Troubleshooting Java Performance: Detecting Anti-Patterns with Open Source Tools

Troubleshoot the most widespread and pernicious Java performance problems using a set of open-source and freely-available tools that will make you dramatically more productive in finding the root causes of slow performance. This is a brief book that focuses on a small number of performance anti-patterns, and you’ll find that most problems you encounter fit into one of these anti-patterns. The book provides a specific method in a series of steps referred to as the “P.A.t.h. Checklist” that encompasses persistence, alien systems, threads, and heap management. These steps guide you through a troubleshooting process that is repeatable, that you can apply to any performance problem in a Java application. This technique is especially helpful in 'dark' environments with little monitoring. showing how to identify repetitive SQL, and identify architecture-wide performance problems ahead of production rollout.  Learn how to apply load like an expert, and determine how much load to apply to determine whether your system scales. Included are walk-throughs of a dozen server-side performance puzzles that are ready to run on your own machine. Following these examples helps you learn to: vides a long absent, easy-to-follow, performance training regimen that will benefit anyone programming in Java.  elopers are exposed to the most common performance defects that repeatedly show up in Java applications, ones that account for the bulk of slow-performing systems.  Experts and intermediates alike will benefit from the chapters on load generation.

Erik Ostermueller is a Java architect who is passionate about performance engineering. He has spent the last 10 years leading international performance engineering teams, tuning high-throughput Java financial systems in North and South America, Europe and Asia. In 2011, he presented a paper entitled “How to Help Developers (Finally) Find Their Own Performance Defects” at the Computer Measurement Group’s annual conference, where he won “Best Paper” and the “Mullen Award” for best speaker. The proceeds of this award financed an eight-city speaking tour in the US, Canada, the UK, and Italy. 

Erik is the technical lead for the Performance Center of Excellence at FIS Global. He is the founder of heapSpank.org, wuqiSpank.org, and a contributor to JMeter-Plugins.org and other open source projects. He lives in Little Rock, Arkansas and plays soccer, tennis, and the piano.