B WLDF Instrumentation Library

The WebLogic Diagnostic Framework Instrumentation Library contains diagnostic monitors and diagnostic actions, as discussed in the following sections:

For information about using items from the Instrumentation Library, see Chapter 10, "Configuring Instrumentation."

Diagnostic Monitor Library

Diagnostic monitors are broadly classified as server-scoped and application-scoped monitors. The former can be used to instrument WebLogic Server classes. You use the latter to instrument application classes. Except for the DyeInjection monitor, all monitors are delegating monitors, that is, they do not have a built-in diagnostic action. Instead, they delegate to actions attached to them to perform diagnostic activity.

All monitors are preconfigured with their respective pointcuts. However, the actual locations affected by them may vary depending on the classes they instrument. For example, the Servlet_Before_Service monitor adds diagnostic code at the entry of servlet or java server page (JSP) service methods at different locations in different servlet implementations.

For any delegating monitor, only compatible actions may be attached. The compatibility is determined by the nature of the monitor.

The following table lists and describes the diagnostic monitors that can be used within server scope, that is, in WebLogic Server classes. For the diagnostic actions that are compatible with each monitor, see the Compatible Action Type column in the table.

Table B-1 Diagnostic Monitors for Use Within Server Scope

Monitor Name Monitor Type Compatible Action Type Pointcuts

Connector_Before_Inbound

Before

Stateless

At entry of methods handling inbound connections.

Connector_After_Inbound

Server

Stateless

At exit of methods handling inbound connections.

Connector_Around_Inbound

Around

Around

At entry and exit of methods handling inbound connections.

Connector_Before_Outbound

Before

Stateless

At entry of methods handling outbound connections.

Connector_After_Outbound

After

Stateless

At exit of methods handling outbound connections.

Connector_Around_Outbound

Around

Around

At entry and exit of methods handling outbound connections.

Connector_Before_Tx

Before

Stateless

Entry of transaction register, unregister, start, rollback and commit methods.

Connector_After_Tx

After

Stateless

At exit of transaction register, unregister, start, rollback and commit methods.

Connector_Around_Tx

Around

Around

At entry and exit of transaction register, unregister, start, rollback and commit methods.

Connector_Before_Work

Before

Stateless

At entry of methods related to scheduling, starting and executing connector work items.

Connector_After_Work

After

Stateless

At exit of methods related to scheduling, starting and executing connector work items.

Connector_Around_Work

Around

Around

At entry and exit of methods related to scheduling, starting and executing connector work items.

DyeInjection

Before

Built-in

At points where requests enter the server.

JDBC_Before_Commit_Internal

Before

Stateless

JDBC subsystem internal code

JDBC_After_Commit_Internal

After

Stateless

JDBC subsystem internal code

JDBC_Before_Connection_

Internal

Before

Stateless

Before calls to methods:

Driver.connect

DataSource.getConnection

JDBC_After_Connection_ Internal

Before

Stateless

JDBC subsystem internal code

JDBC_Before_Rollback_ Internal

Before

Stateless

JDBC subsystem internal code

JDBC_After_Rollback_Internal

After

Stateless

JDBC subsystem internal code

JDBC_Before_Start_Internal

Before

Stateless

JDBC subsystem internal code

JDBC_After_Start_Internal

After

Stateless

JDBC subsystem internal code

JDBC_Before_Statement_

Internal

Before

Stateless

JDBC subsystem internal code

JDBC_After_Statement_

Internal

After

Stateless

JDBC subsystem internal code

JDBC_After_Reserve_Connection_Internal

After

Stateless

After a JDBC connection is reserved from the connection pool.

JDBC_After_Release_Connection_Internal

After

Stateless

After a JDBC connection is released back to the connection pool.


Table B-2 lists the diagnostic monitors that can be used within application scopes, that is, in deployed applications. For the diagnostic actions that are compatible with each monitor, see the Compatible Action Type column in the table.

Table B-2 Diagnostic Monitors for Use Within Application Scopes

Monitor Name Monitor Type Compatible Action Type Pointcuts

EJB_After_EntityEjbBusiness Methods

After

Stateless

At exits of all EntityBean methods, which are not standard ejb methods.

EJB_Around_EntityEjbBusinessMethods

Around

Around

At entry and exits of all EntityBean methods that are not standard ejb methods.

