Enabling the collection of transaction tracking and diagnostics data

On the Agent Configuration page, you can enable or disable the collection of transaction tracking and diagnostics data.

About this task

When you enable the collection of transaction tracking data, the agent collects data of the following components:
  • Servlet JSP
  • EJB applications
  • JMS

Procedure

Complete the following steps to configure the data collection for each managed system.

  1. Log in to the Cloud APM console.
  2. From the navigation bar, click Configure icon System Configuration > Agent Configuration.
    The Agent Configuration page is displayed.
  3. Click the Tomcat tab.
  4. Select the check boxes of the managed systems for which you want to configure the data collection and complete any of the following actions from the Actions list.
    • To enable transaction tracking, click Set Transaction Tracking > Enabled. The status in the Transaction Tracking column is updated to Enabled for each selected managed system.
    • To enable the diagnostic data collection, select Set Diagnostic Mode > Enabled Diagnostic Mode Only. The status in the Diagnostic Mode column is updated to Enabled for each selected managed system.
    • To enable the diagnostic data collection and method trace, select Set Diagnostic Mode > Enabled Diagnostic Mode and Method Trace. The status in the Diagnostic Mode and Method Trace columns is updated to Enabled for each selected managed system.
    • To disable transaction tracking, click Set Transaction Tracking > Disabled. The status in the Transaction Tracking column is updated to Disabled for each selected managed system.
    • To disable diagnostic data collection, click Set Diagnostic Mode > Disabled Diagnostic Mode and Method Trace. The status in the Diagnostic Mode and Method Trace columns is updated to Disabled for each selected managed system.

What to do next

  • Log in to the Cloud APM console to view the transaction tracking and diagnostics data that is collected by the agent in the dashboards. For information about using the Cloud APM console, see Starting the Cloud APM console.
  • Review the data that is presented in the Tomcat agent dashboard pages. For more information, see Group and Instance - Application Performance Dashboard.
  • The Method traces widget lists the method names, their stack trace, and their response times. To optimize response time, the number of methods are limited by the threshold value for response time (default is 50 milliseconds) taken by each method call. Thus, you do not see the method traces for the responses that complete within 50 milliseconds. If you prefer to see all method calls in the Method traces widget, you can update the agent configuration:
    1. Open the /<agent_installation>/otdcchome/<toolkit_version>/gdc/etc/appMethods.xml file in a text editor.
    2. Locate the collectContextData parameter. These are the default values:
      <collectContextData>false</collectContextData>
      <collectStackTrace>ifThresholdExceeded</collectStackTrace>
      <perfThreshold>50</perfThreshold>
      <secondaryPerfThreshold>200</secondaryPerfThreshold>
      <dataToCollect>instanceAndSummary</dataToCollect>
      <createDataRow>ifThresholdExceeded</createDataRow>
      <showParentMethodId>true</showParentMethodId>
    3. Set <collectStackTrace> to true.
    4. Set <createDataRow> to true.
    5. Restart the Tomcat server.
    The threshold limit affects the behavior of the Method traces widget. Therefore, the total response time might not be the sum of the method trace that is displayed on the dashboard.
    Note: Diagnostics must be enabled for the <collectStackTrace> true setting to take effect. For more information, see Configuring collection of detailed diagnostic information and Customizing the request thresholds.