VisualVM 1.2.1 Released
VisualVM 1.2.1 has been released to fix compatibility issues with JDK 6 Update 17 (and newer) and several other problems:
- Issue 333: HeapWalker in VisualVM doesn't work with JDK 6 Update 17+
- Issue 327: Maximum value in Monitor charts is Integer.MAX_VALUE
- Issue 332: NPE in VisualVM-Sampler
See the Release Notes for more details. VisualVM 1.2.1 can be downloaded at https://visualvm.dev.java.net.
VisualVM 1.2 Released
New version of the VisualVM tool has been released. VisualVM 1.2 introduces many new features and improvements, extends the API for plugins and fixes many bugs.
These are some of the new features as mentioned in the Release Notes:
- Sampling CPU and Memory profiler plugin
- Support for multiple
jstatdconnections on a single local/remote host - New charts with dynamic tooltips, public Charts API for plugins
- Monitor and Threads tab are saved into Application Snapshot
- Properties UI for Applications, Hosts and Snapshots, public Properties API for plugins
- Customizable proxy settings in Options dialog
- UI for customizing SSL certificates in Options dialog
- Built on NetBeans Platform & profiler 6.7.1:
- Exporting profiler snapshots to HTML, XML and CSV
- Computing retained size in HeapWalker
- OQL scripting support in HeapWalker
- Thread stack traces at the heap dump in HeapWalker
- Improved appearance on Mac OS X
VisualVM 1.2 can be downloaded at https://visualvm.dev.java.net. Feedback to VisualVM developers can be sent using this mailing list. The API documentation can be found here.
VisualVM 1.2 Test Build Released
VisualVM 1.2 Test Build has been released at https://visualvm.dev.java.net. The developers are asking the community to help with stabilizing the release by downloading the Test Build, trying out the new features and providing feedback at feedback@visualvm.dev.java.net or filing bug reports into the Issue Tracker.
The major new features in VisualVM 1.2 will include a sampling CPU and memory profiler, enhanced support for jstatd connections, redesigned charts and much more. Details about the release with a more detailed list of improvements are available in the Release Notes document.
Java VisualVM Blogging Contest Results Announced
The Java VisualVM Blogging Contest results have (finally!) been announced at http://java.sun.com/community/javavisualvm. Congratulations to the winners and a big thank you to all participants!
NetBeans IDE 6.7 Released
The NetBeans IDE 6.7 has been released at http://www.netbeans.org. News in this release are listed in NetBeans IDE 6.7 Release Information, release notes are available here.
The profiler enhances heap analysis capabilities by supporting the OQL scripting in the HeapWalker (hit F1 in the OQL Console to get a detailed help), computing retained sizes for each instance on the heap and listing first N largest objects by retained size. The Overview tab introduces information about number of objects pending for finalization and thread call stacks at the heap dump if available.
The other major profiler improvements include support for exporting profiler results (live results, profiler snapshots, telemetry data) to CSV, HTML and XML and the self-profiling service called "Profile Me Now!" which helps to debug IDE performance problems.
To get a summary information about new profiler features and bugfixes see the NetBeans profiler 6.7 Release Notes.
Java VisualVM Now Available in Mac OS X
Apple released Java VisualVM as part of Java for Mac OS X 10.5 Update 4. To launch Java VisualVM, run jvisualvm from the command line. This Java update is available via Software Update and manual download from http://support.apple.com/downloads/Java_for_Mac_OS_X_10_5_Update_4.
There is Getting Started with VisualVM for those those who want to get more information about the tool.
JDK 6 Update 14 Includes Latest VisualVM 1.1.1
The just released JDK 6u14 includes the latest version of the VisualVM tool. According to the Release Notes there are many improvements and bugfixes in the tool since the JDK 6u13:
- CPU usage and GC activity graph in the Monitor tab
- Table view in the Threads tab
- Command line options:
--openpid,--openjmx,--openfile - Compare Memory Snapshots action in the context menu
- Copy To Clipboard / Save To File buttons in the About dialog
- Monitoring IBM JVM via JMX connection
- Based on NetBeans Platform 6.5 and NetBeans Profiler 6.5
- Faster computation of references, and improved readability of path to GC root in HeapWalker
- Improved integration of the Visual GC tool
- List of bugfixes
Note that there's a Java VisualVM Blogging Contest in progress, you can win USD $500 if you try the tool and blog about your experience with it.
Java VisualVM Blogging Contest
Java VisualVM Blogging Contest has been announced and started at http://java.sun.com/community/javavisualvm. If you enter the contest and blog about either the opensource VisualVM tool or Java VisualVM tool available in your JDK/bin folder you can win up to USD $500:
The blogging contest starts on April 23rd, 2009 and ends on June 24th, 2009. You can enter the contest using the Submit link on the Blogging Contest page. See more information about the contest in Blogging Contest FAQ, official contest rules are available here.
All the information you need to get started with VisualVM is available in the VisualVM Documentation and Resources, you can also check the Java VisualVM documentation. Useful tips on using the tool are mentioned on NetBeans Profiler (this) Blog, great docs about extending the tool can be found on Geertjan's Blog.
Searching for some inspiration? You can check what the others already wrote about VisualVM. Happy blogging and good luck!
VisualVM 1.1.1 Multi-Language Release
The multi-language version of VisualVM 1.1.1 has been released at https://visualvm.dev.java.net. The tool has been translated to Japanese (ja) and Simplified Chinese (zh_CN). Also the Introduction to VisualVM (ja, cn) and Getting Started with VisualVM (ja, cn) documents have been translated. The bits are available for download here.
