Java Management Extensions

Chapter 6. The MBean Server

So far, we have talked only about the instrumentation level of the JMX architecture. In this chapter, we will take a close look at the core of the JMX architecture, the agent level. This chapter is for those developers who want a deeper understanding of the JMX agent level, are responsible for developing protocol adaptors and connectors, or need to interact with a local MBeanServer instance.

First, we will take a quick look at the MBean server’s role in the JMX agent level, how it is implemented in the RI, how to get a reference to it, and what you can do with that reference once you have it. Next, we will take a closer look at the MBeanServerFactory class and its various methods for obtaining references to the MBean server. Then we will look at the MBeanServer interface, which is how MBeans, JMX agents, and management applications interact with the MBean server. In this section, we will also explore how to register and unregister MBeans, how to use the MBean server to interact with an MBean through its ObjectName, how to register interest in notifications, and how to query the MBean server to return a subset of registered MBeans. This section will be followed by a discussion of the MBeanRegistration interface, which gives the instrumentation developer a means of control over an MBean’s ObjectName, as well as exit points for additional processing before and after the MBean is registered and deregistered. The chapter will conclude with a look at MBeanServerDelegate ...