Attaching to a process to collect log records

To attach to a process means that a monitor is created to contain the results observed by an associated agent.  You can attach to a process that is collecting log records in the same way that you would attach to any other process.

Whenever you launch or attach to a Java process, a logical representation of the Java process is created in the Profiling Monitor view. This representation, the process object, is identified both by name and an ID number (PID) that appears in the view along with the associated agents.

To either launch or attach either a local or a remote Java process, follow these steps:

1. From the Profiling and Logging Perspective, Java Perspective, Server Perspective, or Debug Perspective, select Profile:
   
    
   
   Select either Launch or Attach, then select Java Process if the process is local or Remote Process if it is remote.
2. If you selected Remote Process, the Hosts page opens. 
   • Specify either the remote Host name or its IP address. 
   • Specify the Agent Controller port, if it's different from the default.  Click Next.
3. If you selected Attach, then the Agent window appears, displaying detached (and hence available) agents that are running and collecting data. 
   • Select the agents that are associated with the process IDs you wish to attach to and move them to the right side pane.
   • It may be useful to click Refresh to ensure that you have an up-to-date list.  Click Next. 
4. If you selected Launch, then the Class window opens.
   • Either select the Java Project and Main class that you intend to profile from within the workbench or, if you intend to profile classes outside the workbench, select the Java Class on the file system.
   • You may need to specify where to find the Class path, directory, and JAR file.
   • You may specify, Parameters, VM arguments, and Environment Variables, as needed.  Click Next. The Destination page opens. 
5. Specify the project and monitor in which to store data from this profiling session. You could also specify an external file.  Click Next. The Profiling Filters page opens.
6. To select what should and should not be profiled, Select a filter set.  Click Next.  The Profiling Options page opens..
7. Select the checkboxes to specify whether profiling should Analyze the application heap and whether it should Analyze the application execution time.   Click Next.
8. Specify whether profiling should stop after some number of method invocations or some amount of time.  Click Finish. The profiling begins:
   • The Profiling Console opens, displaying program input and output.
   • The associated agents monitor the application (shown with the Monitoring symbol ) until it has run to completion.
   • Profiling objects are created and displayed in the Profiling Monitor, and are identified both by name and a process ID number (PID). This workbench process object is a logical representation of the selected Java process; it is not a system process.
   • In the monitored state, you can run garbage collection (click the Run Garbage Collection button or, if available, dump object references (click the Collect Object References button from the main toolbar).
   • If the agent is in the running state but is not collecting data (shown with the Paused symbol ), using the Refresh Views button will not have any effect. You must start monitoring the agents to get the latest data. Select Start Monitoring from the pop-up menu of the agent.
   • If the agent is in the terminated state (shown by the Terminated symbol ), it means that it has finished monitoring the application, which has run to completion. 
9. To analyze data from the profiling session, you can open other Profiling and Logging views. When you first open a view, it is empty.  To populate it, click Refresh Views  .

Related concepts
Overview of the Log and Trace Analyzer
 

Related tasks
Working with log files

(C) Copyright IBM Corporation 2000, 2003. All Rights Reserved.