Application collection

Application collection overview

• The application collection client consists of two modules:

  • A dynamic application collection agent gathers basic information from applications at runtime when they query a database. This information includes the requested SQL schema, call stack, system details, performance data, and SQL query frequency.

  • A central data collector aggregates data from various application agents and performs desensitization and processing.

• Application collection allows you to:

  • Collect SQL queries and call stack information accessed by your application.

  • Gather application runtime performance information.

• Application collection has the following limitations:

  • Data cannot be collected from databases other than Oracle, DB2, and Teradata, or from non-Java applications.

  • The agent cannot collect SQL statements and call stacks for interfaces that are not called during the monitoring period.

  • The agent cannot monitor operations not directly invoked by the application, such as triggers.

Notes

• Collected SQL statements are subject to desensitization. Request parameters and specific values within SQL queries are not collected.

• Non-intrusive collection: The collection process is non-intrusive and does not affect your application.

• Load control: Data collection automatically pauses during peak business hours, and keeps memory usage within a configured limit.

• Supports dynamic collection for Java applications that use an Oracle database and run on JDK 1.6 or later in Tomcat, Jboss, or Weblogic containers.

Download collection tool

In the ADAM console's left-side navigation pane, select Application Assessment and Transformation. At the top of the page, the assessment process displays four steps: Application Collection → Application Profiling → Application Assessment → Static Application Transformation. You are at the first step, Application Collection. This step supports information collection and compatibility assessment for Java applications that use Oracle/DB2/Teradata databases. Non-Java applications are not supported. Click Download Collector to download the application collection tool. After you collect the information, compress the data into a ZIP file and upload it. Then, click Next: Create Application Profile to proceed to the next step.

Before you begin

• A Java developer with basic technical knowledge should perform these steps.

• Supports Sun JDK, Oracle JDK, and OpenJDK 1.6 or later. IBM JDK is not supported.

• After you decompress the package, you will find two directories:

  • Collector: The collector is a centralized data aggregator. Deploy it on a non-production server to prevent data processing from impacting your live services.

  • Javaagent: Copy the javaagent directory to the application server that you want to monitor. Deploy this agent alongside your application to collect data.

• Ensure that the collector and the agent have the necessary permissions.

  Note

  On UNIX/Linux, grant recursive permissions to the directory by running chmod -R 775 collector/.

• The collector acts as a server-side component and manages 1 to 20 agents. Deploy one agent per application server.

  Note

  If your application is distributed across multiple machines, you only need to deploy the agent on a sample of servers, depending on your load balancing configuration.

• Deploy the collector before you deploy the application agent. Ensure that the application has network connectivity to the collector to push data for centralized processing, such as desensitization. The machine where you deploy the collector requires JDK 1.6 or later and more than 4 GB of JVM memory. Disk space requirements depend on the number of monitored applications, monitoring duration, business activity, and the number and size of SQL queries. Disk usage grows predictably. You can estimate the required space by observing usage for half a day. Typically, monitoring one application for seven days consumes less than 1 GB of data.

• Agent requirements: The application must be deployed on JDK 1.6 or later, with at least 300 MB of available JVM heap space. Supported service containers include Tomcat, Jboss, Weblogic, Websphere, or Docker containers in a k8s cluster.

• The agent monitors SQL queries to the Oracle database and the corresponding code call stacks. Ensure that all application operations are performed during the monitoring period. For periodic tasks, ensure the agent is active during their execution to enable complete data collection.

Next steps

Collection Deployment