Connecting an application to the Health Center client

You can connect the Health Center client to a Java™ or Node.js application that you want to monitor.

You can make a JMX, MQTT, or Bluemix® connection by using the Health Center connection wizard and specifying the required details. If you want to make a Bluemix connection and are already running IBM® Eclipse Tools for Bluemix, you can make an immediate connection without needing to specify further details.

The procedures for making connections are described in the following sections:

If you want to monitor a Node.js application, you must use the MQTT connection type.

Known issues:

If an application ends while it is being monitored by the Health Center, error messages might appear in the logs. For Java applications, messages that are caused by unexpected application termination contain references to org.omg.CORBA* classes.

Making a JMX connection to a Java application

Before you begin

If you want a secure connection, set up the required files or keystores. For more information, see Securing Health Center.
A monitoring agent must be installed and active in the runtime environment in which the application is running. For more information, see Installing a Health Center monitoring agent, Configuring the monitoring agent, and Starting the monitoring agent.

Procedure

Start the Health Center client.
- If you are using the client in IBM Support Assistant, follow the standard IBM Support Assistant procedure for starting a tool, and select IBM Monitoring and Diagnostic Tools - Health Center. If Health Center is already running, click File > New Connection.
- If you are using the client in Eclipse, open the Health Center Status Summary perspective, then click File > New Connection.
A connection wizard is displayed.
Ensure that your application is enabled for monitoring, for monitoring then click Next.
On the JMX connection tab, specify the following details:
- Host name and port number. The Health Center makes a connection by using these details. For JMX connections, the Health Center can scan for open ports on a machine that might have agents that are waiting for a connection. This behavior is enabled by the Scan next 100 ports for available connections option.
- Security option and associated credentials. For more information about security credentials, see Securing Health Center.
Click Next to find available monitoring agents.
Select an agent from the list of agents that were found.
Click Finish to connect to the application.

Results

After the wizard finishes, the Health Center attempts to connect to the application. You are notified if authentication is required.

If you cannot connect to the application, see the troubleshooting topic: Cannot connect to an application.

Making an MQTT connection to a Java or Node.js application

Before you begin

To connect to a Node.js application, you must have installed an MQTT broker as described in Monitoring a running application.
If you want a secure connection, set up the required files or keystores. For more information, see Securing Health Center.
A monitoring agent must be installed and active in the runtime environment in which the application is running. The agent must also be configured if required (configuration is not possible in Bluemix environments). For example, the host and port number of the MQTT broker must be set in the Health Center properties file. For more information, see Installing a Health Center monitoring agent, Configuring the monitoring agent, and Starting the monitoring agent.

Procedure

Start the Health Center client.
- If you are using the client in IBM Support Assistant, follow the standard IBM Support Assistant procedure for starting a tool, and select IBM Monitoring and Diagnostic Tools - Health Center. If Health Center is already running, click File > New Connection.
- If you are using the client in Eclipse, open the Health Center Status Summary perspective, then click File > New Connection.
A connection wizard is displayed.
Ensure that your application is enabled for monitoring, then click Next.
On the MQTT connection tab, specify the following details:
- Host name and port number. The Health Center makes a connection by using these details. For MQTT connections, the host name and port number must match the host name and port number of your MQTT broker. (These values are typically localhost and 1883 by default).
- Security option and associated credentials. For more information about security credentials, see Securing Health Center.
Click Next to find available monitoring agents.
Select an agent from the list of agents that were found. If you cannot distinguish the agent that you need from the displayed list of agents, you can modify the string that is shown for your agent. To modify the string, set the com.ibm.diagnostics.healthcenter.mqtt.topic.namespace and com.ibm.diagnostics.healthcenter.mqtt.application.id properties for that agent. You must then restart the agent. For more information, see Health Center configuration properties.
Click Finish to connect to the application.

Results

After the wizard finishes, the Health Center attempts to connect to the application. A message dialog box notifies you if authentication is required.

If you cannot connect to the application, see the troubleshooting topic: Cannot connect to an application.

Making a Bluemix connection to a Java application

You can make a Bluemix connection by using the connection wizard and specifying the required parameters. But if you are already running IBM Eclipse Tools for Bluemix, you can make an immediate connection to a running Bluemix Node.js or Liberty application without needing to specify any of the details required by the connection wizard.

Before you begin

If you want a secure connection, set up the required files or keystores. For more information, see Securing Health Center.
A monitoring agent must be installed and active in the runtime environment in which the application is running.
In Bluemix, enable App Management for the application. For more information, see App Management in the Bluemix documentation.

Using the connection wizard

Procedure

Start the Health Center client.
- If you are using the client in IBM Support Assistant, follow the standard IBM Support Assistant procedure for starting a tool, and select IBM Monitoring and Diagnostic Tools - Health Center. If Health Center is already running, click File > New Connection....
- If you are using the client in Eclipse, open the Health Center Status Summary perspective, then click File > New Connection....
A connection wizard is displayed.
Ensure that you enabled your application for monitoring then click Next.
On the Bluemix connection tab, specify the following details:
- The name of the Bluemix application to monitor
- The API endpoint of the Bluemix region to which your application is deployed. You can select from the suggested endpoints or type your own. For more information, see Regions in the Bluemix documentation.
- The relevant organization in Bluemix
- The relevant space in Bluemix. For more information about organizations and spaces, see Managing your account in the Bluemix documentation.
- The email address and password that you use to log in to Bluemix
Click Next to find available monitoring agents. Select an agent from the list of agents that were found.
Click Finish to connect to the application.

Results

After the wizard finishes, the Health Center attempts to connect to the application. A message dialog box notifies you if authentication is required.

If you cannot connect to the application, see the troubleshooting topic: Cannot connect to an application.

Using IBM Eclipse Tools for Bluemix

You can make a connection to a running Bluemix application by using IBM Eclipse Tools for Bluemix. This method is only applicable for Node.js and Liberty applications.

Procedure

Ensure that your Bluemix application has the BLUEMIX_APP_MGMT_ENABLE environment variable set to hc.
For more information, see How to configure App Management in the Bluemix App Management documentation.
Open the Servers view provided by Bluemix Tools.
Right-click your running application and select Open Health Center.

Results

When the connection has been made successfully, the Health Center Status Summary view opens and the data is displayed shortly after. If the connection cannot be made, the attempt times out after 40 seconds.