Click Yes when you are asked to disconnect JRockit connections.
Close the Preferences window.

Note: If you delete all persistence logs by clicking this button, you will also delete any other files stored in the <User_Home>\.ManagementConsole\data\.

Communication Settings

The possibility to change communication settings is on if you have set the Management Console to Developer mode (see Mode of Operation). The available communication setting is the default update interval.

Console Settings File

For the Management Console to remember your specific settings, for example, your connections, it automatically creates a settings file when you exit. This file is called consolesettings.xml and is located in the folder:

The exact path to the user home directory will vary on different platforms. On Windows it is usually something like \Documents and Settings\<username>, for example:

If you do not currently see such a file in the above directory, one has probably not been created yet. As soon as you exit the Management Console one is created.

If you are experiencing problems with the settings file, you can always delete it and let the Management Console create a new one for you.

Locating consolesettings.xml

The consolesettings.xml file is located in your home directory, under the \ManagementConsole folder. If you are using Windows, the path should be:

C:\Documents and Settings\<user_name>\ManagementConsole

(where <user_name> is the user name under which you are running the Management Console)

/home/<user_name>/ManagementConsole