All Things WebSphere

Concerns and issues relating to all versions of WebSphere Application Server

Thursday, August 14, 2014

Farewell to IBM

After spending 11 fantastic years at IBM working with many smart people on various components of WebSphere Application Server and later on Bluemix Liberty buildpack my career at IBM comes to a close tomorrow. It was a fun ride which I will never forget. I have lot of respect for IBM and I wish the company well as a stock holder.

Next week I will start a new professional chapter of my life with Pivotal Services @ EMC working on Cloud Foundry and related PaaS technologies. I still do expect to keep blogging albeit from a different platform. For all practical purposes this blog is now closed. I will not delete the posts since they are still very useful; however my new posts will most likely be about cloud computing and Platform as a Service.

For my IBM friends who want to reach me, my public gmail address is kelapure at gmail.com and twitter handle is rkela. You can also reach me via linkedin.

Thanks again for all the support and au revoir!

posted by Rohit Kelapure # 10:50 AM 0 Comments

Saturday, June 21, 2014

Puting your IBM JRE in a zombie state

Sometimes after a crash or a particularly insidious event the JVM terminates. There could be a number of reasons for this .. OOM, JNI crashes, system exits etc.,

If you want your JVM to stick around i.e. not exit then use this -Xdump option
"-Xdump:tool:events=gpf,exec=\"sleep 1d\" -Xdump:what"

We employ techniques like this in the cloud to keep linux container hosting our app which in this case is the Liberty server + JRE + application bits from disappearing into ether when the JVM terminates.

For details on how we use this with the Liberty profile in the cloud see https://developer.ibm.com/bluemix/2014/06/18/collecting-diagnostics-crash-2/

For more detail on how to set -Xdump see
http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21242497

Happy Debugging,
Rohit

posted by Rohit Kelapure # 8:56 PM 0 Comments

Liberty Buildpack Cloud Foundry Bluemix presentations from IMPACT 2014

A Deep Dive into the Liberty Buildpack on IBM BlueMix from kelapure

Liberty Buildpack: Designed for Extension - Integrating your services in BlueMix Session # 1733 from kelapure

Migrate Heroku & OpenShift Applications to IBM BlueMix from kelapure

posted by Rohit Kelapure # 8:46 PM 0 Comments

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

IBM WebSphere Application Server Licensing update

Today IBM announces some license update that will help reduce customers cost .
We announced two things:

1- IBM WebSphere Application Server removed the restriction on how many servers one can load balance and failover on Express, Base, Liberty Core.

2- IBM WebSphere Application Server offers new Fixed Term License option

posted by Rohit Kelapure # 10:30 PM 0 Comments

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Deep dive into IBM JDK -Xtrace

-Xtrace Walkthrough

Thanks to Tom Bitonti for this blog post

The goal is to generate trace for an IBM WebSphere Application Server process using the extended java command line option "-Xtrace". The trace is to include entry and exit trace for one constructor and for two methods, including a listing of parameter values, and is to include stack trace the constructor and for one of the methods.

Documentation for the "-Xtrace" java command line option is available here:

http://pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/java7sdk/v7r0/topic/com.ibm.java.lnx.70.doc/diag/tools/tracing.html

Some samples are provided here:

https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/community/blogs/738b7897-cd38-4f24-9f05-48dd69116837/entry/dump_the_stack_trace_information_of_a_method_using_xtrace15?lang=en

While specified for Linux JVMs, this documentation applies to other platforms which use an IBM JDK.

These notes are intended as an addition to the IBM WebSphere Application Server DynaCache Blog:

http://wasdynacache.blogspot.com/2011/07/jvm-xtrace-holy-grail-of-websphere.html

Notes:

"-Xtrace", a command line option to JVM's, is not to be confused with "X-Trace", which is a network diagnostic tool (http://x-trace.net/wiki/doku.php).
The "jstacktrace" trigger action is available in the IBM JVM since IBM Java 6 SR5.
This documentation in for "-Xtrace" in side IBM JVM's. Options for non-IBM JVMs may differ substantially from those described by this documentation.

Goal

Generate trace for an IBM WebSphere Application Server process using the extended java command line option "-Xtrace". Include entry and exit trace for one constructor and for two methods, including a listing of parameter values. Include stack trace the constructor and for one of the methods.

