Prepare to Install the Java Agent

Consider the following as you decide where and how to deploy the Java Agent:

  • The user under which the JVM runs must have write privileges to the conf and logs directories in the Java Agent home (privileges to the conf (<JAVA_AGENT_HOME>/ver<VERSION>/). To achieve this, you can install the agent as the same user that owns the JVM or as an administrator on the host machine. You can restrict the remaining contents of the agent directory to read-only access.
  • To secure communications between the Java Agent and your Controller, see Enable SSL for the Java Agent.
  • If the agent connects to the Controller through a local proxy, you must configure proxy settings for the agent. See "Proxy Properties for the Controller" in Java Agent Configuration Properties.
  • The Java Agent supports sharing a single agent between multiple JVMs running on the same machine. If you choose this deployment scenario, you will want to specify settings in a combination of system properties and the versioned configuration file. See Instrument Multiple JVMs on a Single Machine for example configurations.

For cURL installation, see Download Splunk AppDynamics Software.

Note: The Java Agent is one type of bytecode injection (BCI) agent. To prevent unforeseen issues with other BCI agents, only supports environments running the Java Agent as the sole BCI agent on the JVM.

You can run multiple BCI Agents on the JVM at your own risk. For Java Agent <= 4.5.16, you can decrease the chances of conflict with other agents by specifying the following command-line option:

-Dappdynamics.agent.prefer.retransformClasses=true

Java Agent >= 4.5.17 automatically enables this option if they detect the presence of other agents.

Instrument a Custom Java Runtime Image

You can use the Java Agent to instrument an application running on a custom Java runtime image constructed with J-link. To instrument the agent, the custom runtime requires these modules:

  • jdk.management
  • java.logging
  • jdk.unsupported
Note:

jdk.jcmd is not a required module for the custom runtime. However, it is required for the proper functioning of Object Instance Tracking. See Object Instance Tracking for Java.

Splunk AppDynamics assumes that all packages from Java.se are installed.