Java Management Extensions [Paperback]

J. Steven Perry (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 15, 2002

Steve Perry has spent his time "in the trenches". "I've been paged at 3:00 am to provide support because the system wasn't doing what it should and no one had a clue how to figure out why. I've scrolled through endless logfiles to decipher system problems, when a management solution could have presented an operator with a warning message hours earlier!" Wanting other developers to be able to learn from his experiences, Steve wrote Java Management Extensions.

Java Management Extensions is a practical, hands-on guide to using the JMX APIs, Sun Microsystem's new Java-based tool for managing enterprise applications. This one-of-a kind book is a complete treatment of the JMX architecture (both the instrumentation level and the agent level), and it's loaded with real-world examples for implementing Management Extensions. It also contains useful information at the higher level about JMX (the "big picture") to help technical managers and architects who are evaluating various application management approaches and are considering JMX.

The JMX technology is very new, and according to Steve, still has a few "potholes" in it. This book takes developers through it step by step, pointing out the "gotchas" before they have a chance to trip up smooth operation of the application. The author, a member of the expert group developing the JMX specification, points out that as J2EE becomes more widely adopted, the Java standard for management (JMX) becomes more and more crucial to avoid "splinter standards" where each vendor has their own distinct, arguably successful, way of doing things. "In my own company we have already identified and are tackling the problem of managing our Java applications. It's my belief that other companies will follow, as they come to realize the power that a standard manageability solution (ie, JMX) gives them."

The book is divided into the following sections:

Part I:
• Introduction and overview
Part II:
• the JMX Instrumentation Level
• Standard MBeans
• Dynamic MBeans
• Model Mbeans
Part III:
• The JMX Agent Level
• The Mbean Server
• The JMX Notification Model
• Dynamic Loading
• Monitors
• Timer Services
• Relation Services
Appendix:
• Related Technologies
Index

Editorial Reviews

Review

"I would recommend this book to any Java programmer wanting to know how to implement managed beans. Once again O'Reilly have given us another excellent Java book." - Tim Penhey, Cvu, February 2003

About the Author

Steve Perry has been a software developer for over 10 years. During that time, he's been a maintenance programmer, a system analyst and is now an architect. This has given him the opportunity to see first hand how critical the need is for application management, and the dire consequences that can result when it's absent. He currently works in the Emerging Systems Architecture group at ALLTEL Information Services, in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Product Details

• Paperback: 312 pages
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media; 1st edition (June 15, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0596002459
• ISBN-13: 978-0596002459
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,342,358 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

J Steven Perry is a software developer, architect, and general Java nut who has been
developing software professionally since 1991. His professional interests range from the
inner workings of the JVM to UML modeling, and everything in between. Steve loves to write and has a passion for teaching and mentoring.

Steve is the author of Java Management Extensions (O'Reilly, 2002), coauthor of Java
Enterprise Best Practices (O'Reilly 2002), and several magazine articles related to software development topics.

When not writing software or writing about how to write software Steve enjoys spending time with his children, riding his bicycle, and building electronics projects.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Java Management Extensions, April 2, 2004

By 

Brian Irwin (Salt Lake City, UT USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Java Management Extensions (Paperback)

JMX is a Java framework for managing enterprise applications in a distributed environment. The book Java Management Extensions takes the reader from a high-level mountaintop description of what JMX is in the first chapter, aimed at architects and management, who might be investigating the new technology, to a trench-digging description of how to expose a class for management through instrumenting an MBean.

Perry's initial description of the JMX architecture in the first chapter does a good job describing the parts of the JMX and how they interoperate. It is a very high-level view of JMX and many abstract ideas are presented. On a personal level, my experience with the JBoss application server gave me a concrete example to refer to during this JMX introduction, which helped. Here, the reader is presented with many UML diagrams to illustrate the architecture.

The next four chapters cover the nuts and bolts of how to construct JMX services. To use the JMX framework, a developer must become familiar with an object called an MBean. In a nutshell, MBeans are Java classes that implement an MBean interface (A process known as instrumenting), allowing the MBeans to be loaded into an MBean server and managed. In these chapters, Perry talks about four types of Mbeans, Standard, Dynamic, Model, and Open MBeans. After introducing each type of MBean, Perry gives simple code examples of how to build each type of MBean.

Chapter 6 deals primarily with introducing the reader to the MBean server. Perry uses the reference implementation from Sun for the examples in his book. Real world MBean servers include names such as JBoss and WebLogic. The most exciting part of the book, I felt were chapters 7 and 9, where Perry talks about the JMX notification model and Monitoring classes. Firing events, filtering notifications, and creating monitors appear to be the real advantages to the JMX framework and are covered thoroughly in these chapters.

Perry's no-nonsense writing style provides a succinct description of the architecture. At 312 pages, the book is the thinnest technical book on my bookshelf, making the read easier to manage.

In summary, Java Management Extensions is a good book for developers who want to gain an understanding of what JMX is. Programmers new to JMX will probably find the first part of the book a good introduction to JMX and its architecture, while the last chapters focus more on how to put the framework to good use. Although Perry does not have a style of writing that entertained me, it was clear and to the point. He does cover his information thoroughly and appears to know the content well. JMX is a technology that I feel will be used heavily in the future, and for anyone who is intending to write a J2EE application that needs management or monitoring, JMX appears to be the answer.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good, but a bit dated at this point., January 25, 2007

By 

Stephen Saville (Seattle, WA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Java Management Extensions (Paperback)

If you're looking for an introduction to JMX, this book gives good coverage of the concepts and techniques behind instrumenting your applications. However, if you're looking for information on the latest and greatest in JMX, especially anything related to JMX remoting, then you should look somewhere else. This book was written in 2002, before J2SE 5.0, and a lot has happened to JMX since then. Starting with J2SE 5.0, JMX is a core part of the Java standard library and the JDK ships with a highly usable remote management application called jconsole.

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good coverage of JMX basics but not much on practicle usage, February 12, 2003

By 

Michael (Paris, France) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Java Management Extensions (Paperback)

This book covers the fundamentals of JMX but where I was disappointed was that it uses a pretty basic queue example and doesn't really get into J2EE applications and praticle uses. I was left wondering when to use it. If I had it to do over I'd choose another book with more praticle applications for JMX.