Chapter 16. Using JMX
Abstract
Red Hat JBoss A-MQ is fully instrumented to provide statistics about its performance using JMX. You can monitor a broker using any JMX aware monitoring tool.
By default Red Hat JBoss A-MQ creates MBeans, loads them into the MBean server created by the JVM, and creates a dedicated JMX connector that provides a JBoss A-MQ-specific view of the MBean server. The default settings are sufficient for simple deployments and make it easy to access the statistics and management operations provided by a broker. For more complex deployments you easily configure many aspects of how a broker configures itself for access through JMX. For example, you can change the JMX URI of the JMX connector created by the broker or force the broker to use the generic JMX connector created by the JVM.
By connecting a JMX aware management and monitoring tool to a broker's JMX connector, you can view detailed information about the broker. This information provides a good indication of broker health and potential problem areas. In addition to the collected statistics, JBoss A-MQ's JMX interface provides a number of operations that make it easy to manage a broker instance. These include stopping a broker, starting and stopping network connectors, and managing destinations.
16.1. Configuring JMX
| Revision History | |
|---|---|
| 06/01/12 | |
| Added note about Enterprise JMX connector. | |
Abstract
By default, brokers have JMX activated. However, a broker's JMX behavior is highly configurable. You can specify if JMX is used, if the broker uses a dedicated JMX connector, if the broker creates its own MBean server, and the JMX URL it uses.
Overview
By default a broker is set up to allow for JMX management. It uses the JVM's MBean server and creates its own JMX connector at service:jmx:rmi:///jndi/rmi://hostname:1099/jmxrmi. If the default configuration does not meet the needs of the deployment environment, the broker provides configuration properties for customizing most aspects of its JMX behavior. For instance, you can completely disable JMX for a broker. You can also force the broker to create its own MBean server.
Enabling and disabling
By default JMX is enabled for a Red Hat JBoss A-MQ broker. To disable JMX entirely you simply set the
broker element's useJmx attribute to false. This will stop the broker from exposing itself via JMX.
Important
Disabling JMX will also disable the commands in the activemq shell.
Securing access to JMX
In a production environment it is advisable to secure the access to your brokers' management interfaces. To set up authentication To override the default role for JMX access add a
jmxRole property to the etc/org.apache.karaf.management.cfg file.
Advanced configuration
If the default JMX behavior is not appropriate for your deployment environment, you can customize how the broker exposes its MBeans. To customize a broker's JMX configuration, you add a
managementContext child element to the broker's broker element. The managementContext element uses a managementContext child to configure the broker. The attributes of the inner managementContext element specify the broker's JMX configuration.
Table 16.1, “Broker JMX Configuration Properties” describes the configuration properties for controlling a broker's JMX behavior.
| Property | Default Value | Description |
|---|---|---|
useMBeanServer | true | Specifies whether the broker will use the MBean server created by the JVM. When set to false, the broker will create an MBean server. |
jmxDomainName | org.apache.activemq | Specifies the JMX domain used by the broker's MBeans. |
createMBeanServer | true | Specifies whether the broker creates an MBean server if none is found. |
createConnector | true[a] | Specifies whether the broker creates a JMX connector for the MBean server. If this is set to false the broker will only be accessible using the JMX connector created by the JVM. |
connectorPort | 1099 | Specifies the port number used by the JMX connector created by the broker. |
connectorHost | localhost | Specifies the host used by the JMX connector and the RMI server. |
rmiServerPort | 0 | Specifies the RMI server port. This setting is useful if port usage needs to be restricted behind a firewall. |
connectorPath | /jmxrmi | Specifies the path under which the JMX connector will be registered. |
[a]
The default configuration template for the broker sets this property to false so that the broker uses the container's JMX connection.
| ||
Example 16.1, “Configuring a Broker's JMX Connection” shows configuration for a broker that will only use the JVM's MBean server and will not create its own JMX connector.
Example 16.1. Configuring a Broker's JMX Connection
<broker ... >
...
<managementContext>
<managementContext createMBeanServer="false"
createConnector="false" />
</managementContext>
...
</broker>