How to connect to a java program on localhost jvm using JMX?

Question

I should connect to a java program on localhost jvm using JMX. In other words I want to develop a JMX client to config a java program on localhost.

• Don't recommend using JConsole! JConsole is not suitable because it is general JMX client and have negative effect on main program performance.

• Samples on oracle site use RMIConnector and host:port params but I don't know: where should set jmx port?

• JConsole have an option to connect to java processes by PID. But I don't find any method in JMX api that have PID as input param.

Solution 1

We use something like the following to programatically connect to our JMX servers. You should run your server with something like the following arguments:

-Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote
-Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.authenticate=false
-Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.port=1234
-Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.ssl=false

To bind to a particular address you'll need to add the following VM arguments:

-Djava.rmi.server.hostname=A.B.C.D

Then you can connect to your server using JMX client code like the following:

String host = "localhost";  // or some A.B.C.D
int port = 1234;
String url = "service:jmx:rmi:///jndi/rmi://" + host + ":" + port + "/jmxrmi";
JMXServiceURL serviceUrl = new JMXServiceURL(url);
JMXConnector jmxConnector = JMXConnectorFactory.connect(serviceUrl, null);
try {
   MBeanServerConnection mbeanConn = jmxConnector.getMBeanServerConnection();
   // now query to get the beans or whatever
   Set<ObjectName> beanSet = mbeanConn.queryNames(null, null);
   ...
} finally {
   jmxConnector.close();
}

We also have code that can programatically publish itself to a particular port outside of the VM arguments but that's more fu than you need I think.

---

In terms of connecting "by pid", you need to be using Java6 to do it from Java land as far as I know. I've not used the following code but it seems to work.

List<VirtualMachineDescriptor> vms = VirtualMachine.list();
for (VirtualMachineDescriptor desc : vms) {
    VirtualMachine vm;
    try {
        vm = VirtualMachine.attach(desc);
    } catch (AttachNotSupportedException e) {
        continue;
    }
    Properties props = vm.getAgentProperties();
    String connectorAddress =
        props.getProperty("com.sun.management.jmxremote.localConnectorAddress");
    if (connectorAddress == null) {
        continue;
    }
    JMXServiceURL url = new JMXServiceURL(connectorAddress);
    JMXConnector connector = JMXConnectorFactory.connect(url);
    try {
        MBeanServerConnection mbeanConn = connector.getMBeanServerConnection();
        Set<ObjectName> beanSet = mbeanConn.queryNames(null, null);
        ...
    } finally {
        jmxConnector.close();
    }
}

---

I've also the author of SimpleJMX package which makes it easy to start a JMX server and publish beans to remote clients.

// create a new server listening on port 8000
JmxServer jmxServer = new JmxServer(8000);
// start our server
jmxServer.start();
// register our lookupCache object defined below
jmxServer.register(lookupCache);
jmxServer.register(someOtherObject);
// stop our server
jmxServer.stop();

It does have a client interface as well but right now it doesn't have any mechanisms to find processes by PID -- only host/port combinations are supported (in 6/2012).

Solution 2

To clarify, if you are only interested in getting local JMX stats, you don't need to use the remote api. Just use java.lang.management.ManagementFactory:

MemoryMXBean memoryMXBean = ManagementFactory.getMemoryMXBean();
memoryMXBean.getHeapMemoryUsage().getMax();
...

List<MemoryPoolMXBean> beans = ManagementFactory.getMemoryPoolMXBeans();
...

Solution 3

List<VirtualMachineDescriptor> vm = new ArrayList<VirtualMachineDescriptor>();
        jvmList = new JVMListManager();

        vm = jvmList.listActiveVM();

        for (VirtualMachineDescriptor vmD : vm) 
        {
            try
            {

            //importFrom is taking a process ID and returning a service url in a String Format
            String ServiceUrl = ConnectorAddressLink.importFrom(Integer.parseInt(vmD.id().trim()));
            JMXServiceURL jmxServiceUrl = new JMXServiceURL(ServiceUrl);

            jmxConnector = JMXConnectorFactory.connect(jmxServiceUrl, null);
            con = jmxConnector.getMBeanServerConnection();
            CompilationMXBean compMXBean = ManagementFactory.newPlatformMXBeanProxy(con
                   , ManagementFactory.COMPILATION_MXBEAN_NAME
                   , CompilationMXBean.class);
            }catch(Exception e)
            {
            //Do Something  
            }
        }


protected List listActiveVM() {
    List<VirtualMachineDescriptor> vm = VirtualMachine.list();

    return vm;
}

This requires you to use the jmxremote argument at JVM startup for the process you are trying to read. TO be able to do it without having to pass a jmxremote argument at startup. You will have to use the attach api(only applicable for Programs using Java 6 and higher.

Solution 4

Simplest means:

import javax.management.Attribute;
import javax.management.AttributeList;
import java.lang.management.ManagementFactory;
import javax.management.MBeanServer;
import javax.management.ObjectName;

// set a self JMX connection
MBeanServer mBeanServer = ManagementFactory.getPlatformMBeanServer();
// set the object name(s) you are willing to query, here a CAMEL JMX object
ObjectName objn = new ObjectName("org.apache.camel:context=*,type=routes,name=\"route*\"");
Set<ObjectName> objectInstanceNames = mBeanServer.queryNames(objn, null);
for (ObjectName on : objectInstanceNames) {
    // query a number of attributes at once
    AttributeList attrs = mBeanServer.getAttributes(on, new String[] {"ExchangesCompleted","ExchangesFailed"});
    // process attribute values (beware of nulls...)
    // ... attrs.get(0) ... attrs.get(1) ...
}

Solution 5

This is how you can get a JMX connection to a Java Program with it's PID (for version <= Java 8 only) :

import sun.management.ConnectorAddressLink;
import javax.management.*;

public static MBeanServerConnection getLocalJavaProcessMBeanServer(int javaProcessPID) throws IOException {
    String address = ConnectorAddressLink.importFrom(javaProcessPID);
    JMXServiceURL jmxUrl = new JMXServiceURL(address);
    return JMXConnectorFactory.connect(jmxUrl).getMBeanServerConnection();
}

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Comments

[mjafari]

Both main program and jmx client are stand-alone programs (Java SE).

[Admin]

Also see pongasoft.com/blog/yan/entry/connecting_to_a_local_vm

[mjafari]

Thanks Gray! Can you (or other peoples) answer my second question(local jmx connecting using PID)?

[Gábor Lipták]

If for some reason the ConnectorAddress is null, you can try to load the agent dinamically. See pongasoft.com/blog/yan/entry/connecting_to_a_local_vm

[shlomi33]

you have a compilation issue in the line: jmxConnector.close();