The target constructor is of class:

org.eclipse.emf.ecore.impl.EClassifierImpl

The target methods are:

org.eclipse.emf.ecore.impl.ENamedElementImpl.setName
org.eclipse.emf.ecore.sdo.util.SDOUtil.adaptType

Tracing Method Entry and Exit

Using the "-Xtrace" syntax, entry and exit trace is generated using the "methods" option, while stack trace is generated using "trigger" options. Following the "-Xtrace" documentation:

To generate method trace to standard output, "print=mt" must be specified together with method specifications of the target constructor and methods.
The method specification places "/" between package names and between a package name and a class name, with "." between a class name and a method name.
To include parameter values in the trace, the method specifications are specified with a "()" suffix.
A wild card syntax is available, but since specific methods are targetted, this example does not use wild cards.

Following these guidelines, the target constructor and methods are specified as:

org/eclipse/emf/ecore/impl/EClassifierImpl.<init>()
org/eclipse/emf/ecore/impl/ENamedElementImpl.setName()
org/eclipse/emf/ecore/sdo/util/SDOUtil.adaptType()

Combining these method specifications with the "print=mt" constant value and with "-Xtrace" and "methods" option generates:

-Xtrace:print=mt,methods={org/eclipse/emf/ecore/impl/EClassifierImpl.<init>(),org/eclipse/emf/ecore/impl/ENamedElementImpl.setName(),org/eclipse/emf/ecore/sdo/util/SDOUtil.adaptType()}

Notes:

A constructor is specified the same as a method, but using "<init>" as the method name.
No syntax is available to select among multiple constructors for the same class, nor to select among several methods having different parameters.
No syntax is available to restrict a method to invocations on a subclass. In the example, the interest is in "setName" on "EClassifierImpl" instances, but "setName" is implemented on "ENamedElementImpl".
No syntax for selecting static methods or static initialization is currently known.

Displaying Stacks

Stack trace is generate using the "trigger" option and specifying "jstacktrace" as the trigger action. Combining the method specifications with these options generates:

-Xtrace:print=mt,trigger=method{org/eclipse/emf/ecore/impl/EClassifierImpl.<init>,jstacktrace}
-Xtrace:print=mt,trigger=method{org/eclipse/emf/ecore/sdo/util/SDOUtil.adaptType,jstacktrace}

For simplicity, the method specifications are presented using two distinct -Xtrace command line stanzas.

Completed Command Line Options

The completed command line options are:

-Xtrace:print=mt,methods={org/eclipse/emf/ecore/impl/EClassifierImpl.<init>(),org/eclipse/emf/ecore/impl/ENamedElementImpl.setName(),org/eclipse/emf/ecore/sdo/util/SDOUtil/adaptType()}
-Xtrace:print=mt,trigger=method{org/eclipse/emf/ecore/impl/EClassifierImpl.init,jstacktrace}
-Xtrace:print=mt,trigger=method{org/eclipse/emf/ecore/sdo/util/SDOUtil/adaptType,jstacktrace}

Notes:

These options may be combined into a single -Xtrace stanza.
The rules for the use of "print=mt" are unclear. Available documentation presents this as required text when outputting to Standard Output.
1. The option "iprint=mt" may also be used when outputting to Standard Output. "iprint=mt" adds indentation to the output.
To redirect output to a file, the option "output" may be used. This writes to a binary format which must be decoded, for example, using "com.ibm.jvm.format.TraceFormat" which is provided with the JDK. See the linked documentation for additional details on using "output" and on displaying the binary encoded output.
The -Xtrace syntax must be followed exactly. Errors in the -Xtrace options can cause the JVM to fail to start. An error will be displayed. The error might describe the -Xtrace syntax. The error might indicate that the JVM initialization failed, with no clear tie to the fautly -Xtrace stanza.

Setting the Server Configuration

These are specified to the IBM WebSphere Application Server process through the generic JVM arguments attribute, using either the Administrative Console (admin console), or using the Administrative Scripting Client (wsAdmin). This attribute is specified through a "JavaVirtualMachine" entry within a "ProcessDefinition" entry. With no other generic JVM arguments specified, the XML text shows as:

genericJvmArguments="-Xtrace:print=mt,methods={org/eclipse/emf/ecore/impl/EClassifierImpl.<init>(),org/eclipse/emf/ecore/impl/ENamedElementImpl.setName(),org/eclipse/emf/ecore/sdo/util/SDOUtil.adaptType()} -Xtrace:print=mt,trigger=method{org/eclipse/emf/ecore/impl/EClassifierImpl.<init>,jstacktrace} -Xtrace:print=mt,trigger=method{org/eclipse/emf/ecore/sdo/util/SDOUtil.adaptType,jstacktrace}"

For example, the XML text within the JVM entry shows as:

