Best Tools and Tips for Java GC Log Analysis

on January 27, 2021

Java Garbage Collector (GC) logs are used for memory management and object allocation and promotion. GC logs consist of critical information such as the duration of the GC process, the number of objects promoted, and more. It includes details of the entire GC process and the resources it uses. Teams analyze these logs to detect issues and improve the overall performance of JVM applications.

How Does It Work?

Unlike manual processes where developers need to mark and delete objects, Java Garbage Collector automatically identifies and removes objects or components no longer used by Java programs. The entire process frees up space and helps developers save time and be more efficient.

How Do GC Logs Benefit Organizations?

Application performance tuning is complicated, and Java GC logs offer a unique way of gaining in-depth insights into Java-based applications. GC logs reveal object allocation patterns, diagnose issues like disk, CPU, and memory-related issues, and enhance Java-based application performance.

Why Should Organizations Use a Java GC Log Analysis Tool?

Limited visualization of GC logs can lead to time-consuming search and unidentified obsolete objects. It can also result in memory leaks, long GC pauses, and slow log analysis and monitoring. It can also increase mean time to resolution and impact the performance of Java-based applications.

Moreover, in distributed environments, where multiple frameworks, servers, and applications are used, it becomes challenging to manually analyze massive volumes of Java GC logs.

Organizations should use a centralized log management tool to automate Java GC log analysis. These tools help IT teams correlate different infrastructure and application logs, providing a flawless logging experience.

Outlined below are some top log analysis tools to analyze, monitor, and manage massive volumes of Java GC logs.

SolarWinds Loggly

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SolarWinds® Loggly® is a powerful log analysis tool with a unique approach to managing and monitoring Java GC logs. With its agentless architecture, the tool collects information quickly without installing proprietary agents. The tool aggregates, centralizes, and imports logs through rsyslog. Developers use these logs to correlate data and resolve GC issues such as memory leaks and premature object allocation.

Loggly can automatically detect GC logs from the distributed stack using Lucene query syntax. With its enhanced searching and analytical capabilities, the tool can detect and troubleshoot issues faster. Moreover, organizations can use Loggly to archive older GC logs on AWS S3 Buckets to fulfill compliance requirements. Moreover, the intuitive and customizable dashboards include charts, graphs, and tables designed to simplify the tracking of GC activity. Teams can share dashboards within their organization to smoothen the process of GC log analysis.

GCPlot

©2021  GCPlot

GCPlot is an open-source log analysis designed to collect Java GC logs instantly. It makes log analysis effortless with its root-cause analysis, easy-to-understand graphs, and statistics. The tool uses high-end technology such as end-to-end SSL encryption and powerful visualization capabilities to ensure secure traffic.

Organizations can safeguard business-critical information using database backups, health checks, and clustering features of the tool. Teams can visualize Java GC logs and crucial information in elaborate reports and graphs. GCPlot can run on Docker containers without requiring external configuration.

GCViewer

GCViewer is a free log viewer and analyzer that helps teams detect and visualize the GC logs generated by Java Virtual Machines. The tool plays a significant role in detecting the reasons behind Java application slowdowns.

To use the tool, developers need to aggregate useful GC log files and upload them into GCViewer. The tool displays charts and graphs with information regarding GC events, size of memory pools, heap consumption, frequency and duration of GC pauses, memory usage, and more.

IBM GCMV

Garbage Collection Memory Visualizer (GCMV) is a logging tool designed by IBM developers to simplify the analysis of GC logs generated by JVM. It automatically detects the additional output of GC logs and helps developers track memory leaks and space-consuming objects to improve application performance. The tool can also parse logs, including IBM Java among others.

With IBM GCMV, organizations can easily monitor GC performance, Java heap size, and more. It also helps you determine the best GC policy teams can use.

GCeasy

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GCeasy is a logging tool used to analyze Java GC logs. It uses machine learning and auto-detection capabilities to track issues on Java Virtual Machines. With its machine learning algorithms, IT teams can easily detect anomalies, resolve memory leak issues, GC log problems, and save developers’ time.

The tool also generates elaborate reports with metrics such as key performance indicators and GC statistics to help teams resolve GC log issues. Additionally, GCeasy uses the REST API to quickly monitor and analyze all the logs with a simple code. Simply enable GC logs, upload all the Java GC logs, use REST API to monitor massive volumes of logs instantly, and visualize reports to identify improvement areas.

Conclusion

Manual memory management is a cumbersome and error-prone process. Java offers Garbage Collection to automate memory management and object allocation and promotion. However, to ensure the smooth functionality of Garbage Collector, developers should regularly monitor and analyze GC logs. GC log analysis is one of the best ways to identify issues, fix bottlenecks, and seamlessly run Java-based applications. The tools highlighted above are advanced GC log analyzers explicitly designed to monitor and analyze Java GC logs.

SolarWinds Loggly is an all-in-one solution designed to help organizations analyze logs automatically and view reports around GC components and performance. Its robust features and fast troubleshooting capabilities can handle, search, and analyze huge volumes of logs. Additionally, it notifies teams by sending instant alerts about GC issues, events, and memory leaks.

Although choosing a tool entirely depends on your organization’s requirements, you can download free trials of GC log analysis tools to better understand their functionalities and make an informed decision.

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