1 Introduction and Roadmap

This document describes how to use the Java Management Extensions (JMX) to how to reduce the cost of operating and maintaining your applications by building management facilities into your applications. The simplest facility is message logging, which reports events within your applications as they occur and writes messages to a file or other repository. Depending on the criticality of your application, the complexity of the production environment, and the types of monitoring systems your organization uses in its operations center, your needs might be better served by building richer management facilities based on Java Management Extensions (JMX). JMX enables a generic management system to monitor your application; raise notifications when the application needs attention; and change the configuration or run-time state of your application to remedy problems.

The following sections describe the contents and organization of this guide—Developing Manageable Applications Using JMX for Oracle WebLogic Server.

• Document Scope and Audience

• Guide to this Document

• Related Documentation

• New and Changed Features in This Release

Document Scope and Audience

This document is a resource for software developers who develop management services for Java EE applications. It also contains information that is useful for business analysts and system architects who are evaluating WebLogic Server or considering the use of JMX for a particular application.

It is assumed that the reader is familiar with Java EE and general application management concepts.

The information in this document is relevant during the design and development phases of a software project. This document does not address production phase administration, monitoring, or performance tuning topics. For links to WebLogic Server documentation and resources related to these topics, see Related Documentation.

This document emphasizes a hands-on approach to developing a limited but useful set of JMX management services. For information on applying JMX to a broader set of management problems, refer to the JMX specification or other documents listed in Related Documentation.

Guide to this Document

• This chapter, Introduction and Roadmap, describes the scope and organization of this guide.

• Understanding JMX, gives an overview of JMX and describes how Java EE application developers can use JMX.

• Designing Manageable Applications, recommends design patterns for making Java EE applications manageable through JMX.

• Instrumenting and Registering Custom MBeans, describes how to create your own MBeans (custom MBeans), which enable you to promote your application to the status of a managed object within a larger management system.

• Using the WebLogic Server JMX Timer Service, describes how to configure your JMX client to carry out a task at a specified time or a regular time interval by using WebLogic Server's implementation of the JMX timer service.

• Accessing Custom MBeans, describes options for accessing your MBeans (other than through JMX).

Related Documentation

The Oracle Technology Network includes a Web site that provides links to books, white papers, and additional information on JMX: http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/tech/javamanagement-140525.html.

WebLogic Server supports JMX 1.4 by leveraging the JMX implementation in the JDK on which it is running. To view the JMX 1.4 specification, download it from http://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/technotes/guides/jmx/

To view the JMX Remote API 1.0 specification, download it from http://jcp.org/aboutJava/communityprocess/final/jsr160/index.html.

You can view the API reference for the javax.management* packages from: http://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/api/overview-summary.html.

For guidelines on developing other types of management services for WebLogic Server applications, see the following documents:

• Adding WebLogic Logging Services to Applications Deployed on Oracle WebLogic Server describes WebLogic support for internationalization and localization of log messages and shows you how to use the templates and tools provided with WebLogic Server to create or edit message catalogs that are locale-specific.

• Configuring and Using the Diagnostics Framework for Oracle WebLogic Server describes how system administrators can collect application monitoring data that has not been exposed through JMX, logging, or other management facilities.

For guidelines on developing and tuning WebLogic Server applications, see Developing Applications for Oracle WebLogic Server.

New and Changed Features in This Release

For a comprehensive listing of the new WebLogic Server features introduced in this release, see What's New in Oracle WebLogic Server.