0.28: What are Object Level Trace and Debugging?

The Object Level Trace (OLT) is a distributed application tracing facility. You use OLT to see the interactions among components involved in distributed application execution. The components can be servlets or JavaServer Pages (JSP), enterprise beans, and business objects, as well as Java and C++ client applications. The tracing facility provides a view of interactions among components deployed in an application server and across application servers. For example, when tracing a servlet that calls another servlet in an application server, the OLT shows a graphical representation of both servlets and method calls between them.

The IBM Distributed Debugger (DD) provides the means for identifying coding errors in distributed applications. With the debugger you can debug servlets, JSP files, enterprise beans, business objects, as well as Java and C++ client applications. The IBM Distributed Debugger allows you to step through source code, set breakpoints, inspect variables, and perform other debugging functions.

OLT and DD tools can be installed and run on machines that are l ocal or remote to the WebSphere Application Server product.

To trace or debug a servlet, JSP, enterprise bean, or business object, you use the administrative console to enable the application server where the servlet, JSP, enterprise bean, or business object is deployed. (See the OLT and Debugger administrative overview). Thus, OLT and debug enablement are done at the application server level. After enablement, all components (as listed previously) deployed in the application server are enabled for trace and debug.