wow,
|During the last few weeks I discussed (mostly with Marc) how
|to manage JBoss and Marc does not like the idea to use plain
|JMX to manage JBoss.
I mean that the JMX API is not the best for tools integration a java model
is superior.
|Dealing with JMX the last month showed me that JMX is to much
|overhead with regards to coding and needs to much performance
I do still believe that JMX will take care of the calls. Never do I say
that our core services shouldn't be MBeans. They MUST be MBeans if anything
because the MLet mechanisms is really what is cool.
|to provide a good administration environment as long as the admin.
|tool is written in Java. And the bigger App. servers like WebSphere
|or Weblogic comes with a Java admin. tool.
Yes that is the point, we want a java API for admin not the bare JMX face.
so it is a layer on *top* of JMX not a replacement for it.
|Goals:
|- has to work not only for JBoss
|- is transport protocol independent (WebSphere uses their OSE
| and Weblogic their T3)
that is going to be difficult. You will be only at the model layer and you
will need to add say an SNMP impl to make it work. What I really want to do
is instrument MBeans.
|
|I would suggest the following concept:
|- the client has to be written in Java
The client API has to be in java, not the client itself if you ask me ( I am
very happy with JSP generated admin, in fact one of the first things I would
like to do is a taglib for admin :))))
|- the client works through an Interface with the server
sure
|- the connection is protocol independent
the model is, any implementation will need one connection.
|- integrated support for versioning
|- client works independent from the server's implementation
| WebSphere uses EJBs and Weblogic I don't know
|
|Client interface:
|- support to lookup a server
lookup a server and the ADMINISTRATABLE SERVICES
|- navigation through the server service trees (WAS and WL display
| its services as a tree)
Yes yes yes,
|- working on a service interface (getting and setting of attributes,
| invoking of methods and managing of notifications)
yes at least and in first trivial version, these can be exposed copying the
existing MBean interface
|- support for monitoring which should be separat from administration
OK, this is the real point in my mind. The statistics and metrics is what
is going to set us apart and give us a leg up on EVERYONE. I was looking at
badJuju stuff and I believe it is a step in the right direction, it needs to
be an MBean and I can take it from there. (exporting registering etc etc)
|
|The server implementation of JBoss could look like:
|- either JMX MBeans or EJBs implements the server-side administration
Don't confuse the 2, JMX MBeans are always the base. I am talking about a
EJB face to them.
|- are registered at the JNDI server
Yes
|- delivers the service interfaces to the client and map the request to the
| server-side components
correct through the MBean invocation mechanism
|- I would suggest RMI as a transport protocol
yes as a first cut but we are aware of its limitations.
|Why not JMX ?:
|- I aggree with Marc that JMX is good when the client is not written in
| Java but ugly when it is
The client cannot be distributed (JMX is stand alone) is the biggest draw
back in my mind. The agent view is the key, we have a client in html we can
provide a real programmatic API to it.
But I am ALL FOR JMX.
|- A good Admin. Console must be easy to use, fast and reliable and I
| think this could only be achieved when the Client is written in Java
|- JMX offers a weak interface which means that the interfaces described
| must not implemented this way and this leads to a lot of runtime
|exception
| (you don't know if a method signature is correct until you call it)
Again separate the 2 issues, the MBeanServer runtime and the module view of
JBoss which will remain JMX (don't doubt that :) and the instrumentation of
it which could be SNMP for all we know. I am just talking about a simple
API that offers JSR 77.
|Have fun - Mad Andy / Better Pizza
Ok like all things we can talk and talk, but I will try to throw something
this week, I have got some time.
marc
|
|Senior Java Developer
|eBuilt Inc. (www.ebuilt.com)
|
|while( true ) { think(); write(); publish(); }
|
|
|