<jvmEntries xmi:id="JavaVirtualMachine_1183122130078"
    verboseModeClass="false"
    verboseModeGarbageCollection="false"
    verboseModeJNI="false"
    runHProf="false"
    hprofArguments=""
    debugMode="false"
    debugArgs="-agentlib:jdwp=transport=dt_socket,server=y,suspend=n,address=7782"genericJvmArguments="-Xtrace:print=mt,methods={org/eclipse/emf/ecore/impl/EClassifierImpl.<init>,org/eclipse/emf/ecore/impl/ENamedElementImpl.setName(),org/eclipse/emf/ecore/sdo/util/SDOUtil.adaptType()} -Xtrace:print=mt,trigger=method{org/eclipse/emf/ecore/impl/EClassifierImpl.init,jstacktrace} -Xtrace:print=mt,trigger=method{org/eclipse/emf/ecore/sdo/util/SDOUtil.adaptType,jstackTrace}"><systemProperties xmi:id="Property_1" name="propertyName_1" value="propertyValue_1" required="false"/>
        <systemProperties xmi:id="Property_2" name="propertyName_2" value="propertyValue_2" required="true"/></jvmEntries>

posted by Rohit Kelapure # 11:48 AM 0 Comments

Thursday, September 26, 2013

Cloud Foundry track at SpringOne 2013 Notes

The cloud foundry track at SpringOne 2013 had a number of excellent sessions on cloud foundry

Building Spring Applications on Cloud Foundry
Joshua Long & Andy Piper

Build Your Very Own Private Cloud Foundry

Matt Stine

Inside Cloud Foundry: An Architectural Review
Christophe Levesque, Scott Motte, & Dekel Tankel

Free Yourself with CloudFoundry: A Private Cloud Experience
Mike Heath, Shawn Nielsen, & Mike Youngstrom

Extending Cloud Foundry with Custom Integration
Cornelia Davis & Scott Frederick

I have uploaded the notes taken at these sessions by John Mackoy who did an excellent job capturing all the information and subtext provided at these sessions

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B0WRv31xcRmabHpxb3poU3E4OXc/edit?usp=sharing

posted by Rohit Kelapure # 8:40 AM 0 Comments

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Liberty and Cloud Foundry - a union made in heaven

Recently I had a chance to visit Santa Clara and participate in the Cloud Foundry platform summit. http://www.platformcf.com/ One of the major announcements in the summit was the adoption of CF as IBMs open PaaS platform. We also introduced and open sourced the Liberty buildpack that allows cloud foundry developers to push their applications to WebSphere Application Server Liberty profile see http://blog.cloudfoundry.com/2013/09/09/ibm-websphere-liberty-buildpack-contributed-to-cloud-foundry/ The blog post does a very nice post of explaining why we chose cloud foundry and specifically why Liberty is such a good fit for deployment of apps in CF. It also provides guidance on future direction for evolution of the buildpack.

I have collected a bunch of links that explain the goings-on at the conference. So if you want to get caught up on what happened go to -
http://www.thisweekincf.com/blog/2013/09/05/this-week-in-cloud-foundry-september-5/
http://osintegrators.com/platformcf-dayone
http://osintegrators.com/platformcf-daytwo
http://blog.cloudfoundry.com/2013/09/09/ibm-websphere-liberty-buildpack-contributed-to-cloud-foundry/
http://fbflex.wordpress.com/2013/09/13/springone-2gx-2013-summary/#more-1603

All the presentations made at the platform cloud foundry conference can be found here ...
http://www.slideshare.net/platformcf/

Go Within Cloud Foundry from Platform CF

Comprehensive notes on all the platform cf sessions taken by John Mackoy can be found here

https://docs.google.com/document/d/183Ndy6Z5n7Odk_SEgVWELvAbQu0mgJeb3QCtpb9dLKM/pub

posted by Rohit Kelapure # 10:27 AM 0 Comments

All Things WebSphere

Thursday, August 14, 2014

Farewell to IBM

Saturday, June 21, 2014

Puting your IBM JRE in a zombie state

Liberty Buildpack Cloud Foundry Bluemix presentations from IMPACT 2014

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

IBM WebSphere Application Server Licensing update

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Deep dive into IBM JDK -Xtrace

-Xtrace Walkthrough

Goal

Tracing Method Entry and Exit

Displaying Stacks

Completed Command Line Options

Setting the Server Configuration

Thursday, September 26, 2013

Cloud Foundry track at SpringOne 2013 Notes

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Liberty and Cloud Foundry - a union made in heaven

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