[February, 2011]
IBM WebSphere
Application Server
v7.0
Performance
Optimization Scripts
Document version [1.1]
David W. Hare
Introduction
Over the past year, we have made several changes to the performance tuning
scripts that were discussed in the previous iteration of this document and the
corresponding download package. Since that time, the scripts have been integrated
into the IBM WebSphere Application Server service stream and have been
refactored to use the application server’s property file configuration features
(starting with V7.0.0.9). Furthermore, in V7.0.0.11, support was added to the Profile
Management Tools to apply one of the standard performance tuning templates to a
standalone application server profile as part of the profile creation process. In the
latest service refresh of WebSphere Application Server (V7.0.0.15), the “production”
tuning template has been renamed to “peak” and the scripts have been updated to
capture the latest best practices and tuning recommendations.
This document discusses the latest version of the performance tuning scripts that
are delivered in V7.0.0.15. The corresponding download package not only contains
the latest version(s) of the property file configuration based performance tuning
scripts, but also contains the original jython-based scripts. The older jython-based
scripts remain as code samples for those that wish to construct their own jython
based tuning scripts from scratch. Similarly, the new property file configuration
based scripts can also be used as templates for your own custom tuning templates.
Property File Configuration Scripts
As previously mentioned, the new, property file configuration based scripts that
were introduced in V7.0.0.9 consist of a single jython-based script and two standard
property file based tuning templates. These standard tuning templates are designed
to target individual server instances or server instances within a cluster and apply
some of the most common WebSphere Application Server tuning parameters to suit
one of the following two environments:
•
Peak – Applies tuning parameters that are well suited for performance test
and proof of concept (POC) environments where peak runtime performance is
desired. This template was previously referred to as “Production”, but has
been renamed to emphasize the need for further testing before using this
script, or customized versions of this script to tune your production
environment.
•
Development – Tunes the server for a development environment where
frequent application updates are performed and system resources typically
constrained.
A third tuning script (Default) is also provided that will return the server
configuration to the standard out-of-the-box defaults.
The tuning parameters and values applied by these templates may not result in
optimal performance for your specific application.
These templates should be
viewed as a recommended starting point for improving application server
performance. We highly recommend conducting your own performance
evaluation and tuning exercise in order to fine tune the server for your
application.
Furthermore, some parameters tuned by these scripts (most notably
the ORB Pass-By-Reference) setting may impact the functionality of your
application. So again, we cannot overstress the importance of fully testing your
application with these settings applied.
Running the Scripts Manually
The tuning script files are located in the following directory:
<WAS_HOME>/scriptLibraries/perfTuning/V70
In this directory you will find the following jython tuning script and properties files
corresponding to the three templates discussed in the introduction.
•
applyPerfTuningTemplate.py
•
peak.properties (formerly production.properties prior to V7.0.0.15)
•
development.properties
•
default.properties
To apply a tuning template to your server profile, execute the following command:
<WAS_HOME>/profiles/<PROFILE>/bin/wsadmin -f ../../../scriptLibraries/
perfTuning/V70/applyPerfTuningTemplate.py
-node <node name> -server <server name>
-templateFile <template file name>
The “-node” and “-server” options are needed to target a specific server; however,
the “-cluster” option can be used instead to target all of the servers in a given
cluster by using the following script arguments:
-cluster <cluster name>
The “-templateFile” parameter is used to specify the desired tuning template.
The tuning templates can be applied to a server profile at any time. However, to
benefit from the Data Source tuning described in the next section, the scripts should
be executed after your application and its required resources have been installed.
Application server tuning script
Running the Scripts During Profile Creation
In WebSphere Application Server v7.0.0.11 and beyond, support was added to the
Profile Management Tool (PMT) and the manageprofiles command-line utilities to
apply tuning to a basic, standalone application server environment.
Profile Management Tool
Below is a screen shot of the Profile Management Tool GUI demonstrating the ability
to select and apply one of the pre-defined tuning templates. In order to reach this
screen, you must select the “Advanced profile creation” option, otherwise
“Standard” is selected as the default and no tuning is applied.
manageprofiles command line
Performance tuning settings can also be applied to a standalone application server
environment when created using the manageprofiles command line tool. The
following argument can be added to the manageprofiles command to apply one of
the pre-defined templates.
