Retrieve performance data with PerfServlet

The PerfServlet is used for simple end-to-end retrieval of performance data that any tool, provided by either IBM or a third-party vendor, can handle.

The servlet provides a way to use an HTTP request to query the performance metrics for an entire WAS administrative domain. Because the servlet provides the performance data through HTTP, issues such as firewalls are trivial to resolve.

The PerfServlet provides the performance data output as an XML document, as described in the provided document type description (DTD). In the XML structure, the leaves of the structure provide the actual observations of performance data and the paths to the leaves that provide the context.

Starting with version 6.0, the PerfServlet in WAS uses the JMX Perf MBean interface to retrieve the PMI data and outputs an XML document that uses the Java EE 1.4 Performance Data Framework to describe the statistics. The PerfSerlvet in can also provide an output that is compatible with the PerfServlet 5.0.

To provide PerfServlet 5.0 compatible output it uses the PMI client interface.

The performance servlet .ear file PerfServletApp.ear is located in...

WAS_HOME/installableApps

Starting with version 6.1, enable application security to get the PerfServlet working.

The performance servlet is deployed exactly as any other servlet. To use it, follow these steps:

 

1. Deploy the servlet on a single appserver instance within the domain.

2. After the servlet deploys, we can invoke it to retrieve performance data for the entire domain. Invoke the performance servlet by accessing the following default URL:

   http://hostname/wasPerfTool/servlet/perfservlet
   

 

Results

The performance servlet provides performance data output as an XML document, as described by the provided document type definition (DTD). The DTD is located inside the PerfServletApp.ear file.

PerfServlet input
PerfServlet output

 

Related concepts

Application security