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White PaPer : aPM FOr WeBSPhere
Overview 1
Diagnosing WebSphere Performance Issues 1
Compuware dynaTrace and IBM WebSphere 1
dynaTrace PurePath Technology and IBM WebSphere Message Broker
2
dynaTrace PurePath Technology and IBM WebSphere Messaging
Systems 2
dynaTrace PurePath Analytics 3
dynaTrace PurePath in Action with WebSphere 4
Summary 4
BOOSt BuSineSS agility FOr iBM WeBSPhere
taBle OF COntentS
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DynatraCe, a DiViSiOn OF COMPuWare COrPOratiOn DynatraCe.COM
OVerVieW
IBMs WebSphere software is one of the most successful middleware
software suites for SOA business applications in e-Commerce,
Financial Services, Telco and other industries . It includes the
entire middleware infrastructure, including servers, services, and
tools, needed to create, deploy, run, and monitor round-the-clock,
enterprise-wide Web applications and cross-platform, cross-product
solutions.
WebSphere Message Broker and WebSphere MQ are the premium
application messaging components for application integration within
the WebSphere suite. They enable information exchange between
applications of any origin and vintage, without regard to
programming language or host operating system.
Finding application performance problems within rich application
frameworks such as IBM WebSphere is never easy. The richness of
their feature set inherently leads to complexity. This is
particularly true for WebSphere Message Broker, which provides a
great deal of flexibility and multiple implementation choices for
creating information exchange between applications. This
flexibility can lead to a great deal of complexity, though, making
it difficult to diagnose Message Broker problems, especially in
real-time.
DiagnOSing WeBSPhere PerFOrManCe iSSueS
WebSphere solutions, such as WebSphere Message Broker, are
provided with a suite of diagnostic tools ranging from simple event
message logging to more in-depth tracing. dynaTrace exclusively
provides the capability to diagnose or resolve Message Broker
problems in real-time and across every transaction, to extend the
information provided by the native WebSphere tools.
Even the most sophisticated WebSphere User Trace Level Debug and
Service Trace sends information to a trace file which then has to
be analyzed. Comprehensive in nature, these trace files still
require a much trained eye to determine the root cause of Message
Broker problems.
Problem resolution can be particularly difficult for Message
Broker messages that use publish/subscribe and multicast
capabilities. For these, messages are not confined to single
input/single output relationships but can have single
input/multiple output, multiple input/single output, and any
message thread combination in between.
With more complicated message thread combinations, outlier
problems might occur on some threads and not impact other threads,
even though the message topologies are or are nearly identical.
Finding these outlier issues by searching through trace files would
be time consuming and may still not even identify the root cause
for a problem.
COMPuWare DynatraCe anD iBM WeBSPhere
WebSphere users have been successfully using dynaTrace for
diagnosing WebSphere performance issues for many years. dynaTrace
integrates fully into the WebSphere stack and provides unparalleled
insight into the WebSphere components with minimal impact to
application performance.
BOOSt BuSineSS agility FOr iBM WeBSPhere
With COMPuWare DynatraCe exCluSiVe aPPliCatiOn PerFOrManCe
ManageMent CaPaBilitieS FOr WeBSPhere
Compuware dynaTrace provides unparalleled application
performance management (APM) for IBM WebSphere environments.
dynaTrace does this by delivering rapid Time-to-Value and ROI for
IBM WebSphere implementations by reducing the amount of time
isolating problems and repairing them throughout the entire
WebSphere stack and implementation lifecycle development, test/QA
and production. dynaTrace significantly reduces the amount of time
it takes to identify and then resolve performance issues for all
aspects of WebSphere implementation.
dynaTrace also provides complete end-to-end business transaction
tracing through the entire WebSphere framework infrastructure. This
includes from portal entry to server application and database
activities, making it possible to find the exact location of a
performance problem no matter where it occurs in the WebSphere
transaction path. The combination of dynaTrace User Experience
Management with Compuware Gomez Real-User Monitoring enables
precise, in-depth analysis of user experience achieved through the
WebSphere framework.
By reducing problem hotspots within WebSphere before they occur
in the development process or by diagnosing and repairing them when
they occur in test and production can improve the time-to-value and
ROI for a WebSphere implementation by as much as 50% or more. It
can also ensure that users are more satisfied with the performance
of new or updated WebSphere applications, when deployed.
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dynaTrace PurePath Technology identifies problems, such as
excessive exception generation and unoptimized WebSphere cache use
that cause WebSphere performance issues so that corrective action
can be taken to improve WebSphere performance.
Figure 1 IBM WebSphere Framework Stack
dynaTrace provides full support for WebSphere Message Broker
enabling full transactional visibility inside the Message Brokers
workflow. Distributed environments that use the Message Broker
primarily as a gateway into the mainframe, will get more visibility
into the mainframe by actually measuring time spent on mainframe
calls inside the Message Brokers workflow. Tracing every WebSphere
transaction and providing in-depth information about each outlier
is an exclusive dynaTrace capability.
dynaTrace presents the information gathered from the Message
Broker workflows in dashboards, sequence diagrams, and message flow
diagrams that compliment Message Brokers capabilities. It provides
drill-down diagnostic capabilities from these high level
representations down to the actual Java or message mappings. And it
also provides agent insight through monitoring of the MQ
communications with CICS, zOS and zLinux mainframe, and iSeries AIX
systems.