If using appropriate locales in your OS (ja or zh_CN), the tool should start with localized messages automatically. If you don't use one of these locales and still want to use the localized tool, you can use a special command-line switch to start VisualVM:
visualvm --locale jaor
visualvm --locale zh:CNIf you have already used the not localized VisualVM 1.1.1 tool, you may need to delete the VisualVM user directory (Help | About | Details | Userdir) to have all the strings correctly localized.
VisualVM 1.1.1 Released
VisualVM 1.1.1 tool has been released at https://visualvm.dev.java.net. This version delivers several important bugfixes and improves memory monitoring capabilities.
The most significant news are two plugins available on VisualVM 1.1.1 Plugin Center:
- Memory Sampler plugin: this plugin periodically polls the monitored application and lists classes, instances and live bytes allocated on Heap and PermGen. This is almost the same information as provided by live memory results of the built-in profiler but without any instrumentation and available for multiple applications at the same time. An advantage over the built-in profiler is the possibility to display delta values between the samples. Note that this plugin only works with local Java applications running Sun JDK 6 or 7.
- Improved Visual GC plugin: the Visual GC tool integration into VisualVM has been improved, the graphs are now displayed in a subtab for each monitored application. It works for both local and remote applications where jvmstat is available (jstatd must be running on remote hosts). Note that this plugin works only with Sun JDK 1.4.2 and newer.
The most important bugfixes are:
- Issue 233: fixed compatibility problems with JDK 6 Update 12, VisualVM now works correctly with this JDK even without the VisualVM-Extensions plugin.
- Issue 242: CPU utilization chart in Monitor tab introduced in VisualVM 1.1 has been fixed to display correct values on multiprocessor systems.
To get more information about the tool, download it and start using it, visit the project pages at https://visualvm.dev.java.net. If you want to provide some feedback to VisualVM developers, let them know on a mailing list.
VisualVM Updated To Correctly Recognize JDK 6 Update 12
A problem has been identified in VisualVM this week, the tool is unable to handle the recently released JDK 6 Update 12. It's caused by an updated HotSpot version (11.2), VisualVM doesn't recognize it and fails to detect any running Java application if at least one application is running the 6u12.
Today a fix for this problem has been released for VisualVM 1.1, it's delivered by the VisualVM-Extensions plugin via the Plugin Center. If you haven't installed the plugin yet, use Tools | Plugins | Available Plugins to download and install the plugin. If previous version of the plugin is already installed, you can get the update using Tools | Plugins | Updates. If you cannot connect to the Plugin Center (firewall etc.), you can download the plugin file manually and install it using Tools | Plugins | Downloaded.
In the following days the fix will be available also for the previous VisualVM and Java VisualVM releases. Till then you should use the patched VisualVM 1.1, also the Java VisualVM bundled with JDK 6 Update 12 works fine.
Updated: the fix is now available on Plugin Center for each affected VisualVM / Java VisualVM version.
NetBeans Profiler is The Development Utility of The Year 2009
The NetBeans profiler developers are proud to announce that the profiler won the Development Utility category in the Developer.com Product of the Year 2009 Awards. We would like to thank all of you who voted for the profiler and to all the profiler users for their support!
Moreover, this is also a great success for the VisualVM tool and its users, since it's building on top of the NetBeans profiler and the NetBeans Platform, which won the Development Tool category.
Java VisualVM Screencast
A screencast of the Java VisualVM tool has been published at http://java.sun.com, direct link to the flash video is here.
If you haven't tried VisualVM yet, this is a great opportunity to see the tool in action. And if you like it, getting started is really easy - it's already in your JDK installation (since JDK 6 Update 7), just launch bin/jvisualvm!
Profiler Update in Patch1 for NetBeans IDE 6.5
The recently released Patch 1 for the NetBeans IDE 6.5 delivers several important profiler bugfixes. If you are using the NetBeans profiler, we strongly recommend you to apply this update.
VisualVM 1.1 Released
New version of the VisualVM tool has been released. VisualVM 1.1 introduces many new features and improvements, extends the API for plugins and delivers a complete JavaDoc documentation. Now integrates with the Eclipse IDE and IntelliJ IDEA!
These are the new features of VisualVM 1.1 as mentioned in the Release Notes:
- Monitoring CPU usage and Garbage Collector activity for each application in the Monitor tab
- Table view in the Threads tab (introduced by the NetBeans profiler 6.5)
- Three commandline options to enable using VisualVM as an application or snapshot viewer:
--openpid <pid>starts VisualVM if not already running and opens a Java application with the process id--openjmx <hostname:port>starts VisualVM if not already running and opens a Java application defined by a JMX connection--openfile <file>starts VisualVM if not already running and opens a supported file (*.tdump, *.hprof, *.nps, *.apps)
- Compare Memory Snapshots action available in Applications window context menu for two selected comparable snapshots
- About dialog allows to copy configuration information to clipboard and save the logfile to an external file
- IBM JVM can be monitored by VisualVM using a JMX connection
- Eclipse integration plugin which starts VisualVM along with the monitored application directly from the IDE
- Integration with IntelliJ IDEA is already available, see the Profiler Plugin by Esko Luontola
- Experimental support for HP-UX PA-RISC platform (incl. profiling)
The last significant change is using the latest NetBeans Platform and profiler 6.5 - this means many framework and profiler bugfixes being available also in VisualVM.
VisualVM 1.1 can be downloaded at https://visualvm.dev.java.net. Feedback to VisualVM developers can be sent using this mailing list. The online JavaDoc documentation can be found here. Note that there's also a Releases Overview page available which lists all VisualVM releases and shows which VisualVM version is included in JDK as Java VisualVM.
