Steve Perry has spent his time "in the trenches". "I've been paged at 3:00 am to provide support because the system wasn't doing what it should and no one had a clue how to figure out why. I've scrolled through endless logfiles to decipher system problems, when a management solution could have presented an operator with a warning message hours earlier!" Wanting other developers to be able to learn from his experiences, Steve wrote Java Management Extensions. Java Management Extensions is a practical, hands-on guide to using the JMX APIs, Sun Microsystem's new Java-based tool for managing enterprise applications. This one-of-a kind book is a complete treatment of the JMX architecture (both the instrumentation level and the agent level), and it's loaded with real-world examples for implementing Management Extensions. It also contains useful information at the higher level about JMX (the "big picture") to help technical managers and architects who are evaluating various application management approaches and are considering JMX. The JMX technology is very new, and according to Steve, still has a few "potholes" in it. This book takes developers through it step by step, pointing out the "gotchas" before they have a chance to trip up smooth operation of the application. The author, a member of the expert group developing the JMX specification, points out that as J2EE becomes more widely adopted, the Java standard for management (JMX) becomes more and more crucial to avoid "splinter standards" where each vendor has their own distinct, arguably successful, way of doing things. "In my own company we have already identified and are tackling the problem of managing our Java applications. It's my belief that other companies will follow, as they come to realize the power that a standard manageability solution (ie, JMX) gives them." The book is divided into the following sections:

• Part I:

• Introduction and overview

• Part II:

• the JMX Instrumentation Level

• Standard MBeans

• Dynamic MBeans

• Model Mbeans

• Part III:

• The JMX Agent Level

• The Mbean Server

• The JMX Notification Model

• Dynamic Loading

• Monitors

• Timer Services

• Relation Services

• Appendix:

• Related Technologies

• Index

Amazon.com® Reader Reviews (Ranked by Helpfulness)

Average Amazon.com® Rating:  Based on 6 Ratings

Good coverage of JMX basics but not much on practicle usage - 2003-02-12
Reviewer Rating:
This book covers the fundamentals of JMX but where I was disappointed was that it uses a pretty basic queue example and doesn't really get into J2EE applications and praticle uses. I was left wondering when to use it. If I had it to do over I'd choose another book with more praticle applications for JMX.

Java Management Extensions - 2004-04-03
Reviewer Rating:
JMX is a Java framework for managing enterprise applications in a distributed environment. The book Java Management Extensions takes the reader from a high-level mountaintop description of what JMX is in the first chapter, aimed at architects and management, who might be investigating the new technology, to a trench-digging description of how to expose a class for management through instrumenting an MBean.

Perry's initial description of the JMX architecture in the first chapter does a good job describing the parts of the JMX and how they interoperate. It is a very high-level view of JMX and many abstract ideas are presented. On a personal level, my experience with the JBoss application server gave me a concrete example to refer to during this JMX introduction, which helped. Here, the reader is presented with many UML diagrams to illustrate the architecture.

The next four chapters cover the nuts and bolts of how to construct JMX services. To use the JMX framework, a developer must become familiar with an object called an MBean. In a nutshell, MBeans are Java classes that implement an MBean interface (A process known as instrumenting), allowing the MBeans to be loaded into an MBean server and managed. In these chapters, Perry talks about four types of Mbeans, Standard, Dynamic, Model, and Open MBeans. After introducing each type of MBean, Perry gives simple code examples of how to build each type of MBean.

Chapter 6 deals primarily with introducing the reader to the MBean server. Perry uses the reference implementation from Sun for the examples in his book. Real world MBean servers include names such as JBoss and WebLogic. The most exciting part of the book, I felt were chapters 7 and 9, where Perry talks about the JMX notification model and Monitoring classes. Firing events, filtering notifications, and creating monitors appear to be the real advantages to the JMX framework and are covered thoroughly in these chapters.

Perry's no-nonsense writing style provides a succinct description of the architecture. At 312 pages, the book is the thinnest technical book on my bookshelf, making the read easier to manage.

In summary, Java Management Extensions is a good book for developers who want to gain an understanding of what JMX is. Programmers new to JMX will probably find the first part of the book a good introduction to JMX and its architecture, while the last chapters focus more on how to put the framework to good use. Although Perry does not have a style of writing that entertained me, it was clear and to the point. He does cover his information thoroughly and appears to know the content well. JMX is a technology that I feel will be used heavily in the future, and for anyone who is intending to write a J2EE application that needs management or monitoring, JMX appears to be the answer.

Good, but a bit dated at this point. - 2007-01-26
Reviewer Rating:
If you're looking for an introduction to JMX, this book gives good coverage of the concepts and techniques behind instrumenting your applications. However, if you're looking for information on the latest and greatest in JMX, especially anything related to JMX remoting, then you should look somewhere else. This book was written in 2002, before J2SE 5.0, and a lot has happened to JMX since then. Starting with J2SE 5.0, JMX is a core part of the Java standard library and the JDK ships with a highly usable remote management application called jconsole.

Sound primer to the JMX APIs - 2002-08-30
Reviewer Rating:
Java Management Extensions (JMX) enable configuration, management and monitoring of Java applications at runtime in a standardized manner. Furthermore JMX offers an exciting new approach for building component based applications. JMX makes it possible to exchange these components with new implementations or add new components without ever stopping your server. A lot of application servers, like JBoss, Apache Tomcat or BEA WebLogic, are based on this approach nowadays.

The O'Reilly book "Java Management Extensions" offers a sound primer to the JMX APIs. It starts off with a high level view of the JMX concepts. The author then introduces a sample application which is used throughout the book to explain the different parts of the JMX API.
For every type of MBean( standard, dynamic, model and even the brand new Open MBeans) the author devoted a whole chapter, covering the complete API of the Mbean type. Therefore, and because all the chapters are so very well structured, the book is perfectly suited for serving as a reference book.
Further topics covered are the MBean server, JMX Notifications, dynamic loading with MLets and the JMX Services (monitoring service, timer service, relation service). Again there is a whole chapter for every single topic.

All in all I like the book very much, especially because it is so clearly structured and because of the author's straightforward way of writing.
Be aware though that, while the book covers the complete standardized JMX APIs, it does not talk a lot about the not yet standardized parts, like connectors and adaptors, except for the obligatory HttpAdaptor. But that is a reasonable decision as these parts a different for every implementation of JMX, and the best place to cover them is probably the vendors documentation.
Highly recommendable.

An exceptionally useful and straightforward manual - 2002-10-08
Reviewer Rating:
Java Management Extensions by Java expert J. Steven Perry is a superbly organized and written reference and instructional resource to managing Java applications with JMX. Individual chapters address standard, dynamic, model, and open MBeans, dynamic loading, the monitoring class and timer service, and much more. A practical study of JMX architecture as well as a thoroughly "user friendly" how-to guide for technical managers, Java Management Extensions is an exceptionally useful and straightforward manual.

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