Figure 2 Compuware dynaTrace in an IBM WebSphere Environment
In addition, dynaTrace provides PurePath support for Java
applications deployed on IBM JVMs/IBM WebSphere application servers
as well as to IBM zOS and zLinux mainframes and iSeries AIX servers
and IBM DB2 databases.
Complex communication facilities like IBMs WebSphere MQ
technology are also supported by dynaTrace Diagnostics. Diagnosis
of Java connectors, the transactions they handle and the message
queues along with sophisticated analysis of the MQ architectural
model provides a fully integrated, contextually rich performance
and stability diagnosis solution.
dynaTrace UEM supports WebSphere Portal Server monitoring and
diagnosis, and coupled with Compuware Gomez Real-User Monitoring
Data Center and Gomez Synthetic Monitoring to enable full user
experience monitoring. dynaTrace also provides support for IBM CICS
transaction servers and monitors data exchange between Java
applications and IBM CICS transaction servers that use JCA.
dynaTrace seamlessly connects to IBM Tivoli by means of a
plug-in interface to send any alerts directly to the IBM Tivoli
operations console. Its also integrated with IBM WebSphere
Integration Developer and Rational Developer through its CodeLink
plug-in.
DynatraCe PurePath teChnOlOgy anD iBM WeBSPhere MeSSage
BrOker
PurePath Technology provides a true transaction trace from entry
point into the WebSphere Message Broker infrastructure, which can
be from a WebSphere Portal or a client application through to the
application database and back. PurePath aggregates a combination of
timings from the Message Broker transactions plus data context,
such as log messages, exceptions, and any method arguments or
return values, captured with auto-sensors. It allows deep-dive
analysis to get to the root cause of the identified underlying
problems.
PurePaths are gathered the moment smart agents are injected into
the WebSphere Message Broker and load is applied. There is no
further configuration or mapping needed. No code hooks or methods
need to be applied. PurePaths are automatically generated, with
100% of all transactions through the Message Broker traced and
captured. PurePaths identify all the method level Hotspots, whether
encoded in Java or as message mappings, where I/O, synchronization
or high CPU time impact the system performance.
These PurePath capabilities enable you to determine if messages
are flowing correctly and acceptably through the Message Broker. It
also helps you determine if any messages havent been properly
received by the intended recipient service(s) and if the Message
Broker is properly configured to ensure that the desired message
flow is achieved. This capability is particularly useful in
multicast publish/subscribe implementation. dynaTrace enables you
to trace through each Message Broker queue, step-by-step, to see
where the time is spent or where a transaction failed.
DynatraCe PurePath teChnOlOgy anD iBM WeBSPhere MeSSaging
SySteMS
In addition to providing visibility into WebSphere Message
Brokers internal mechanisms, dynaTrace PurePath Technology also
provides
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true transaction tracing across the messaging systems WebSphere
MQ, Java Messaging Service (JMS), and Service Oriented Application
Protocol (SOAP) that WebSphere supports. This ensures complete
visibility through all of the paths used for information movement
through WebSphere.
Figure 3 dynaTrace WebSphere MQ Mapping
PurePaths are assembled together by the dynaTrace server in
real-time. The dynaTrace server can support various transaction
time intervals, from milliseconds to hours, depending on the
Message Broker messaging and application requirements. PurePaths
support a variety of uses deep diagnostics, proactive performance
management, advanced monitoring, Message Broker business
transaction management, and user-experience management.
DynatraCe PurePath analytiCS
PurePath transaction detail provides a built-in series of
powerful views and analytics for WebSphere components. These
features take the large quantity of PurePath data entering the
dynaTrace server and make them usable, actionable and insightful
for WebSphere architects, developers, testers, performance
specialists, and operations teams.
WebSphere operations managers and performance experts will
appreciate that PurePath analytics application details are
separated from system details for familiar dashboard monitoring
views and faster, more accurate problem triage. dynaTrace analytics
review every PurePath against preset thresholds and problem
patterns to alert operators of hotspots and breaches. Additional
analytics are applied to aggregate PurePath details into a logical
application topology view that can be filtered and viewed by each
Message Broker transaction. This view is automatically created,
fully interactive and provides end-to-end transaction flow
insight.
Figure 4 dynaTrace Transaction Flow Dashboard provides instant
visibility into transaction flows, including errors, from
end-to-end (browser to database and back) for all users and
applications, 24/7, in heterogeneous environments
dynaTrace analytics aggregate PurePath detail for WebSphere
architects to provide interactive UML and sequence diagrams
displaying all WebSphere tiers, services, and interaction, which is
perfect for runtime distributed architecture validation. Analytics
are also applied across numerous parameters to highlight
performance hotspots, bottlenecks and much more.
Figure 5 View a UML diagram to understand interaction at all 3
levels of granularity inter-tier, inter-layer and code level.
