IBM Processor Time Analysis Tool for Linux(R)

Version 1.1

Created by Jinwoo Hwang (jinwoo@us.ibm.com)

Welcome to IBM Processor Time Analysis Tool for Linux.

IBM Processor Time Analysis Tool for Linux is one of Jinwoo Hwang's garage projects. The following is the list of garage projects ranking top downloads at alphaWorks:

The following is list of Jinwoo Hwang's other tools:

IBM Processor Time Analysis Tool for Linux helps you detect Java threads that consume unanticipated large amounts of processor resources. You can find more information at http://www.alphaworks.ibm.com/tech/jpal

Business Objectives

To provide automatic detection of Java threads that consume the majority of processor resources and cause performance degradation without interruption of a target system which is critical to production systems running business applications 24x7.

Features

  • Processor Time analysis
  • Thread dump analysis
  • Processor Time chart view
  • Java and native stack trace view of threads
  • Description

    The Processor Time Analysis Tool for Linux presented here is much different from other performance tools that are widely available. Because it does not employ profiling, it does not have the high overhead dependency and greatly reduces the likelihood of possible down time when concurrently running the profiler. This makes this tool particularly attractive for production environments, where starting and stopping to evaluate the performance results can greatly harm one's productivity.

    When resource is constraining the system, it is crucial to find threads that consume majority of system resources if any. This technology analyzes Linux performance log and Java thread dumps and automatically detect Java threads that consume majority of processor resources (The amount of processor time for each Java thread can be identified). Monitoring processor time for each Java thread and total processor time provides valuable information about processor utilization and specific Java threads that consume unexpected amount of processor resource.

    How does this technology work

    Target system does not need to be restarted or interrupted to execute the technology.

  • Target system is configured to monitor system resources using default system performance monitoring tool. Processor resource can be monitored without any interruption and instability on target system. This is critically important for production system running business applications.

  • When processor resource exhaustion is noticed, signal QUIT can be sent to target Java process to collect Java thread dumps.

  • After necessary data is collected, system can be configured to disable monitoring without interrupting target system.

  • Finally Processor Time Analysis Tool for Linux can be invoked to parse Linux performance log and analyzes Java thread dumps from IBM Java virtual machine.

  • It calculates statistics of system resource usage for each process and Java thread and generates charts and tables, for example average processor time per each Java thread.

  • After system resource profiling data and statistics are calculated for each process and Java thread, it searches Java thread dumps to find thread information for each Java thread, for example Java stack trace, native stack trace, execution status and Java thread name associated with system resource utilization

    Unique Characteristics

    This technology does not require any additional profiling components or 3rd party libraries that are oftentimes intrusive, and can cause large amounts of overhead and results in system instability which is undesirable for production use. This technology is suitable primarily on production systems, since it does not require interruption of target system to enable or disable system resource monitoring. It provides overall system resource usage for Java threads, execution status of Java threads and stack trace of Java threads along with a user friendly graphical interface.

    History

  • V1.0 beta : The first internal version

    Copyrights and Notices

    (C) Copyright IBM Corporation 2009. All Rights Reserved. Note to U.S. Government Users Restricted Rights -- Use, duplication or disclosure restricted by GSA ADP Schedule Contract with IBM Corp.

    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.