WebLogic 8.1 and Chainsaw

[Jeff Longland <jl...@uwo.ca>]

I'm currently administering a Java app running on WebLogic 8.1.  The app 
uses log4j to handle logging events and I have setup a few socket 
appenders to monitor classes important in our day-to-day operations. 
Chainsaw has been great for staying on top of critical errors real-time 
instead of the traditional tail/grep/less method.  While speaking with a 
vendor rep, I was informed that running Chainsaw could be detrimental to 
a production system.  The vendor's belief is that a hang in the Chainsaw 
client could cause WebLogic to hang.  I was just curious if there's any 
validity to such a claim?

Thanks,
Jeff

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Re: WebLogic 8.1 and Chainsaw

[Jeff Longland <jl...@uwo.ca>]

Just took a look at the docs for AsyncAppender - because it runs on its 
own thread, should Chainsaw ever hang - the only thing affected is 
logging, correct?

I'm in complete agreement Paul - "The penalty, like the normal cost of 
any logging, is often worth the price".  It was suggested to me that if 
I wanted to monitor a production system with Chainsaw that I should 
consider binding traffic to a different network interface.  This would 
alleviate some network traffic, but not the overhead of serializing. 
Generally speaking, what sort of resources does a socket(hub)appender 
consume?

Jeff

Paul Smith wrote:
>>I'm currently administering a Java app running on WebLogic 8.1.  The app
>>uses log4j to handle logging events and I have setup a few socket
>>appenders to monitor classes important in our day-to-day operations.
>>Chainsaw has been great for staying on top of critical errors real-time
>>instead of the traditional tail/grep/less method.  While speaking with a
>>vendor rep, I was informed that running Chainsaw could be detrimental to
>>a production system.  The vendor's belief is that a hang in the Chainsaw
>>client could cause WebLogic to hang.  I was just curious if there's any
>>validity to such a claim?
> 
> 
> It is potentially possible that a hang in a Chainsaw client could prevent
> the server thread that is doing the appending from continuing, which is why
> you could consider wrapping the SocketAppender or SocketHubAppender in a
> AsyncAppender.  Shutting down Chainsaw or killing it would free that thread
> immediately though.
> 
> I've never had any problems monitoring a production box with Chainsaw.
> Under seriously loaded systems the cost of sending the data over the socket
> could add some delays, but then when it's under load, you're probably
> interested in what's going on anyway.... The penalty, like the normal cost
> of any logging, is often worth the price.
> 
> This is all IMHO of course.  YMMV.
> 
> Paul Smith
> 
> 
> 
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RE: WebLogic 8.1 and Chainsaw

[Paul Smith <ps...@aconex.com>]

> I'm currently administering a Java app running on WebLogic 8.1.  The app
> uses log4j to handle logging events and I have setup a few socket
> appenders to monitor classes important in our day-to-day operations.
> Chainsaw has been great for staying on top of critical errors real-time
> instead of the traditional tail/grep/less method.  While speaking with a
> vendor rep, I was informed that running Chainsaw could be detrimental to
> a production system.  The vendor's belief is that a hang in the Chainsaw
> client could cause WebLogic to hang.  I was just curious if there's any
> validity to such a claim?

It is potentially possible that a hang in a Chainsaw client could prevent
the server thread that is doing the appending from continuing, which is why
you could consider wrapping the SocketAppender or SocketHubAppender in a
AsyncAppender.  Shutting down Chainsaw or killing it would free that thread
immediately though.

I've never had any problems monitoring a production box with Chainsaw.
Under seriously loaded systems the cost of sending the data over the socket
could add some delays, but then when it's under load, you're probably
interested in what's going on anyway.... The penalty, like the normal cost
of any logging, is often worth the price.

This is all IMHO of course.  YMMV.

Paul Smith



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