-applyPerfTuningSetting
standard | peak | development
Please note that if the -
isDeveloperServer
argument is also used on the same
command line with the -
applyPerfTuningSetting
option, the tuning settings may
override the
–isDeveloperServer
settings.
For more information, please consult the following references.
Manageprofiles command
Managing profiles using the graphical user interface
Tuning Performed By Scripts
The following table details the specific tuning performed by each of the two
templates and compares this to the original out-of-the-box defaults. If one of the
listed parameters is omitted or configured back to the server defaults for a
particular tuning template, the cell will be left blank in the table. There are also a
few subtle tuning differences on the Solaris, HP-UX, and zOS platforms that are
called out individually below the table. Further information regarding each tuning
parameter and the impact each has on the server performance is discussed in the
next section.
Parameter
Server
Default
Peak (formerly known
as Production)
Development
JVM Heap Size
(MB)
50 min / 256
max
512 min / 512 max
256 min / 512 max
Verbose GC***
disabled
enabled
enabled
JVM Diagnostic
Trace
(Generic JVM
Arguments)
-Xtrace:none
-Xtrace:none
Optimized JAXB
Processing
(Generic JVM
Arguments)
-
Dcom.ibm.xml.xlxp.jaxb.opti.l
evel=3
-
Dcom.ibm.xml.xlxp.jaxb.opti.l
evel=3
TCP Channel
maxOpenConnect
ions**
20000
500
500
TCP Channel
listenBacklog**
511
128
128
HTTP (9080) and
HTTPS (9443)
Channel
maxKeepAliveRe
quests
100
10000
10000
Development
Mode
disabled
enabled
Server
Component
Provisioning
disabled
enabled
disabled
PMI Statistic
Set***
basic
none
none
Authentication
Cache Timeout *
10 minutes
60 minutes
60 minutes
Data Source
Connection Pool
Size *
1 min / 10
max
10 min / 50 max
Data Source
Prepared
Statement Cache
Size*
10
50
ORB Pass-by-
Reference
disabled
enabled
enabled
Thread Pools
(Web Container,
ORB, Default)
50 min / 50
max,
10 min / 50
max,
20 min / 20
max
5 min / 10 max (for all pools
listed)
Web Server
Pluggin
ServerIOTimeout*
*
60
900
900
*Indicates items that must exist in the configuration to be tuned. Any new items will be created using the standard
server defaults
** Indicates items which were added to the scripts in V7.0.0.15
*** Indicates items which were modified from previous versions of the tuning scripts. For more details, please
consult the Tuning Parameter Descriptions section.
Solaris
On the Solaris platform, the following Generic JVM arguments are used for Peak and
Development:
-XX:-UseAdaptiveSizePolicy -XX:+UseParallelGC -XX:+AggressiveOpts -XX:
+UnlockDiagnosticVMOptions -server -Dcom.ibm.xml.xlxp.jaxb.opti.level=3
HP-UX
On the HP-UX platform, the following Generic JVM arguments are used for Peak and
Development:
-XX:+AggressiveOpts -XX:+ForceMmapReserved -XX:SurvivorRatio=16
-Xoptgc -XX:+UseParallelGC
-Djava.nio.channels.spi.SelectorProvider=sun.nio.ch.DevPollSelectorProvider
-XX:-ExtraPollBeforeRead -XX:+UseSpinning
-Dcom.ibm.xml.xlxp.jaxb.opti.level=3
zOS
On the zOS platform, the default JVM heap sizes are different than those on the
other distributed platforms:
Default minimum heap size:
256 MB
Default maximum heap size:
512 MB
Tuning Parameter Descriptions
JVM Heap Size
– The Java
TM
Virtual Machine (JVM) heap size is typically one of the
first parameters tuned in any WebSphere Application Server environment. The
overall goal of tuning the heap size is to not only reduce the frequency of garbage
collections, but also minimize the duration of each garbage collection cycle. This
maximizes the number of cycles granted to the server to perform application work.
