Using VisualVM with Maven Cargo

Question

We use Maven Cargo to launch our service locally and run tests on it. Here is the configuration of the plugin:

            <plugin>
                <groupId>org.codehaus.cargo</groupId>
                <artifactId>cargo-maven2-plugin</artifactId>
                <version>1.6.8</version>
                <configuration>
                    <container>
                        <containerId>tomcat8x</containerId>
                        <zipUrlInstaller>
                            <url>
                                https://www.someurl.com/tosome.zip
                            </url>
                        </zipUrlInstaller>
                        <dependencies>
                            <dependency>
                                <groupId>javax.mail</groupId>
                                <artifactId>mail</artifactId>
                                <!--<classpath>shared</classpath>-->
                            </dependency>
                        </dependencies>
                    </container>
                    <configuration>
                        <configfiles>
                            <configfile>
                                <file>${project.build.testOutputDirectory}/tomcat-conf/context.xml</file>
                                <todir>conf</todir>
                                <tofile>context.xml</tofile>
                            </configfile>
                        </configfiles>
                        <files>
                            <file>
                                <file>${project.build.testOutputDirectory}/extra-classpath</file>
                                <todir>shared/classes</todir>
                            </file>
                        </files>
                        <properties>
                            <cargo.start.jvmargs>
                                -Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote
                                -Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.ssl=false
                                -Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.authenticate=false
                                -Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.port=1099
<!--                                 -Xdebug-->
<!--                                 -Xrunjdwp:transport=dt_socket,server=y,suspend=y,address=8000-->
<!--                                 -Xnoagent-->
<!--                                 -Djava.compiler=NONE-->
                            </cargo.start.jvmargs>
                            <cargo.servlet.port>${maven.tomcat.port}</cargo.servlet.port>
                            <cargo.tomcat.ajp.port>${cargo.tomcat.ajp.port}</cargo.tomcat.ajp.port>
                            <cargo.rmi.port>${cargo.rmi.port}</cargo.rmi.port>
                        </properties>
                    </configuration>
                    <deployables>
                        <deployable>
                            <groupId>our.stuff</groupId>
                            <artifactId>our-artifact</artifactId>
                            <type>war</type>
                        </deployable>
                    </deployables>
                </configuration>
                <executions>
                    <execution>
                        <id>start-server</id>
                        <phase>pre-integration-test</phase>
                        <goals>
                            <goal>start</goal>
                        </goals>
                    </execution>
                    <execution>
                        <id>stop-server</id>
                        <phase>post-integration-test</phase>
                        <goals>
                            <goal>stop</goal>
                        </goals>
                    </execution>
                </executions>
            </plugin>

We use the following command to launch the Cargo:

clean prepare-package cargo:run -Dcargo.tomcat.ajp.port=9080 -Dmaven.tomcat.port=8080 -Dcargo.rmi.port=9070

I've tried launching the process with both the normal IntelliJ Run button and the VisualVM Launcher one:

In both cases, the local Tomcat server launches properly and awaits requests on 8080, as usual. However, the process does not appear in the Local list in the VisualVM application.

I tried with and without the multiple -Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote args in the <cargo.start.jvmargs>.

I also tried adding the connection locally by right-clicking the Local item and selecting Add JMX Connection and inputting the port value given to the cargo (1099):

But nothing happens.

Precision: I'm very new to VisualVM and am not 100% certain about all this stuff. Especially selecting "JMX".

Answer 1

When you run your Maven command which launches the Cargo, you end up with two new processes. In the picture above, it's Apache Maven (pid 22512) and Tomcat (pid 14080) (note: PIDs are irrelevant and will most probably be different on your machine).

Since our Cargo is configured to use Tomcat, the Tomcat process is the one that we wanted to profile.

I had noticed and tried that before, but the VisualVM application was very unresponsive and I thus had then started exploring other possibilities. Moreover, the second time I tried that and let the Profiler initialize itself fully, the thing was quite unresponsive for a few minutes.