As more enterprises roll out J2EE-based e-commerce applications, users are finding that the tools available to monitor and trouble-shoot such complex software often fall short.
Last week, two startups delivered new releases of their dueling Java 2 Enterprise Edition application trouble-shooting tools. The releases promise to cut the time it takes to pinpoint the source of performance outages or slowdowns.
CovaSoft Inc., of Austin, Texas, released its CovaOne application management tools along with CovaOne Knowledge Pack for BEA Systems Inc.s WebLogic. The tools detail the most common cross-domain problems in their respective environments to help identify performance problems.
Precise Software Inc., of Westwood, Mass., for its part, introduced Precise/Indepth for WebLobic, which incorporates new technology that can automate root-cause analysis of J2EE application performance outages or slowdowns.
Both vendors are among a growing legion of small, nimble startups providing greater depth of monitoring and application performance management for J2EE applications.
Although users have resorted to creating tools to manage WebLogic-based applications, the tools dont provide enough functionality and are costly to maintain, users said. And the major enterprise management players—Hewlett-Packard Co., IBMs Tivoli unit, Computer Associates International Inc. and BMC Software Inc.—have not filled the gap.
Despite more-advanced offerings from HPs OpenView unit, the tools dont yet hit the mark, according to early CovaOne user Joe Lacik, vice president of IS at Aviall Inc., in Dallas. “Even the tools theyve done beyond [OpenView] Network Node Manager still smell like, taste like, look like HP OpenView. Im sure a year or two from now theyll be where CovaSoft is now.”
Since deploying CovaOne, Avialls IT people “are spending a lot more time fixing and less time diagnosing, and we have fewer problems,” Lacik said.
CovaOne with its Knowledge Pack for WebLogic provides immediate knowledge of the environment combined with the ability to look at a system as a whole, officials said. The tool automates root-cause analysis and can take corrective actions. CovaOne can also gather information from sources such as operating systems and Web, application and database servers and predict when a certain scenario will occur.
So, too, does Precise/Indepth for WebLogic. With its SmartTune technology, it provides automated root-cause analysis of J2EE application performance problems. It also suggests corrective actions.
More impressive is the depth of instrumentation the tool provides and the ability to trace performance through the layers of a multitiered application architecture, said early Precise/Indepth user Mark White, chief technology officer at Realeum Inc., in Alexandria, Va.
Both tools are available now.