The default size of 50 MB minimum and 256 MB maximum is generally too small for
most applications. Increasing the heap size to 512 MB minimum and maximum
generally reduces the frequency of garbage collections and eliminates the overhead
incurred by the JVM for dynamically managing the heap size. For the Development
profile where optimal performance is not a key factor, the minimum is left at 256 MB
to reduce the overall size of the JVM process.
Java virtual machine settings
Tuning the IBM virtual machine for Java
Tuning the HotSpot Java virtual machines (Solaris & HP-UX)
Verbose GC
– The verbose garbage collection output generated by the JVM is an
essential component in fine tuning the JVM heap size and garbage collection policy.
When enabled, this information is written to the application server’s
native_stderr.log. Since there is very little performance overhead associated with
verbose garbage collection and the potential benefit(s) from having this information
can be a crucial piece of diagnostic information, this setting is enabled in both the
Peak and Development templates. The only downside is the risk of filling your hard
disk if the log file size is not monitored.
Note: The IBM J9 JDK does provide the ability to roll the verbose GC log files based
on the number of GC cycles using the following generic command line option. For
further details, please consult the IBM JDK Diagnostic Guide. In previous versions of
these scripts, verbose GC was only enabled on the development template.
-Xverbosegclog(:<file>(,<X>,<Y>))
This policy is rolling through <X> log files named with <file> pattern,
containing <Y> GC cycles. The file name pattern can be something like
verbosegc.%Y%m%d.%H%M%S.%pid.txt
Java virtual machine settings
IBM Java Diagnostics Guide 6 – Garbage Collector command-line options
JVM Diagnostic Trace
– The low-level JVM diagnostic trace facilities are rarely
needed and can be disabled to eliminate associated overhead. Other diagnostic
capabilities like the ability to generate javacores and heap dumps are not disrupted.
Optimized JAXB Processing
- This property controls whether optimization
methods are enabled for Java Architecture for XML Binding (JAXB) unmarshalling
(deserialization) and marshalling (serialization). A value of 0 signifies that
optimization methods are not enabled. A value of 1 enables unmarshalling
optimization methods only, and is the default setting. A value of 2 enables
marshalling optimization methods only. And a value of 3 enables both unmarshalling
and marshalling optimization methods. This value increases throughput for Web
services and applications that use JAXB directly.
Java virtual machine custom properties
Maximum Keepalives Per Request
– This parameter adjusts the number of
requests a keepalive connection can service before the server forces the connection
to be closed. This capability is used to prevent denial of service attacks; however,
the default value of 100 is relatively small. Increasing this parameter has a
significant impact on SSL connections where the initial SSL handshake is a costly
operation.
HTTP transport channel settings
Development Mode
– This feature reduces the time needed to start the
application server by adding the –Xquickstart and -Xverify:none parameters to the
server JVM command line. The quickstart option directs the JVM to perform class
optimization at a lower level, providing an improvement in JVM startup time. The
verify:none parameter directs the JVM to skip class verification which can also
provide benefits to JVM startup time.
Application server settings
Server Component Provisioning
– This feature can potentially reduce the startup
time and memory footprint of the application server by allowing internal server
components to start as needed. For instance, if an application consists of Java
Servlets and JavaServer Pages (JSP
TM
) only, there is no need for the server to start
the EJB container.
Application server settings
Performance Monitoring Infrastructure (PMI) Statistic Set
– The PMI service
is enabled by default and a common set of statistics (basic) are also enabled out-of-
the-box to provide common performance statistics for the server and installed
applications. This service is generally useful for performance tuning and problem
determination, but does add additional overhead. Consequently, we recommend
leaving this service enabled and changing the statistic set to none. This will
effectively disable all PMI counters, but provides the flexibility to enable them at a
later time without having to restart the server. If you do enable these counters, we
recommend selectively enabling only the counters you need in order to reduce
overhead.
Note: In previous versions of these scripts, the entire PMI service was disabled.
Enabling PMI data collection
Authentication Cache Timeout
– The authentication cache timeout controls how
often authentication information is refreshed within the cache. Obtaining
authentication information from an LDAP server or other native authentication
mechanisms is an expensive operation. Increasing the authentication cache timeout
reduces the frequency of these costly updates.