EJB_After_EntityEjbMethods

After

Stateless

At exits of methods:

EnitityBean.setEntityContext

EnitityBean.unsetEntityContext

EnitityBean.ejbRemove

EnitityBean.ejbActivate

EnitityBean.ejbPassivate

EnitityBean.ejbLoad

EnitityBean.ejbStore

EJB_Around_EntityEjbMethods

Around

Around

At exits of methods:

EnitityBean.setEntityContext

EnitityBean.unsetEntityContext

EnitityBean.ejbRemove

EnitityBean.ejbActivate

EnitityBean.ejbPassivate

EnitityBean.ejbLoad

EnitityBean.ejbStore

EJB_After_EntityEjbSemantic Methods

After

Stateless

At exits of methods:

EnitityBean.set*

EnitityBean.get*

EnitityBean.ejbFind*

EnitityBean.ejbHome*

EnitityBean.ejbSelect*

EnitityBean.ejbCreate*

EnitityBean.ejbPostCreate*

EJB_Around_EntityEjbSemanticMethods

Around

Around

At entry and exits of methods:

EnitityBean.set*

EnitityBean.get*

EnitityBean.ejbFind*

EnitityBean.ejbHome*

EnitityBean.ejbSelect*

EnitityBean.ejbCreate*

EnitityBean.ejbPostCreate*

EJB_After_SessionEjbMethods

After

Stateless

At exits of methods:

SessionBean.setSessionContext

SessionBean.ejbRemove

SessionBean.ejbActivate

SessionBean.ejbPassivate

EJB_Around_SessionEjbMethods

Around

Around

At entry and exits of methods:

SessionBean.setSessionContext

SessionBean.ejbRemove

SessionBean.ejbActivate

SessionBean.ejbPassivate

EJB_After_SessionEjbBusinessMethods

After

Stateless

At exits of all SessionBean methods, which are not standard ejb methods.

EJB_Around_SessionEjb

BusinessMethods

Around

Around

At entry and exits of all SessionBean methods, which are not standard ejb methods.

EJB_After_SessionEjbSemanticMethods

After

Stateless

At exits of methods:

SessionBean.ejbCreateSessionBean.ejbPostCreate

EJB_Around_SessionEjb

SemanticMethods

Around

Around

At entry and exits of methods:

SessionBean.ejbCreate

SessionBean.ejbPostCreate

EJB_Before_EntityEjbBusinessMethods

Before

Stateless

At entry of all EntityBean methods, which are not standard ejb methods.

EJB_Before_EntityEjbMethods

Before

Stateless

At entry of methods:

EnitityBean.setEntityContext

EnitityBean.unsetEntityContext

EnitityBean.ejbRemove

EnitityBean.ejbActivate

EnitityBean.ejbPassivate

EnitityBean.ejbLoad

EnitityBean.ejbStore

EJB_Before_EntityEjbSemanticMethods

Before

Stateless

At entry of methods:

EnitityBean.set*

EnitityBean.get*

EnitityBean.ejbFind*

EnitityBean.ejbHome*

EnitityBean.ejbSelect*

EnitityBean.ejbCreate*

EnitityBean.ejbPostCreate*

EJB_Before_SessionEjb

BusinessMethods

Before

Stateless

At entry of all SessionBean methods, which are not standard ejb methods.

EJB_Before_SessionEjbMethods

Before

Stateless

At entry of methods:

SessionBean.setSessionContext

SessionBean.ejbRemove

SessionBean.ejbActivate

SessionBean.ejbPassivate

EJB_Before_SessionEjb

SemanticMethods

Before

Stateless

At entry of methods:

SessionBean.ejbCreate

SessionBean.ejbPostCreate

HttpSessionDebug

Around

Built-in

getSession - Inspects returned HTTP session

Before and after calls to methods:

getAttribute

setAttribute

removeAttribute

At inspection points, the approximate session size is computed and stored as the payload of a generated event. The size is computed by flattening the session to a byte-array. If an error is encountered while flattening the session, a negative size is reported.

