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Profiling J2EE Applications
This chapter provides a detailed guide for profiling
web and enterprise applications. The guide covers profiling different
project types and deployment environments, and provides some general
facts and tips you should be aware of when profiling your applications.
Many web application developers are asking for a tool which would
allow them to inspect what is happening in an application's runtime, and
to indicate where time is being spent. The NetBeans
Profiler is an ideal tool for doing this because it allows a developer to easily
profile a web application's performance, with
minimum additional configuration. Taking advantage of tight NetBeans
IDE integration, it is able to transparently start the server, deploy
the profiled application and immediately start collecting results.
Moreover, the profiled application is able to run at nearly full
speed with minimal profiling overhead. NetBeans Profiler is also
useful for examining an application's memory usage and discovering memory leaks.
When you profile J2EE applications, you choose one of the following basic modes:
- Profile Project
This method is supported for web applications running
on a registered local Tomcat or Sun Java System Application Server / GlassFish installation.
You can also use this method to profile web applications created
from an existing Ant script (free-form web application project).
Profiling a web application using this method is very simple, requiring only a few mouse clicks to start
profiling, and requires almost no configuration.
In general, this method behaves exactly like the Run Project method,
starting the Profiler at the start of the web application.
This is the recommended method for new and less experienced users.
- Attach Profiler
This method is more powerful as it can be used for
profiling any J2EE project type on any local or remote server.
However, this method requires manual server configuration and startup.
You also need to compile and deploy the web application manually to use this method.
This method is recommended only for experienced users.
Regardless of which method you use, you should first familiarize yourself with the Profiling Tips, which
contain some important facts related to profiling all types of applications.
For an overview of profiling web applications, watch the flash demo Performance Profiling with NetBeans Profiler.
For a visual overview of the basics of profiling web applications, see the NetBeans Profiler Tutorial.
