Instrumenting local servers

You must instrument application servers to collect response time breakdown data. You can use either a command-line or graphical user interface to instrument application servers to work with the data collection infrastructure.

Before you begin

  • The data collection infrastructure must be installed on any computer from which you want to collect performance data.
  • If you are instrumenting a WebSphere® application server, the application server must be running.
  • The Application Server Instrumenter prompts you to restart BEA WebLogic application servers.
  • You must have root or administrator user privileges to instrument servers.

Procedure

  1. In Windows, click Start > Programs > __BRAND_NAME__ Data Collection Infrastructure > Application Server Instrumenter.
    In Linux, use the start menu to open the Application Server Instrumenter. In the AIX® operating system, type /opt/IBM/SDP/DCI/rapa_prod/instrument_comp/ASI at a command prompt to start the Application Server Instrumenter.
    The Application Server Instrumenter starts.
  2. Use the Application Server Instrumenter to instrument the server. See the examples that follow.
  3. If you are instrumenting a BEA WebLogic server, after you have instrumented the server you must restart the application server.
    The Application Server Instrumenter automatically restarts WebSphere® application servers.
    Note: All IBM® Rational® Performance Tester systems that are involved with the data collection infrastructure must have the data collection software running for the transaction breakdown function to be available within the results of a Rational® Performance Tester test schedule.
    Note: The application server instrumenter or the instrumentServer.bat (or instrumentServer.sh) batch file can fail with a generic error message (Error during install/uninstall) when instrumenting or uninstrumenting a server. If this error occurs, you can find more information to help troubleshoot the error in the log files in the IBM® Tivoli® common directory. On Windows, the default location of this directory is C:\Program Files\IBM\tivoli\common. On Linux, the default location of this directory is /var/ibm/tivoli/common. If the IBM® Tivoli® common directory is not in the default location, search for a path that contains tivoli/common, or for any of these log files: trace-install.log, trace-ma.log, or trace-tapmagent.log.
    Note: For IBM® WebSphere® Application Server 6.0 or later, if you create a new profile and then use the application server instrumenter to instrument this profile without first starting WebSphere® Application Server, the application server instrumenter reports that the server is instrumented and prompts you to restart the server manually. This message is incorrect; the server is not actually instrumented. To work around this problem, complete these steps:
    1. Close and then restart the application server instrumenter.
    2. Select the entry that you just added from the list of instrumented servers, and click Remove.
    3. Restart WebSphere® Application Server.
    4. Restart the application server instrumenter, and use it to instrument the server.
    To avoid this problem, after you create a new profile, start the WebSphere® Application Server profile manually. Then, use the application server instrumenter to instrument the server.

Example

To instrument a Linux computer that is equipped with the 64-bit version of IBM® WebSphere® Application Server, Version 6.1, where the server is named server2, the server is installed in the /opt/WebSphere/AppServer directory, with the profile name set to the default value, and security enabled:

  1. Click Instrument Local Server.
  2. From the Type list, select IBM WebSphere Application Server v6.1.
  3. Type /opt/WebSphere/AppServer in the Server home field.
  4. Type server2 in the Server name field.
  5. Type default in the Profile name field.
  6. Under Server JVM, click 64-bit.
  7. Select the Requires global security check box.
  8. Type the WebSphere® user ID in the User field.
  9. Type the WebSphere® password in the Password field.
  10. Click OK.

To instrument a Microsoft Windows computer that is equipped with a BEA WebLogic 10 application server named server1 that is installed in the C:\bea\weblogic10 directory, using the 32-bit version of JRockit JVM, and the C:\bea\weblogic10\mydomain\startWebLogic.cmd start script file :

  1. Click Instrument Local Server.
  2. Select BEA WebLogic Application Server v10.x from the Type list.
  3. Type server1 in the Server name field.
  4. Type C:\bea\weblogic10 in the Server home field.
  5. Type C:\bea\weblogic10\mydomain\startWebLogic.cmd in the Start script field.
  6. Under Server JVM, select Oracle JRockit 32-bit.
  7. Click OK.
  8. Stop and restart the server.

What to do next

Repeat the instrumentation steps for every application server that is involved in data collection for the applications that you will profile. Typically, there will be only one application server. You can instrument only one local application server per computer.