Troubleshooting JMX Integrations

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To verify you have access to JMX, test using JConsole or equivalent if possible. If you’re unable to connect using JConsole this article may help to get you sorted. Also, if the metrics listed in your YAML aren’t 1:1 with those listed in JConsole you’ll need to correct this.

For all versions of Agent v5.32.8 or greater, the jmxterm JAR is not shipped with the agent. To download and use jmxterm, see the upstream project. Change /opt/datadog-agent/agent/checks/libs/jmxterm-1.0-DATADOG-uber.jar in the examples below to the jmxterm JAR path you downloaded from the upstream project.

If you’re able to connect using JConsole, run the following:

java -jar /opt/datadog-agent/agent/checks/libs/jmxterm-1.0-DATADOG-uber.jar -l localhost:<PORT> -u <USER> -p <PASSWORD>

If you’re able to connect using the command above, run: beans and send to the Datadog support team a copy of the results from above along with the following information:

  • Agent Flare, which includes:
    • Output of the status command.
    • Content of /var/log/datadog/agent.log
    • Content of /var/log/datadog/jmxfetch.log
    • A copy of the YAML integration.
  • Output of: ps aux | grep jmxfetch
  • Output of: sudo -u dd-agent datadog-agent jmx list everything -l debug (Appending --flare includes the output in the flare for version 6.26.x/7.26.x)
  • Agent Flare, which includes:
    • Output of the info command.
    • Content of /var/log/datadog/jmxfetch.log
    • A copy of the YAML integration.
  • Output of: ps aux | grep jmxfetch
  • Output of: sudo /etc/init.d/datadog-agent jmx list_everything

Note: If you’re able to see some metrics (jvm.heap_memory, jvm.non_heap_memory, etc.) it is a sign that JMXFetch is properly running. If you’re targeting another application and not seeing related metrics, the likely issue is a misconfiguration in your YAML.

Agent troubleshooting

These commands are available since v6.2.0:

CommandDescription
sudo -u dd-agent datadog-agent jmx list matchingList attributes that match at least one of your instances configuration.
sudo -u dd-agent datadog-agent jmx list limitedList attributes that do match one of your instances configuration but that are not being collected because it would exceed the number of metrics that can be collected.
sudo -u dd-agent datadog-agent jmx list collectedList attributes that are actually collected by your current instances configuration.
sudo -u dd-agent datadog-agent jmx list not-matchingList attributes that don’t match any of your instances configuration.
sudo -u dd-agent datadog-agent jmx list everythingList every attributes available that has a type supported by JMXFetch.
sudo -u dd-agent datadog-agent jmx collectStart the collection of metrics based on your current configuration and display them in the console.

Notes:

  • By default these commands run on all the configured JMX checks. To limit the commands to specific checks, use the --checks flag, for example:

    sudo -u dd-agent datadog-agent jmx list collected --checks tomcat
    
  • For Agent v6.26.+ / v7.26+, appending --flare writes the output of the above commands under /var/log/datadog/jmxinfo/, which is included in the flare.

    sudo -u dd-agent datadog-agent jmx list everything -l debug --flare
    

The Agent 6 ships JMXFetch and supports all of its features, except those listed below.

The Agent doesn’t have a full featured interface to JMXFetch, so you may have to run some commands manually to debug the list of beans collected, JVMs, etc. A typical manual call will take the following form:

/usr/bin/java -Xmx200m -Xms50m -classpath /usr/lib/jvm/java-8-oracle/lib/tools.jar:/opt/datadog-agent/bin/agent/dist/jmx/jmxfetch-0.18.2-jar-with-dependencies.jar org.datadog.jmxfetch.App --check <CHECK_LIST> --conf_directory /etc/datadog-agent/conf.d --log_level INFO --log_location /var/log/datadog/jmxfetch.log --reporter console <COMMAND>

where <COMMAND> is any of:

  • list_everything
  • list_collected_attributes
  • list_matching_attributes
  • list_not_matching_attributes
  • list_limited_attributes
  • list_jvms

and <CHECK_LIST> corresponds to a list of valid yaml configurations in /etc/datadog-agent/conf.d/. For instance:

  • cassandra.d/conf.yaml
  • kafka.d/conf.yaml
  • jmx.d/conf.yaml

Example:

/usr/bin/java -Xmx200m -Xms50m -classpath /usr/lib/jvm/java-8-oracle/lib/tools.jar:/opt/datadog-agent/bin/agent/dist/jmx/jmxfetch-0.18.2-jar-with-dependencies.jar org.datadog.jmxfetch.App --check cassandra.d/conf.yaml jmx.d/conf.yaml --conf_directory /etc/datadog-agent/conf.d --log_level INFO --log_location /var/log/datadog/jmxfetch.log --reporter console list_everything

Notes:

  • The location to the JRE tools.jar (/usr/lib/jvm/java-8-oracle/lib/tools.jar in the example) might reside elsewhere in your system. You should be able to find it with sudo find / -type f -name 'tools.jar'.
  • You may wish to specify alternative JVM heap parameters -Xmx, -Xms, the values used in the example correspond to the JMXFetch defaults.
CommandDescription
sudo /etc/init.d/datadog-agent jmx list_matching_attributesList attributes that match at least one of your instance configurations.
sudo /etc/init.d/datadog-agent jmx list_limited_attributesList attributes that do match one of your instance configurations but that are not being collected because it would exceed the number of metrics that can be collected.
sudo /etc/init.d/datadog-agent jmx list_collected_attributesList attributes that are actually collected by your current instance configurations.
sudo /etc/init.d/datadog-agent jmx list_not_matching_attributesList attributes that don’t match any of your instance configurations.
sudo /etc/init.d/datadog-agent jmx list_everythingList every attributes available that has a type supported by JMXFetch.
sudo /etc/init.d/datadog-agent jmx collectStart the collection of metrics based on your current configuration and display them in the console.

