Foglight for Java EE Technologies 5.9.7.5

Use the LongRunningUserMethods setting to customize the collection of performance data from methods that execute over a long period of time. By default, the Java EE agent waits for a method to finish executing before treating the collected data as complete. However, for methods such as the run() method of a background thread or other methods that execute over a long period of time, it may be preferable to treat the data as complete at specific points in the code. This makes the data available in small pieces as the method executes instead of as one big piece when the long running method completes.

The Java EE agent pauses at waypoint methods (LongRunningUserMethodWaypoints) to treat the data as complete before continuing. For best performance, use a minimal set of waypoint methods.


	NOTE: This setting is only valid for Full Detail and Component Detail Instrumentation Levels. Changing its value will have no effect if the instrumentation level is Basic Detail or No Detail. For information about instrumentation levels, see Changing the Instrumentation Level for Request Metric Data Collection .

To add long running user methods:


	TIP: To review how to access the instrumentation settings editor, see Editing Agent Instrumentation Configurations .

Click the Long Running Methods tab of the Edit dialog box.

To add long running methods, click Edit

beside LongRunningUserMethods.

In the Settings Editor, you can add, remove, or change the order of long running methods.

Click

Add to add a single method at a time.

Click

Add multiple to open a text box where you can type a number of methods.

For example, to measure each execution through a loop in a long running run() method, add the method: com.globex.plan.DominateWorldThread.run.

After you have added as many methods as you want, click OK.

Next, add one or more waypoints.

If you do not want to add any waypoints, in the Edit dialog box, click Save. Restart your application servers.

To add long running user method waypoints:

On the Long Running Methods tab of the Edit dialog box, click Edit

beside LongRunningUserMethodWaypoints.

In the Settings Editor, you can add, remove, or change the order of long running method waypoints.

Click

Add to add a single waypoint at a time.

For example, add the waypoint com.globex.plan.DominateWorldThread.executeProjectArcturus to the com.globex.plan.DominateWorldThread.run method from the previous procedure.

Each time the method executeProjectArcturus() is called from run() it is considered a single request.

After you have added as many methods as you want, click OK.

In the Edit dialog box, click Save.

Restart your application server.

Manual Configuration - LongRunningUserMethods

If you manually edit the instrumentation.config file, use the following syntax to specify long running user methods and waypoints instrumentation.

LongRunningUserMethods = MethodList(
include "com.globex.plan.DominateWorldThread.run"
);

LongRunningUserMethodWaypoints = MethodList(
include "com.globex.plan.DominateWorldThread.executeProjectArcturus"
);

In this case, the method "com.globex.plan.DominateWorldThread.run" treats the data as complete each time the method executeProjectArcturus() is called from run(). The Java EE agent pauses at waypoint methods to treat the data as complete before continuing. A minimal set of waypoint methods allows for the best possible performance.

Managing Named Methods Settings

The Named Methods instrumentation settings for a Java EE agent determine how the agent tracks specific methods. Changing any of these settings can have performance implications. Review the provided information before making any changes.

Changing Named Methods Settings

The NamedMethods setting is used to track specific methods. Specify the names of methods by forming a regular expression that matches the name or pattern. The method signature can be specified but it must be specified using the internal JVM format, as in the "DominateWorld" example below. For more information, see http://docs.oracle.com/javase/specs/#7035.

The JVM format for constructors may not be as expected. For example, for the constructor: com.quest.controller.AuthenticateAdmin.AuthenticateAdmin(), the correct signature to specify would be: com.quest.controller.AuthenticateAdmin.<init>().


	NOTE: This setting is only valid for Full Detail and Component Detail Instrumentation Levels. Changing this value has no effect if the Instrumentation Level is set to Basic Detail or No Detail. For more information about setting instrumentation levels, see “Configuring Instrumented Simple Method Settings .

To add named methods:


	TIP: To review how to access the instrumentation settings editor, see Editing Agent Instrumentation Configurations .

Click the Named Methods tab of the Edit dialog box.

To add named methods, click Edit

beside NamedMethods.

In the Settings Editor that opens, you can add, remove, or change the order of named methods.

Click

Add named method to define a named method.

In the dialog box that opens, type the method name in the Specify a name box.

Click OK.

Add one or more methods to the named method list.

Click

Add to add a single method at a time.

Click

Add multiple to open a text box where you can type a number of methods.

After you have added as many named methods as you want, click OK.

The Edit dialog box refreshes and displays the list of methods you added.

In the Edit dialog box, click Save.

Restart your application servers.

Next, specify the maximum number of named methods to track, as described in Changing the Maximum Number of Methods Tracked .

Manual Configuration - NamedMethods

If you manually edit the instrumentation.config file, use the following syntax to specify named method instrumentation.

NamedMethods = {};

For example:

NamedMethods = {
"TakeOver": MethodList(
include /com\.globex\.takeover\..*/
),
"DominateWorld": MethodList(
include "com.globex.plan.DominateWorldServlet.doGet(Ljavax/servlet/http/HttpServletRequest;Ljavax/servlet/http/HttpServletResponse;)V",
include "com.globex.plan.DominateWorldHelper.dominate(Ljava/lang/String;Z[B)I",
),
"Globex": MethodList(
include "com.globex.pocket.Sugar",
include "com.globex.cypresscreek.HammockHut.sit",
exclude /(\.|^)globex\./
)
};

For more information about how to monitor specific methods, see the “Monitoring Your Methods” chapter, in the Monitoring Application Servers User and Reference Guide.

Changing the Maximum Number of Methods Tracked

The MaxNumberOfMethodsTracked setting controls the maximum number of Named Methods tracked by the Java EE agent. If the Named Methods list contains a greater number of methods than the value set for MaxNumberOfMethodsTracked, only the first MaxNumberOfMethodsTracked methods are tracked.

For example, if you create a named method list that contains 101 methods, but leave the maximum number of methods tracked set to the default of 100, then only the first 100 methods that are executed from the named method list are tracked. The method that is not tracked is the one that executes last.


	NOTE: This setting is only valid for Full Detail and Component Detail Instrumentation Levels. Changing this value has no effect if the Instrumentation Level is set to Basic Detail or No Detail. For more information about setting instrumentation levels, see Changing the Instrumentation Level for Request Metric Data Collection .

To change the maximum number of methods tracked: