Collecting performance data

Begin performance analysis by collecting data for display in the Performance Call Graph view.

Prerequisites:
  • Agent Controller must be running on the machine on which you are collecting data. For information, refer to the installation guide.
    Note: If you want to analyze the calls between client and server in distributed programs, you cannot use Agent Controller to collect data. Instead, use Tivoli ARM data collector, which is available, along with documentation for its use, in the IBM Rational Performance Optimization Toolkit for Rational Performance Tester. If you have directed the data for the program to trace files (trcxml files), read Importing performance data.
  • You must create a profiling configuration. Read Getting started: Creating a profiling configuration for runtime problem determination
To collect data:
  1. On the Profiling page of the Profile dialog box, select one of the following profiling sets:
    • Execution History - Performance Call Graph. This profiling set contains the Performance Call Graph Analysis profiling type, which collects data using compact format to accelerate the data collection process. This profiling type supports all views for detecting performance bottlenecks except the UML2 Sequence Diagram views.
    • Execution History - Full Graphical Detail. This profiling set contains the Execution Time Analysis profiling type, which supports all views for detecting performance bottlenecks.
  2. Verify that all settings are correct: Click Edit, then Next, and check the following information in the Edit Profiling Set dialog box:
    1. Optional: If you are using the Execution Time Analysis profiling type, make sure that Show execution flow graphical details is selected.
    2. Specify whether to collect data about the time that methods spend in the CPU. Collecting this information slows down the data collection process.
    3. Specify whether to collect data about boundary classes that are excluded by the filter and, if so, at what depth. This data can be useful for detailed trace analysis. Collecting this information slows down the data collection process.
    4. Optional: If you are using the Execution Time Analysis profiling type, select additional profiling types (except for the Leak Detection profiling types) to collect supplementary data at the same time. Note however that collecting more data slows the data collection process.
    5. Click Finish.
  3. Click Profile to start your application.
  4. Exercise the parts of your application that you want to profile. You can now stop your application.
Note: It is sometimes useful to limit data collection. For information, read:
Related tasks
Displaying and analyzing performance data
Related reference
Performance Call Graph Analysis page, Edit Profiling Set dialog box
Related information
Getting started: Profiling J2EE applications
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