Standard JVM profilers and lightweight options are both useful during development, whereas APM tools are what you need for production
Debugging performance issues in production can be a pain and in some cases impossible without the right tools. Java profilers have been around forever, but the profilers most developers think about are only one type.
Let’s dive into the three different kinds of Java profilers:
Products like VisualVM, JProfiler, YourKit, and Java Mission Control .
A standard Java profiler certainly provide the most data, but not necessarily the most usable information. This depends on the type of debugging task. These profilers will track all method calls and memory usage. This allows a developer to dive into the call structure at whatever angle they choose.
Products like XRebel and Stackify Prefix .
Lightweight profilers take a different approach at tracking your application by injecting themselves right into the code.
Aspect profilers are pretty easy to set up but are limited in what they can monitor and are encumbered by detailing out everything you want to be tracked. Java Agents have a big advantage in their tracking depth but are much more complicated to write.
APM tools like New Relic, AppDynamics, Stackify Retrace, Dynatrace.
All the profilers so far have been great for development, but tracking how your system performs in production is critical. Production is always a different landscape – development and staging setups typically don’ t have the same datasets and load.
Java APM tools typically use the Java Agent profiler method but with different instrumentation rules to allow them to run without affecting production performance. The trick with these profilers is to provide the right information in a smart way to not take up CPU cycles.
The biggest problem with APM solutions is definitely their pricing. They have traditionally been so expensive that only the largest enterprises could afford them. It doesn’ t make a lot of sense to spend $100 a month on a server at Azure or AWS and then spend another $200 a month for a product like New Relic.
Monitoring tools shouldn’ t cost more than the servers!