JDBC_Before_CloseConnection

Before

Stateless

Before calls to methods:

Connection.close

JDBC_After_CloseConnection

After

Stateless

After calls to methods:

Connection.close

JDBC_Around_CloseConnection

Around

Around

Before and after calls to methods:

Connection.close

JDBC_Before_CommitRollback

Before

Stateless

Before calls to methods:

Connection.commit

Connection.rollback

JDBC_After_CommitRollback

After

Stateless

After calls to methods:

Connection.commit

Connection.rollback

JDBC_Around_CommitRollback

Around

Around

Before and after calls to methods:

Connection.commit

Connection.rollback

JDBC_Before_Execute

Before

Stateless

Before calls to methods:

Statement.execute*

PreparedStatement.execute*

JDBC_After_Execute

After

Stateless

After calls to methods:

Statement.execute*

PreparedStatement.execute*

JDBC_Around_Execute

Around

Around

Before and after calls to methods:

Statement.execute*

PreparedStatement.execute*

JDBC_Before_GetConnection

Before

Stateless

Before calls to methods:

Driver.connect

DataSource.getConnection

JDBC_After_GetConnection

After

Stateless

After calls to methods:

Driver.connect

DataSource.getConnection

JDBC_Around_GetConnection

Around

Around

Before and after calls to methods:

Driver.connect

DataSource.getConnection

JDBC_Before_Statement

Before

Stateless

Before calls to methods:

Connection.prepareStatement

Connection.prepareCall

Statement.addBatch

RowSet.setCommand

JDBC_After_Statement

After

Stateless

After calls to methods:

Connection.prepareStatement

Connection.prepareCall

Statement.addBatch

RowSet.setCommand

JDBC_Around_Statement

Around

Around

Before and after calls to methods:

Connection.prepareStatement

Connection.prepareCall

Statement.addBatch

RowSet.setCommand

JMS_Before_AsyncMessage

Received

Before

Stateless

At entry of methods:

MessageListener.onMessage

JMS_After_AsyncMessage

Received

After

Stateless

At exits of methods:

MessageListener.onMessage

JMS_Around_AsyncMessage

Received

Around

Around

At entry and exits of methods:

MessageListener.onMessage

JMS_Before_MessageSent

Before

Stateless

Before call to methods:

QueSender send

JMS_After_MessageSent

After

Stateless

After call to methods:

QueSender send

JMS_Around_MessageSent

Around

Around

Before and after call to methods:

QueSender send

JMS_Before_SyncMessage

Received

Before

Stateless

Before calls to methods:

MessageConsumer.receive*

JMS_After_SyncMessage

Received

After

Stateless

After calls to methods:

MessageConsumer.receive*

JMS_Around_SyncMessage

Received

Around

Around

Before and after calls to methods:

MessageConsumer.receive*

JMS_Before_TopicPublished

Before

Stateless

Before call to methods:

TopicPublisher.publish

JMS_After_TopicPublished

After

Stateless

After call to methods:

TopicPublisher.publish

JMS_Around_TopicPublished

Around

Around

Before and after call to methods:

TopicPublisher.publish

JNDI_Before_Lookup

Before

Stateless

Before calls to javax.naming.Context lookup methods

Context.lookup*

JNDI_After_Lookup

After

Stateless

After calls to javax.naming.Context lookup methods:

Context.lookup*

JNDI_Around_Lookup

Around

Around

Before and after calls to javax.naming.Context lookup methods

Context.lookup*

JTA_Before_Commit

Before

Stateless

At entry of methods:

UserTransaction.commit

JTA_After_Commit

After

Stateless advice

At exits of methods:

UserTransaction.commit

JTA_Around_Commit

Around

Around

At entry and exits of methods:

UserTransaction.commit

JTA_Before_Rollback

Before

Stateless

At entry of methods:

UserTransaction.rollback

JTA_After_Rollback

After

Stateless advice

At exits of methods:

UserTransaction.rollback

JTA_Around_Rollback

Around

Around

At entry and exits of methods:

UserTransaction.rollback

JTA_Before_Start

Before

Stateless

At entry of methods:

UserTransaction.begin

JTA_After_Start

After

Stateless advice

At exits of methods:

UserTransaction.begin

JTA_Around_Start

Around

Around

At entry and exits of methods:

UserTransaction.begin

MDB_Before_MessageReceived

Before

Stateless

At entry of methods:

MessageDrivenBean.onMessage

MDB_After_MessageReceived

After

Stateless

At exits of methods:

