Server monitoring using JMX
You can monitor the Spotfire Server to detect problems with the server itself, with external systems, or with the network. You can also detect misconfigured clients or (in some cases) malicious behavior.
Spotfire Server runs within the Tomcat application server. Tomcat provides the basic functionality needed, the server (Agent level), and a Java Remote Method Invocation (Java RMI) connector (Remote Management level).
Tomcat provides a rich instrumentation set for monitoring and managing
the application server. For example, it monitors Tomcat configuration
parameters and basic usage statistics. The Java runtime environment that ships
with
Spotfire Server
is also heavily instrumented using JMX. This toolset provides information about
CPU and memory usage, garbage collection, and thread pools. In addition, JMX is
the only way to capture logs for the
TERR service
or for Spotfire Service for Python. For more information, see the following.
- "Monitoring the TERR service using JMX" in TIBCO® Enterprise Runtime for R - Server Edition.
- "Monitoring Spotfire Service for Python using JMX" in TIBCO® Spotfire Service for Python.
- To monitor the server itself, view and manage logs, and troubleshoot the server, log in to the Spotfire Server administration interface and see the Overview page of Monitoring and Diagnostics.
- To monitor user actions and system events, such as those from Spotfire, Spotfire Web Player, and Spotfire Automation Services, see Action logs and system monitoring.
- To monitor other aspects of the server, use available tools such as TIBCO Hawk®, JConsole (which is included in the Java JDK), or any other Java Management Extensions (JMX)-compliant monitoring tool.
This section provides information on the architecture of the JMX system, types of information captured by JMX, and how to configure and work with JMX-compliant tools to monitor Spotfire Server.
- Spotfire Server instrumentation
Spotfire Server components are instrumented to capture detailed information. The following table provides details on the information that the administrator can monitor through instrumentation. - JMX configuration security features
Sensitive information can be exposed through JMX and Java. Tomcat and Spotfire Server provide management capabilities to restrict access through authentication, authorization, and encryption security features. Also, as a security measure, the JMX RMI connector is disabled by default, so the administrator must enable it. - JMX configuration commands
Use these commands to configure and administrate JMX access to the monitoring component. - JMX levels
A Java Management Extensions (JMX)-compliant monitoring tool, such as TIBCO Hawk® or JConsole, provides three administration levels to Spotfire Server administrators. - Enabling the JMX logging appender
To monitor the server by using TIBCO Hawk or another Java Management Extensions (JMX)-compliant monitoring tool, you can enable an extra log appender so that the server outputs log events as JMX notifications. - Setting up JMX monitoring for JConsole
This task walks you through setting up JMX monitoring for using JConsole. It does not use Transport Layer Security (TLS).
- Spotfire Server instrumentation
Spotfire Server components are instrumented to capture detailed information. The following table provides details on the information that the administrator can monitor through instrumentation. - JMX configuration security features
Sensitive information can be exposed through JMX and Java. Tomcat and Spotfire Server provide management capabilities to restrict access through authentication, authorization, and encryption security features. Also, as a security measure, the JMX RMI connector is disabled by default, so the administrator must enable it. - JMX configuration commands
Use these commands to configure and administrate JMX access to the monitoring component. - JMX levels
A Java Management Extensions (JMX)-compliant monitoring tool, such as TIBCO Hawk® or JConsole, provides three administration levels to Spotfire Server administrators. - Enabling the JMX logging appender
To monitor the server by using TIBCO Hawk or another Java Management Extensions (JMX)-compliant monitoring tool, you can enable an extra log appender so that the server outputs log events as JMX notifications. - Setting up JMX monitoring for JConsole
This task walks you through setting up JMX monitoring for using JConsole. It does not use Transport Layer Security (TLS).
Parent topic: Monitoring and diagnostics
Related concepts