New! IBM Extensions for Memory Analyzer

The IBM Extensions for Memory Analyzer bring additional capabilities to the Memory Analyzer tools, extending them with capabilities for debugging generic Java applications, and capabilities for debugging specific IBM software products by building knowledge of those products into the extensions.

The IBM Extensions for Memory Analyzer currently offers extensions covering:

• Utilities
• Java SE Runtime
• WebSphere Application Server
• WebSphere eXtreme Scale
• CICS Transaction Gateway
  

The IBM Extensions were previously an IBM alphaWorks project, which has now graduated to an IBM Support Assistant Tech Preview.

How does it work?

The IBM extensions provide two types of additional features to Memory Analyzer: always on extensions, which require no action from the user, and pull down menu extensions, which provide the ability for users to generate reports and information about various parts of the application.

Always on Extensions:
Some of the IBM extensions are "always on". These add information to the description of the Java objects when they are displayed in one of the Memory Analyzer views. For example the MemoryStore object, which is the parent object for the collection of HTTP Sessions in WebSphere Application Server, now describes how many sessions it stored, and which web application those sessions are for.

Pull down menu extensions:
A number of the IBM extensions are executable queries that can be found under the Query Browser pull down menu. The IBM extensions can be found under the "IBM Extensions" category and are divided into three sub-categories: Java SE Runtime, CICS Transaction Gateway and WebSphere Application Server.

Where can I learn more?

You can find out more about using the IBM Extensions for Memory Analyzer from the following resources:
Debugging from Dumps; an article on developerWorks.
Debugging WebSphere Application Server from Dumps; an article on developerWorks.
Debugging from Dumps; a web cast on the WebSphere Support Technical Exchange.