MessageDrivenBean.onMessage

MDB_Around_MessageReceived

Around

Around

At entry and exits of methods:

MessageDrivenBean.onMessage

MDB_Before_Remove

Before

Stateless

At entry of methods:

MessageDrivenBean.ejbRemove

MDB_After_Remove

After

Stateless

At exits of methods:

MessageDrivenBean.ejbRemove

MDB_Around_Remove

Around

Around

At entry and exits of methods:

MessageDrivenBean.ejbRemove

MDB_Before_SetMessageDriven

Context

Before

Stateless

At entry of methods:

MessageDrivenBean.setMessage

DrivenContext

MDB_After_SetMessageDriven

Context

After

Stateless

At exits of methods:

MessageDrivenBean.setMessageDrivenContext

MDB_Around_SetMessageDriven

Context

Around

Around

At entry and exits of methods:

MessageDrivenBean.setMessageDrivenContext

Servlet_Before_Service

Before

Stateless

At method entries of servlet/jsp methods:

HttpJspPage._jspService

Servlet.service

HttpServlet.doGet

HttpServlet.doPost

Filter.doFilter

Servlet_After_Service

After

Stateless

At method exits of servlet/jsp methods:

HttpJspPage._jspService

Servlet.service

HttpServlet.doGet

HttpServlet.doPost

Filter.doFilter

Servlet_Around_Service

Around

Around

At method entry and exits of servlet/jsp methods:

HttpJspPage._jspService

Servlet.service

HttpServlet.doGet

HttpServlet.doPost

Filter.doFilter

Servlet_Before_Session

Before

Stateless

Before calls to servlet methods:

HttpServletRequest.getSession

HttpSession.setAttribute/

putValue

HttpSession.getAttribute/

getValue

HttpSession.removeAttribute/

removeValue

HttpSession.invalidate

Servlet_Around_Session

Around

Around

Before and after calls to servlet methods:

HttpServletRequest.getSession

HttpSession.setAttribute/

putValue

HttpSession.getAttribute/

getValue

HttpSession.removeAttribute/

removeValue

HttpSession.invalidate

Servlet_After_Session

After

Stateless

After calls to servlet methods:

HttpServletRequest.getSession

HttpSession.setAttribute/

putValue

HttpSession.getAttribute/

getValue

HttpSession.removeAttribute/

removeValue

HttpSession.invalidate

Servlet_Before_Tags

Before

Stateless

Before calls to jsp methods:

Tag.doStartTag

Tag.doEndTag

Servlet_After_Tags

After

Stateless

After calls to jsp methods:

Tag.doStartTag

Tag.doEndTag

Servlet_Around_Tags

Around

Around

Before and after calls to jsp methods:

Tag.doStartTag

Tag.doEndTag


Diagnostic Action Library

The Diagnostic Action Library includes the following actions:

These diagnostic actions can be used with the delegating monitors described in the previous tables. They can also be used with custom monitors that you can define and use within applications. Each diagnostic action can only be used with monitors with which they are compatible, as indicated by the Compatible Monitor Type column. Some actions (for example, TraceElapsedTimeAction) generate an event payload.

TraceAction

This action is a stateless action and is compatible with Before and After monitor types.

A TraceAction generates a trace event at the affected location in the program execution. The following information is generated:

  • Timestamp

  • Context identifier from the diagnostic context which uniquely identifies the request

  • Transaction identifier, if available

  • User identity

  • Action type, that is, TraceAction

  • Domain

  • Server name

  • Instrumentation scope name (for example, application name)

  • Diagnostic monitor name

  • Module name

  • Location in code from where the action was called, which consists of:

    • Class name

    • Method name

    • Method signature

    • Line number

    • Thread name

  • Payload carried by the diagnostic context, if any

DisplayArgumentsAction

This action is a stateless action and is compatible with Before and After monitor types.

A DisplayArgumentsAction generates an instrumentation event at the affected location in the program execution to capture method arguments or a return value.

