ebLogic Server performance tuning ranges over an extremely broad area and includes the tuning of the operating system, the JVM, the WebLogic Server instances, databases, transactions, and JMS. It also includes tuning the web applications and web services that WebLogic Server hosts. This chapter is by no means a thorough and complete discussion of the various elements that affect WebLogic Server performance. Topics such as database tuning, operating system tuning, and network configuration are best left to the specialists in that area. The goal of this chapter is to provide a brief summary of the key areas a WebLogic Server administrator should focus on to achieve and maintain high levels of application performance.

The chapter covers the key configuration aspects of WebLogic Server that affect application performance, such as thread management and various aspects of network I/O tuning. Tuning the JVM is a big part of tuning WebLogic Server performance. The chapter explains how the JVM manages memory and how you can tune garbage collection and the compacting of the Java heap to ensure optimal performance. Tuning the JMS container, JMS store-and-forward, and the WebLogic message bridge is critical when dealing with messaging applications. The chapter discusses several ways to tune messaging, such as dealing with large message backlogs, defining quotas, and blocking message senders when quota thresholds are reached. It also shows how to control the flow....