To check whether Autodiscovery is loading JMX-based checks:

$ docker exec -it <AGENT_CONTAINER_NAME> agent configcheck

To see JMX-based checks status from the Agent:

$ docker exec -it <AGENT_CONTAINER_NAME> agent status

FAQ

The 350 metric limit

Datadog accepts a maximum of 350 metrics. A best practice is to limit your metrics to less than 350 by creating filters to refine those metrics collected; but if you need more than 350 metrics, it is possible to increase this limit by modifying a parameter in your JMX config file.

Please contact Datadog support if you would like to increase this limit.

Java path

The default Agent installation does not come with a bundled JVM and uses the one installed on your system. Therefore you must make sure that the Java home directory is present in the path of the user running the Agent.

Notes:

  • The gcr.io/datadoghq/agent:latest-jmx Docker image does include a JVM, which the Agent needs to run jmxfetch. Alternatively, you can specify the JVM path in the integration’s configuration file with the java_bin_path parameter.
  • Only one valid Java path needs to be specified for JMXFetch.

JVM metrics

Datadog’s Java APM library is capable of collecting JVM metrics without the JMX integration. See Runtime Metrics, for more details.

Monitoring JBoss or WildFly applications

The following instructions work on Agent v5.6.0+.

JBoss/WildFly applications expose JMX over a specific protocol (Remoting JMX) that is not bundled by default with JMXFetch. To allow JMXFetch to connect to these applications, configure it as follows:

  • Locate the jboss-cli-client.jar file on your JBoss/WildFly server (by default, its path should be $JBOSS_HOME/bin/client/jboss-cli-client.jar).
  • If JMXFetch is running on a different host than the JBoss/WildFly application, copy jboss-cli-client.jar to a location on the host JMXFetch is running on.
  • Add the path of the jar to the init_config section of your configuration:
  # Datadog Agent >= 5.6.0

  init_config:
    custom_jar_paths:
      - /path/to/jboss-cli-client.jar
  • Specify a custom URL that JMXFetch connects to, in the instances section of your configuration:
  # Datadog Agent >= 5.6.0

  # The jmx_url may be different depending on the version of JBoss/WildFly you're using
  # and the way you've set up JMX on your server
  # Refer to the relevant documentation of JBoss/WildFly for more information
  instances:
    - jmx_url: "service:jmx:remote://localhost:4447"
      name: jboss-application  # Mandatory, but can be set to any value,
                               # is used to tag the metrics pulled from that instance

Note: If you run into warning message like Unable to instantiate or initialize instance <instance_name> for an unknown reason.Parameter 'name' may not be null, you may need to set a wildfly user with $WILDFLY_HOME/bin/add-user.sh -a -u <user> -p <password> and specify user and password in the instances section of your configuration:

instances:
  - jmx_url: <jmx_url>
    name: <instance_name>
    user: <username>
    password: <password>

Monitoring Tomcat with JMX remote lifecycle listener enabled

The following instructions work on Agent v5.6.0+.

If you’re using Tomcat with JMX remote lifecycle listener enabled (see the Tomcat documentation for more information), JMXFetch needs an additional setup to be able to connect to your Tomcat application.

  • Locate the catalina-jmx-remote.jar file on your Tomcat server (by default, its path should be $CATALINA_HOME/lib).
  • If JMXFetch is running on a different host than the Tomcat application, copy catalina-jmx-remote.jar to a location on the host JMXFetch is running on.
  • Add the path of the jar to the init_config section of your configuration:
# Datadog Agent >= 5.6.0

init_config:
  custom_jar_paths:
    - /path/to/catalina-jmx-remote.jar
  • Specify a custom URL that JMXFetch connects to, in the instances section of your configuration:
# Datadog Agent >= 5.6.0

# The jmx_url may be different depending on the way you've set up JMX on your Tomcat server
instances:
  - jmx_url: "service:jmx:rmi://:10002/jndi/rmi://:10001/jmxrmi"
    name: tomcat-application  # Mandatory, but can be set to any arbitrary value,
                              # is used to tag the metrics pulled from that instance

SSL troubleshooting

Once JMX is enabled and your Agent check is successfully sending metrics to Datadog, you can secure the remote connection over an SSL Socket.

Note: You cannot secure JMX over SSL without using the JMX remote user/password authentication files. If you are using system level permissions to run your application, add these files and run them at startup.

This example shows the Datadog configuration for the Tomcat integration.

  • Establish a certificate and key to apply to your Java app keystore.
  • Update your Datadog Tomcat conf.yaml file located in conf.d/tomcat.d:
instances:
  - host: localhost
    port: 9000
    user: tomcat
    password: tomcat
    name: tomcat_webapp
    trust_store_path: <KEYSTORE_PATH>
    trust_store_password: <KEY_PASSWORD>

Further Reading

Más enlaces, artículos y documentación útiles:

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