Using Problem Diagnostics LAB Toolkit Enhanced Troubleshooting skills

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Learn by example

Developing problem diagnostic skills in java™ee environments requires years of practical troubleshooting experience, even if you have a high level of skill in this technology. Of course, knowledge is essential, but problem-diagnosing skills change over time and practice. Problem Diagnostics Lab Toolkit can help shorten the learning curve, allowing you to experience common problem scenarios. This article will introduce you to this new toolbox and show you how to use its scenario-based approach to learn Java troubleshooting techniques through examples and experiments.

What can you learn from the toolbox?

Problem Diagnostic Lab Toolkit (PDTK) can help the technical team reproduce various common problems, monitor the impact of different actions, and analyze the problem. The toolbox enables system administrators to better understand the symptoms of certain problems, which can expedite the resolution of problems. By using this toolbox, developers can learn about the impact of not following better programming practices.

By using the example, PDTK shows you how to troubleshoot various problems that occur in Java applications that are deployed on WebSphere products. Examples include:

View the PDTK on the Alphaworks page and get a complete list of troubleshooting scenarios. The Toolbox provides a framework for you to insert your own scene.

Memory management issues.

Excessive use of the CPU.

Thread deadlock.

JVM crashes.

PDTK contains the following models (Figure 1):

Code Editor Editor: A "Hot" Java code Editor that enables you to edit Java code and invoke it from the browser without redeploying.

Monitor: An integrated monitor that helps you observe the current system state, including thread state, memory usage, and average response time.

Pressure engine (Stress engine): This built-in engine simulates several clients sending concurrent requests, and also provides a data tool to generate various dump files that can be used to diagnose certain types of problems.

Management (Management): A data tool used to generate a variety of dump files that are used to diagnose certain types of problems.