Launching or attaching to a process for profiling
The Profiling Tool provides the ability to attach to a running
application or to launch an application for profiling.
Attaching to an application
is a feature where you can associate with an already Java process enabled for
profiling.
Launching a process means that the
process is started with an agent associated with its launch.
Whenever you launch or attach to a Java process, a logical representation of
the Java process is created in the Profiling Monitor view. This representation,
the process object, is identified both by name and an identification number (process
identifier (PID)) that appears in the view along with the
associated agents.
Important: before being able to attach to a profiling agent, a Java process will
need to be running in controlled or enabled mode. Click here to find
more details about how an application can be executed in controlled or enabled mode.
- From the Profiling and Logging Perspective, click on the
Profile
drop-down menu, and select Profile Configurations... The Profile
wizard opens.
- Double click on Attach to Agent. A new
configuration is created.
- Under the Host tab, specify the Host
name or IP address and the Agent Controller port (if
different from the default).
- Switch to the Agents tab to view a list of available agents that can be attached to (Note:
if the list is empty then no agents are available to attach to on the selected host. You can always
use the Refresh button to get the list of available agents)
- Check the analysis types that you wish to use to attach to the available agent.
Configure the profiling filters as required. Refer to the Specifying
profiling criteria topic for more information on configuring the
profiling filters.
- Click Apply to apply the changes.
- Click Profile to attach to the application.
- The Profiling Monitor view is refreshed displaying the agent
representing your application.
To either launch a local or a remote Java process, follow these
steps:
- From the Profiling and Logging Perspective, click on the
Profile
drop-down menu, and select Profile Configurations... The Profile
wizard opens.
- There are several types of Java processes that can be
launched:
- To launch a Java Application, follow these steps:
- Double click on Java Application. A new
configuration is created.
- Select the Java Project and Main
class that you intend to profile.
- In the Arguments tab, enter any Program
arguments and/or VM arguments that you want this
configuration to use.
- If you are not using a local deployment, the Agent
Controller bin directory needs to be specified in the system
path in order for the application to be profiled within Eclipse. If
it has not been specified, use the Environment tab to add the
environment variable to the application path.
- Click the Environment tab.
- Click New.
- In the New Environment Variable dialog, specify the
Name as PATH.
- Specify the Value as the bin directory of
the Agent Controller installation, for example D:\agentcontroller_install\bin.
- Click OK to apply the changes.
- To launch an external Java Process, follow these steps:
- Double click on External Java Application.
A new configuration is created.
- On the Host tab, specify the Host
name or IP address and the Agent Controller port (if
different from the default). Click Add, then switch
to the Main tab.
- Select the Java Class on the file
system.
- You may need to specify where to find the Class
path, directory, and JAR file.
- You may specify VM arguments, and Environment
Variables, as needed, using the Arguments and Environment tabs.
Note: The Working Directory under the Arguments tab
only applies to external applications launched on the local host
specified in the Host tab. This field will be ignored for external
applications launched on a remote host.
- To launch an Eclipse runtime workbench, follow these steps:
- Double click on Eclipse Application. A new
configuration is created.
- On the Arguments tab, change the arguments
that are used to launch the runtime workbench, or accept the defaults
and select the Plug-ins tab.
- The Plug-ins tab provides the opportunity
to select the plug-ins that will be loaded on start-up on the runtime
workbench. Make all necessary changes (or accept the defaults), and
click on the Tracing tab.
- On the Tracing tab, you may modify tracing
flags used by plug-ins.
- Select the Profile Settings tab. Configure the
profiling filters as required. Refer to the Specifying
profiling criteria topic for more information on configuring the
profiling filters.
- Click Apply to apply the changes.
- Click Profile to attach to the application.
- The Profiling Monitor view is refreshed displaying the agent
representing your application. The workbench console opens, displaying
program input and output.
Once your application is being profiled, you can perform a number
of other data collection activities on the application such as
collecting object references and garbage collection.
Related concepts
Overview of the Profiling Tool
Profiling resources
Related tasks
Collecting object references*
Object Allocation Analysis and Memory leak
detection**
Studying garbage collection for Java 1.4 and lower jvm*
Studying garbage collection for Java 5.0 (Java
1.5) and higher jvm**
Thread analyzer**
Profiling an application in stand-alone mode
Profiling
with a local deployment
Specifying profiling criteria
Using the Profiling Monitor view
*Supported for Java 1.4 and lower java profiling
** Support for profiling Java 5.0 (also referred
to as Java 1.5) and above java
virtual machines.
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