JMX Polling

The Studio - JMX Polling tool enables you to retrieve and analyze the values of MBean objects of diverse Java MBean enabled applications. You need no longer run separate JMX application interfaces.

With the JMX polling tools, you can access and monitor the following MBean application servers:

You can run string searches or perform numeric value extractions on the return output of all the above java-enabled applications servers to fine-tune your monitoring.

Java Management Extensions (JMX) a trademark of Sun Microsystems, is a Java technology that supplies tools for managing and monitoring applications, system objects, devices (e.g. printers) and service oriented networks. Those resources are represented by objects called MBeans (for Managed Bean).

Java Management Extensions (JMX) technology provides the tools for building distributed Web-based modular and dynamic solutions for managing and monitoring devices, applications, and service-driven networks. JMX is based on 3-level architecture:

•	The Probe level: contains the probes (called MBeans) instrumenting the resources. It is also known as the instrumentation level.

•	The Agent level: the MBeanServer is the core of JMX. It is an intermediary between the MBean and the applications.

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The Remote Management level: enables remote applications to access the MBeanServer through Connectors and Adaptors. A connector provides full remote access to the MBeanServer API using various communication frameworks such as RMI, IIOP, JMS, WS-*; while an adaptor adapts the API to another protocol (SNMP) or to Web-based GUI (HTML/HTTP, WML/HTTP…)

An MBean server is a repository of MBeans that provides management applications access to MBeans. An MBean is nothing but a java object that represents a manageable resource, such as an application, a service, a component, or a device.

For example you could represent your laptop as an MBean and then "monitor" it. Applications do not access MBeans directly, but instead access them through the MBean server with their unique ObjectName. An MBean server implements the interface javax.management. MBeanServer

With the JMX polling feature of Monitoring Studio Express, you can easily monitor the above-mentioned application servers and consolidate the monitoring of these MBeanServers within your Portal environment. You need no longer interrogate the various application servers through their respective interfaces just to view the status of the MBeans.

Monitoring Studio uses the MBeanServerConnection method, connecting to the platform MBeanServer of a running JVM. In this method, you use the getAttribute() method of MBeanServerConnection to get an attribute of a platform MBean, providing the MBean's ObjectName and the attribute name as parameters.

Monitoring Studio Express will poll the application servers and display the MBeans attributes and values. To create and register new MBeans or modify existing ones, you are required to do so using the specific application server interface.

1.	Select the JMX tool according to the type of JMX server you wish to poll

2.	Identify the host, specify the type of JMX server, enter connection credentials, port number, server name etc.

3.	Enter the domain name, key property and attribute name, rapidly found using the Sentry JMX Browser.

5.	Monitoring Studio Express polls the JMX server and displays its response under the parameters Text Value or Numeric Return Output

Fine-tune the monitoring by running string searches or performing numeric value extractions on the return output of the monitored instance.

(HB) = "Higher is Better" and (LB) = "Lower is Better". HB and LB parameters will always display the same value since, basically, both represent the same value. The purpose of having two parameters for the same value is to be able to set different alert thresholds depending on the nature of the monitored object.
For instance, an alert can be set to be triggered on the HB parameter when the value dips too low (it breaches the lower threshold of the range) and an alert can be set on the LB parameter to go off when the value rises too high. The setting of alerts is flexible and can be done on either of the two parameters, on both, or on neither; it depends entirely on nature of the monitored object and the user's specific needs.

Text Value vs Numeric Value: These parameters display the specified MBean attribute. If it is a numeric value, the Text Value parameter will not be collected, and the results will appear in the Numeric Value parameters or vice-versa.