Authentication cache settings
Data Source Connection Pool Size
– The minimum and maximum connection
pool size should be increased to reduce time spent waiting to obtain a datasource
connection from the connection pool. In this case, the maximum pool size is set to
correspond to the default maximum Web Container and ORB thread pool size of 50.
In clustered environments, this setting may overwhelm the database server and
should be adjusted accordingly.
Connection pool settings
Data Source Prepared Statement Cache Size
– The prepared statement cache
optimizes the processing of prepared and callable statements by caching them in a
least-recently-used (LRU) cache. Most applications will utilize more than 10
prepared statements. Consequently, the scripts for the performance test and
production environments increase this value to 50. The Tivoli Performance Viewer
can be used to monitor LRU discards from the prepared statement cache to
determine if the cache size should be increased.
Data access tuning parameters
WebSphere Application Server data source properties
ORB Pass-By-Reference
– This feature allows the server to use pass-by-reference
semantics instead of pass-by-value semantics for Enterprise JavaBean
TM
(EJB)
invocations where the EJB client and remote target exist within the same JVM. This
optimization essentially treats EJBs implementing a remote interface as local and
avoids the requisite object copy. In some cases, this can improve performance by
over 50%. It is also important to note that this setting can cause unexpected
behavior in your application. Since object references are passed as arguments
instead of deep copies of the objects, any changes to the object will be made on the
object itself (not the copy). Consequently, we strongly advise rigorous testing to
ensure this performance optimization does not cause unexpected results in your
application.
Object Request Broker service settings
Thread Pool Size
– The default size of the various threads pools within the
application server are generally well suited for Production and Test environments.
However, for Development environments, the minimum and maximum sizes for the
Web Container, ORB, Default thread pools can be reduced to reduce the memory
footprint requirements of the server.
Thread pool settings
TCP Channel Max Open Connections
– This parameter controls the maximum
number of allowed connections to the server. The default value of 20000 is
relatively high and could lead to stalled websites under failure conditions because
the server continues to accept incoming connections, increasing the servers work
backlog.
Tuning transport channel services
TCP Channel Listen Backlog
– The TCP channel listen backlog property controls
the maximum number of outstanding connection requests that the operating
system can buffer while waiting to accept the connections. If the listen backlog has
been filled with pending connection requests, any additional connection requests
will be rejected. This property in conjunction with the Max Open Connections
property can be effectively used to manage connections to the server.
TCP Transport Channel custom properties
Web Server Plug-in Server IO Timeout
–Also referred to as the read/write
timeout, this parameter dictates how long the plug-in will wait to send a request to
or receive a response from the application server. For applications that require a
significant amount of backend processing (i.e. database intensive workloads,
applications with complex business logic, etc.), the default value of 60 seconds can
prematurely timeout the request which will then be retried by redirecting it to
another application server. The suggested starting value of 900 seconds should
avoid this scenario for most applications; however, this should be further tuned
based on the characteristics of your application.
Application Server property setting for a Web server plug-in
Additional Parameters to Consider
In the original jython-based version of the tuning scripts, the following two
parameters were tuned based on the target environment. Unfortunately, the
property file configuration feature does not support tuning these parameters since
they are application specific. If you would still like to tune these parameters, you
can do so using the following three methods:
•
Application settings found in the Administration Console
•
WebSphere application deployment descriptors
•
Jython wsadmin code snippets in the previous version of the tuning scripts
Override Application Class Reload Interval
– By default, the application server
scans for application class changes every 3 seconds. This is good for development
environments where application changes are expected on a frequent basis, but may
not be necessary in other environments. For instance, in a test environment less
frequent application changes are expected, the default value can be overridden and
increased to 60 seconds. In a production environment, this feature can be disabled
all together by overriding the default value and setting the reload interval to 0. This
is extremely useful when trying to reduce overall cpu cycles consumed by an idle
application server.
Class loading and update detection settings
JSP Reload Interval
– This feature is similar to the application class reload interval,
but extends to an application’s JSP files.
JavaServer Pages (JSP) runtime reloading settings
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