Review the actual sequence of steps the application takes and
visualize its interaction, dependencies and performance
aspects.
For a quick determination of what has changed from version to
version or what is different between WebSphere transaction
iterations, dynaTrace has a built in Compare capability that
quickly analyses the associated PurePaths and determines what
attributes are better, worse, and new. It then displays those
results in a readily recognizable format in the dynaTrace
dashboard.
Figure 6 Visualize performance regressions and make the
performance test results easy to understand and act upon
For WebSphere testers, analytics are applied to connect
PurePaths to load test WebSphere trouble-spots. This makes it
possible for test teams to pass PurePath Sessions to the WebSphere
developers, complete with integrated logs combined with your load
test report. For every slow performing page and component in the
report, tests can provide and developers can drill into PurePath
detail to fix problems to significantly reduce or eliminate test
reruns.
PurePath analytics automatically detect WebSphere performance
hotspots for WebSphere performance teams, such as the longest
running transactions, high number of database calls per request,
memory leaks, duplicate threads, chattiness among tiers and
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services, and others. These hotspots are determined down to the
method-level and show the full root-cause information including all
the WebSphere paths through which the hotspot passes. WebSphere
problem isolation and diagnostics has never been easier.
Figure 7 dynaTrace Response Time Hotspots allow you to analyze
your slowest transactions to isolate performance problems with
1-click to root-cause
DynatraCe PurePath in aCtiOn With WeBSPhere
PurePaths can be activated with a WebSphere portal or
application interface click and be collected by user, location,
transaction type or other measurement metrics. PurePath provides
the most accurate and complete end-to-end picture of WebSphere
performance to assure that end user performance remains
satisfactory.
Message Broker PurePath transactions can be grouped using many
different parameters - transaction type, value, revenue, number,
and time, tenant, location, and even user. PurePath sees the entire
transaction chain, including database (DB2, CICS), portal, and
application servers within the WebSphere infrastructure. Business
transaction mapping is far more comprehensive, granular and
accurate than isolated tracing tools that capture only part of
transaction environment.
Figure 8 dynaTrace Business Dashboard shows an overview of
booking and revenue per tenant and destination
PurePath performance measurements for WebSphere also go beyond
just method and message timings. They also provide the foundation
for advanced monitoring that enables SLA management to be derived
from 100% accurate data, not averages. SLA compliance becomes more
difficult as the WebSphere implementation becomes more complicated,
making sophisticated diagnostics and end-to-end transaction tracing
all the more critical.
With information about every transaction that breaches a
threshold, its possible to find the performance disrupting outliers
where they
exist. With PurePaths all-in-one correlation of timing,
code-level context, host operating system and system metrics
outlier triage is faster and more accurate than with tracing tools
alone.
PurePath also enables proactive performance management by
capturing all transactions of every build or load test. With
PurePath detail, developers, architects, testers and performance
specialists now use performance trending and code-level comparisons
to build better code much faster. The automatic performance Hotspot
analysis determines the exact methods that take up most CPU, I/O,
and synchronization or wait time of one transaction or of a group
of transactions.
PurePath capabilities enable consistent, predictable performance
improvement no matter how complex your WebSphere environment is.
PurePath provides the deep diagnostics to get to WebSphere problem
root-causes fast. PurePaths are always-on, capturing 100% of all
component transaction information such as application and system
details including memory, and integrates them into a single
diagnostic dashboard. This provides a much more precise and
immediate WebSphere problem resolution capability than individual
component trace information contained in individual log files.
Figure 9 dynaTrace Operations Management Dashboard provides
complete visibility into all aspects of host and monitored
application performance (requests, CPU, memory, network load, disk
utilization, health) from a single pane of glass
SuMMary
Compuware dynaTrace brings exclusive, cutting edge application
performance management to IBM WebSphere environments including
WebSphere Message Broker, Portal Servers, and Application Servers.
dynaTraces advanced end-to-end transaction tracing and advanced
User Experience Management combine with advanced visibility to
provide an unparalleled level of development, test/QA, and
production/operational insight into WebSphere infrastructure.
The end result is significantly improved Time-to-Value and
faster ROI for WebSphere deployments and updates. Development,
test, and production costs can all be slashed by reducing the time
it takes to create, debug, and finalize production releases.
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dynaTrace software, A Division of Compuware Corporation, is the
new leader in application performance management (APM). With its
patent-pending PurePath technology, dynaTrace offers the only
continuous APM system on the market, transforming how applications
are built, tested and managed. Hundreds of companies use dynaTrace
to optimize performance, accelerate time-to-market, reduce costs
and align business and IT.
dynaTrace software, A Division of Compuware 400 Totten Pond
Road, Waltham, MA 02451, USA, T +1 781.768.4900 F
+1.781.658.2648
Headquarters EMEA: dynaTrace software GmbH Freistdter Str. 313,
4040 Linz, Austria/Europe, T+ 43 (732) 908208, F +43 (732)
210100.008
E: [email protected]
All rights reserved. dynaTrace software and PurePath Technology
are registered trademarks of dynaTrace software GmbH. All other
marks and names mentioned herein may be trademarks of other
respective companies. (20596). 02.12