Javaв„ў and JMX: Building Manageable Systems

This Book's Intended Audience

Our primary goal in writing this book is to explain Java-based management, manageability (i.e., enabling resources to be managed), and JMX in detail, and to make it easy to understand.

Architects and developers involved in the design and implementation of mission-critical Java applications are the primary audience for this book. They understand that their biggest challenges come well after the first successful installation of a new piece of software, when their client's business becomes critically dependent on that software. Then it is essential that administrators be able to monitor and manage the application day and night to keep the business in business. Until recently, each Java-based product had to develop its own ad hoc management solution. That changed with publication of the Java Management Extensions Instrumentation and Agent Specification, v1.0 .

This book has been written especially for Java developers who find themselves in a situation where they must enable their application to be managed by an "outside" management system. Other Java developers and architects who will find this book useful include

• Those who are going to help create a new administrative or management system for their Java application

• Those who need to integrate their application into an existing JMX-based administrative or management system

• Those who want to develop some management functions to interact with an application that supports JMX

• Curious folks who just like to know what all the Java acronyms stand for

This book assumes that you do not have a background in systems or applications management and provides a comprehensive overview of the history of the management industry and the forces that combined to make JMX the ubiquitous management technology for Java resources across the Java community. Java resources deployed in the micro, standard, and enterprise editions of the JDK can all use JMX.

The authors have extensive firsthand experience with JMX from nearly every angle. Heather Kreger was an original member of the JMX Expert Group and personally contributed the specification, reference implementation (RI), and Technology Compatibility Kit (TCK) for model MBeans. She is now involved in Web services and applying management to this emerging space. Ward Harold is a member of the current JMX Expert Group (JSR 160), the lead architect for Tivoli's implementation of JMX and TMX4J, as well as Tivoli's Web Component Manager product, which uses JMX to manage resources. Leigh Williamson was a member of JSR 77 ("J2EE Management") and the architect for WebSphere's JMX support and JSR 77 support. This book represents our experience with JMX from all these projects: We bring you a unique insider perspective on the intent, implementation, application, and even pitfalls of JMX. All of this JMX experience is in the context of our extensive experience in all aspects of management systems and middleware.

This book will be valuable for developers of applications that should be managed, developers of middleware, and developers of management systems. We hope that you will find it useful not only as an introduction to JMX, but also as a frequent desktop reference as you connect your application to an existing management system or start to develop your own management application.