IBM Trace and Request Analyzer

IBM Trace and Request Analyzer for WebSphere Application Server

Version 2.1

IBM Trace and Request Analyzer Creator/Architect/Developer

Jinwoo Hwang

jinwoo@us.ibm.com

Welcome to IBM Trace and Request Analyzer for WebSphere Application Server. IBM Trace and Request Analyzer for WebSphere Application Server allows you to find delays and possible hang from WebSphere trace files.

Acknowledgement

I appreciate the technical advice and requirement analysis from David Hare, Michael Lambert, Ashish Ghodasara, Christi Cain, Thu-Giang Pham, Ondrej Bizub and other colleagues and support from WebSphere Application Server Technical Support management team.

Prerequisite

Java 5.0 Runtime Environment

Features

Method Duration Analysis
Request Response Analysis
Trace Gap Analysis
Custom Gap Analysis

History

V2.1 : Fixed parser defects
V2.0 : Supports regular expression
V1.6 : Fixed customized keyword defect
V1.5 : Fixed JMS trace parser
V1.4 : Fixed plug-in trace parser defects
V1.3 : IBM WebSphere MQ JMS trace support
V1.2 : Request, method and custom statistics support
V1.1 : Added new WebSphere Request string, "webcontainer.handleRequest request uri --> "

How to enable traces for WebSphere Application Server

Please refer to the following document for detailed instruction on how to enable traces for WebSphere Application Server:

MustGather: Read first for all WebSphere Application Server products

http://www-1.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21145599

How to run IBM Trace and Request Analyzer for WebSphere Application Server

You need to use the Java 2 Platform, Standard Edition version 5.0 or higher Java Runtime Environment (JRE) to run IBM Thread and Monitor Dump Analyzer for Java Technology.

Usage <Java path>java –Xmx[heapsize] –jar tra<IBM Trace and Request Analyzer version>.jar

For example,

C:\java50\bin\java –Xmx200m –jar tra10.jar

=> Starts IBM Trace and Request Analyzer for WebSphere Application Server

If there’s java.lang.OutOfMemoryError while you are processing trace files, please try increasing the maximum heap size (-Xmx) value to give the JVM more memory.

Maximum heap size should not be larger than the size of available physical memory size for this tool due to performance issue.

1. Start IBM Trace and Request Analyzer for WebSphere Application Server

The following screen is a snapshot of the initial screen.

2. Select File-> Open WebSphere Trace or HTTP Plugin Trace

3. Select trace file(s) that you want to analyze.

WARNING: If multiple files are selected, they are considered to be contiguous traces. Please do not select multiple files if they are not contiguous traces.

4. Progress bars are shown

6. Loaded trace files are listed in the Trace List table.

7. Select a trace file to review Environment Information for the trace

8. Click on Method Duration from Analysis menu or pop up menu

9. Method level delays are displayed with sorted time.

· Trace Method Analysis : Sorted list of trace method entry/exit taken longer than threshold

· Time: Time between trace method entry and exit of same thread id

· Trace: Actual line from trace file

· Line Number: Line number of the trace entry

· File : File name

10. Click on the first entry that has 8,973 ms of delay to see actual trace entries

11. Click on next row to display traces of exit point of the same method

12. By selecting Trace Gap Analysis, you can find gaps of entries regardless of method name.

· Trace Gap Analysis : Sorted list of trace gaps longer than threshold with same thread id

· Time: Time between two trace lines exit of same thread id

· Trace: Actual line from trace file

· Line Number: Line number of the trace entry

· File : File name

13. Click on each row to display actual trace entries

14. By selecting Request Analysis menu, you can find delays in requests

· Request Analysis : Sorted list of requests taken longer than threshold

The following strings are used for detecting requests
- "setRequestURL input ["
- "webcontainer.handleRequest request uri --> "
- "ws_common: websphereHandleRequest: Request is:"
- "SRTServletRes < finish Exit"
- "ws_common: websphereEndRequest: Ending the request"

· Time: Time between request entry and request completion

· URL: URL of request

· Status Code : HTTP status code
The following strings are used for detecting requests
- "setStatusCode(sc): set to Status code:"
- "TRACE: HTTP/"

· Trace: Actual line from trace file

· Line Number: Line number of the trace entry

· File : File name

15. Click on each row to display actual trace entries

16. Select View -> Options to change options

17. On Basic pane the following options can be changed:

· Default directory for opening files

· Gap Threshold. The value 1 means the tool will analyze gaps larger than 1 second

· Number of lines to display : Number of trace entries before and after each line in lower half of the screen as seen at step 15.

· Verbose : Prints out more information in Console

· Save option : Options will be saved automatically

· Look and feel : User interface configuration

18. Customized gap analysis can be added or modified from Advanced options pane

· ID List : ID list of customized gap search

· Menu name : Menu name under Customized Analysis Menu

· Mnemonic Key : Mnemonic hot key

· Description : description of customized gap search

· Entry keyword : search string for entry

· Exit keyword : search string for exit

· The tool will search for entry and exit keywords to find delays longer than threshold specified in Basic options pane.

· WARNING : Please reopen the file to analyze traces if new keywords are added after traces are already opened and processed.

19. Completed customized analysis will be displayed under Customized Analysis Menu

20. The following is screen shot of a customized gap analysis with Entry keyword of “distSecurityC > initialize Entry” and Exit keyword of “distSecurityC < initialize Exit”.

21. Click on each row to display actual trace entries around the selected entry.

22. Customized Analysis can also be invoked by pop up menu with right mouse button click

23. Product information can be found by selecting Help->About

Copyrights and Notices

AIX, Cloudscape, DB2, IBM, iSeries, OS/390, WebSphere, and z/OS are trademarks or registered trademarks of IBM Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.

Java and all Java-based trademarks and logos are trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries.

Microsoft, Windows, and Windows NT are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.

UNIX is a registered trademark of The Open Group.

Other company, product, and service names may be trademarks or service marks of others.

The following paragraph does not apply to the United Kingdom or any other country where such provisions are inconsistent with local law:

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION PROVIDES THIS TOOLS "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF NON-INFRINGEMENT, MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. Some states do not allow disclaimer of express or implied warranties in certain transactions, therefore, this statement may not apply to you. This information could include technical inaccuracies or typographical errors. Changes are periodically made to the information herein; these changes will be incorporated in new editions of the tool. IBM may make improvements and/or changes in the product(s) and/or the program(s) described in this tools at any time without notices.