When executed, this action causes an instrumentation event that is dispatched to the events archive. When attached to before monitors, the instrumentation event captures input arguments to the joinpoint (for example, method arguments). When attached to after monitors, the instrumentation event captures the return value from the joinpoint. The event carries the following information:

  • Timestamp

  • Context identifier from the diagnostic context that uniquely identifies the request

  • Transaction identifier, if available

  • User identity

  • Action type, that is, DisplayArgumentsAction

  • Domain

  • Server name

  • Instrumentation scope name (for example, application name)

  • Diagnostic monitor name

  • Module name

  • Location in code from where the action was called, which consists of:

    • Class name

    • Method name

    • Method signature

    • Line number

    • Thread name

  • Payload carried by the diagnostic context, if any

  • Input arguments, if any, when attached to before monitors

  • Return value, if any, when attached to after monitors

TraceElapsedTimeAction

This action is an Around action and is compatible with Around monitor types.

A TraceElapsedTimeAction generates two events: one before and one after the location in the program execution.

When executed, this action captures the timestamps before and after the execution of an associated joinpoint. It then computes the elapsed time by computing the difference. It generates an instrumentation event which is dispatched to the events archive. The elapsed time is stored as event payload. The event carries the following information:

  • Timestamp

  • Context identifier from the diagnostic context that uniquely identifies the request

  • Transaction identifier, if available

  • User identity

  • Action type, that is, TraceElapsedTimeAction

  • Domain

  • Server name

  • Instrumentation scope name (for example, application name)

  • Diagnostic monitor name

  • Module name

  • Location in code from where the action was called, which consists of:

    • Class name

    • Method name

    • Method signature

    • Line number

    • Thread name

  • Payload carried by the diagnostic context, if any

  • Elapsed time processing the joinpoint, as event payload, in nanoseconds

StackDumpAction

This action is a stateless action and is compatible with Before and After monitor types.

A StackDumpAction generates an instrumentation event at the affected location in the program execution to capture a stack dump.

When executed, this action generates an instrumentation event which is dispatched to the events archive. It captures the stack trace as an event payload. The event carries following information:

  • Timestamp

  • Context identifier from the diagnostic context that uniquely identifies the request

  • Transaction identifier, if available

  • User identity

  • Action type, that is, StackDumpAction

  • Domain

  • Server name

  • Instrumentation scope name (for example, application name)

  • Diagnostic monitor name

  • Module name

  • Location in code from where the action was called, which consists of:

    • Class name

    • Method name

    • Method signature

    • Line number

    • Thread name

  • Payload carried by the diagnostic context, if any

  • Stack trace as an event payload

ThreadDumpAction

This action is a stateless action and is compatible with Before and After monitor types.

A ThreadDumpAction generates an instrumentation event at the affected location in the program execution to capture a thread dump, if the underlying VM supports it. JDK 1.5 (Oracle JRockit and Sun) supports this action.

This action generates an instrumentation event which is dispatched to the events archive. This action may be used only with the JRockit JVM. It is ignored when used with other JVMs. It captures the thread dump as event payload. The event carries the following information:

  • Timestamp

  • Context identifier from the diagnostic context that uniquely identifies the request

  • Transaction identifier, if available

  • User identity

  • Action type, that is, ThreadDumpAction

  • Domain

  • Server name

  • Instrumentation scope name (for example, application name)

  • Diagnostic monitor name

  • Module name

  • Location in code from where the action was called, which consists of:

    • Class name

    • Method name

    • Method signature

    • Line number

    • Thread name

  • Payload carried by the diagnostic context, if any

  • Thread dump as an event payload

MethodInvocationStatisticsAction

This action is an Around action and is compatible with Around monitor types.

A MethodInvocationStatisticsAction computes method invocation statistics in memory without persisting an event for each invocation. It makes the collected information available through the InstrumentationRuntimeMBean. The collected information is consumable by the Harvester and the Watch-Notifications components. This makes it possible to create watch rules that can combine request information from the instrumentation system and metric information from other runtime MBeans.

The WLDFInstrumentationRuntimeMBean instance for a given scope exposes the data collected from the MethodInvocationStatisticsAction instances attached to the configured Diagnostic Around monitors, using the MethodInvocationStatisics attribute. This attribute returns a map with a nested structure that has the following semantics:

  MethodInvocationStatistics::= Map<className, MethodMap>
  MethodMap::= Map<methodName, MethodParamsSignatureMap>
  MethodParamsSignatureMap::= Map<MethodParamsSignature, MethodDataMap>
  MethodDataMap::= <MetricName, Statistic>
  MetricName:= min | max | avg | count | sum | sum_of_squares | std_deviation

The first level of entries is keyed by the fully qualified class names. The next level yields a map called MethodMap, whose keys are method names and values of another nested map structure, MethodParamsSignatureMap. MethodParamsSignatureMap contains entries that are keyed by a String representation of the method input argument signature to return another map instance, MethodDataMap. MethodDataMap has a fixed set of keys for the names of the different kinds of supported metrics.

Configuring the Harvester to Collect MethodInvocationStatisticsAction Data

To configure the Harvester to collect data gathered by the MethodInvocationStatisticsAction instances, you have to configure an instance of WLDFHarvesterBean with:

Name=weblogic.management.runtime.WLDFInstrumentationRuntimeMBean

The scope is selected by the instance configuration.

The attribute specification defines the data that is collected by the Harvester. The successive elements of the map are accessed by using the following notation:

MethodInvocationStatistics(className)(methodName)(methodParamSignature)
(metricName)

where:

  • className is the fully qualified Java class name. You can use the '*' wildcard in a class name.

  • methodName selects a specific method from the given class. You can use the '*' wildcard in a method name.

  • methodParamSignature is a string that is a comma-separated list of a method's input argument types. Only the Java type names are included in the signature specification without the argument names. As in the Java language, the order of the parameters in the signature is significant.

    This element also supports the '*' wildcard, so you do not have to specify the entire list of input argument types for a method. '*' matches zero or more argument types at the position following its occurrence in the methodParamSignature expression.

    You can also use the '?' wildcard to match a single argument type at any given position in the ordered list of parameter types.

    Both of these wildcards can appear anywhere in the expression. See "MethodInvocationStatistics Examples".

  • metricName indicates the statistics to harvest. You can use the '*' wildcard in this key to harvest all of the supported metrics.

MethodInvocationStatistics Examples

Consider a class with the following overloaded methods:

package.com.foo;
public interface Bar {
  public void doIt();
  public void doIt(int a);
  public void doit(int a, String s)
  public void doIt(Stringa, int b);
  public void doIt(String a, String b);
  public void doIt(String[] a);
  public void doNothing();
  public void doNothing(com.foo.Baz);
}

The following examples show how to use harvest various statistics:

MethodInvocationStatistics(com.foo.Bar)(*)(*)(*)

Harvests all statistics for all methods in the com.Foo.Bar class.

MethodInvocationStatistics(com.foo.Bar)(doIt)()(*)

Harvests all statistics for the doIt() method that has no input arguments.

MethodInvocationStatistics(com.foo.Bar)(doIt)(*)(*)

Harvests all statistics for all doIt() methods.

MethodInvocationStatistics(com.foo.Bar)(doIt)(int, *)(*)

Harvests all statistics for the doIt(int) and doIt(int, String) methods.

MethodInvocationStatistics(com.foo.Bar)(doIt)(String[])(*)

Harvests all statistics for the doIt(String[]) method. Array parameters use the [] pair following the type name. Spaces are insignificant for the Harvester.

MethodInvocationStatistics(com.foo.Bar)(doIt)(String, ?)(*)

Harvest all statistics for the doIt methods with two input parameters and String as the first argument type. Using the example class, this would match the doIt(String, int) and doIt(String, String) methods.

MethodInvocationStatistics(com.foo.Bar)(doNothing)(com.foo.Baz)(min|max)

Harvest the min and max execution time for the doNothing() method with the single input parameter of type com.foo.Baz.

Note:

Using a wildcard in the className can impact performance.

Configuring Watch Rules Based on MethodInvocationStatistics Metrics

You can use the same syntax described in the previous sections to use MethodInvocationStatistics metrics in a watch rule. You can create meaningful watch rules that do not wildcard the MetricName element, and instead specify whether you are interested in the min, max, avg, count, sum, sum_of_squares, or std_deviation variable for a given method.

Using JMX to Collect Data

When using straight JMX to collect data, you can potentially impact server performance if you invoke the getAttribute("MethodInvocationStatistics") method on the WLDFInstrumentationRuntimeMBean. This is because, depending on the instrumented classes, the nested map structure can contain a lot of data that will involve expensive serialization.

It is more advisable to use the getMethodInvocationStatisticsData(String) method when using JMX to collect data.