Introduction

In this page, we are going to describe how to monitor BigBlueButton's performance (memory consumption, CPU usage, threads, etc) using Jconsole and/or JVisualVM.

Jconsole and VisualVM can put load on your server. It is recommended to connect remotely to your server to have correct results.

Details

Generate Keys

Go to the Red5 conf directory

   cd /usr/share/red5/conf

Generate a keystore. You will be prompted for password and other information. Make note of the password you entered as you'll need them later.

   sudo keytool -genkey -alias jconsole -keystore red5JConsoleKeyStore

Check if the keystore has been generated properly.

   keytool -list -keystore red5JConsoleKeyStore

Let's export the keystore so we can use it to connect from JConsole or VisualVM

   sudo keytool -export -alias jconsole -keystore red5JConsoleKeyStore -file jconsole.cert

Now we copy jconsole.cert into the machine where we will run jconsole or VisualVM. Let's put it into a folder called D:\visualvm.

Import the into a file call red5KeyStore. When prompted for a password, enter the password you used when you created the keystore.

D:\visualvm>keytool -import -alias red5 -keystore D:\visualvm\red5KeyStore -file jconsole.cert

Now let's configure Red5 to use the keystore we generated and accept connections using SSL.

Open up /usr/share/red5/conf/red5.properties. Change the value of rtmps.keystorepass to the password you entered when generating the keystore. Also, change jmx.rmi.host to the IP of your Red5 server. And set jmx.rmi.ssl=true.

rtmps.keystorepass=password

# JMX
jmx.rmi.port.registry=9999
jmx.rmi.port.remoteobjects=
jmx.rmi.host=192.168.0.166
jmx.rmi.ssl=true

Open /usr/share/red5/conf/conf/red5-common.xml. Edit the value of remoteSSLKeystore to the keystore we generated (i.e. red5JConsoleKeyStore).

        <bean id="jmxAgent" class="org.red5.server.jmx.JMXAgent" init-method="init">
                <!-- The RMI adapter allows remote connections to the MBeanServer -->
                <property name="enableRmiAdapter" value="true"/>
                <property name="rmiAdapterPort" value="${jmx.rmi.port.registry}"/>
                <property name="rmiAdapterRemotePort" value="${jmx.rmi.port.remoteobjects}"/>
                <property name="rmiAdapterHost" value="${jmx.rmi.host}"/>
                <property name="enableSsl" value="${jmx.rmi.ssl}"/>
                <!-- Starts a registry if it doesnt exist -->
                <property name="startRegistry" value="true"/>
                <!-- Authentication -->
                <property name="remoteAccessProperties" value="${red5.config_root}/access.properties"/>
                <property name="remotePasswordProperties" value="${red5.config_root}/password.properties"/>
                <property name="remoteSSLKeystore" value="${red5.config_root}/red5JConsoleKeyStore"/>
                <property name="remoteSSLKeystorePass" value="${rtmps.keystorepass}"/>
                <!-- Mina offers its own Mbeans so you may integrate them here -->
                <property name="enableMinaMonitor" value="false"/>
        </bean>

Make note of the username and password in /usr/share/red5/conf/password.properties, you will need it when connecting using JConsole and VisualVM. If you want to change it from the default, you can go ahead.

red5user changeme

From your monitoring machine, startup JConsole passing in the location of the keystore and the password you entered when generating the keystore.

   D:\visualvm>jconsole -J-Djavax.net.ssl.keyStore="D:\visualvm\red5KeyStore" -J-Djavax.net.ssl.keyStorePassword=password -J-Djavax.net.ssl.trustStore="D:\visualvm\red5KeyStore"

You will be prompted to connect to the Red5 server. Use your server ip. Enter the username and password defined in /usr/share/red5/conf/password.properties

   service:jmx:rmi://192.168.0.166:9999/jndi/rmi://192.168.0.166:9999/red5

You should now be able to monitor Red5 using JConsole.

For JVisualVM, the steps are not different. From your monitoring machine, startup JConsole passing in the location of the keystore and the password you entered when generating the keystore.

D:\visualvm>visualvm -J-Djavax.net.ssl.keyStore="D:\visualvm\red5KeyStore" -J-Djavax.net.ssl.keyStorePassword=password -J-Djavax.net.ssl.trustStore="D:\visualvm\red5KeyStore"

You will be prompted to connect to the Red5 server. Use your server ip. Enter the username and password defined in /usr/share/red5/conf/password.properties

   service:jmx:rmi://192.168.0.166:9999/jndi/rmi://192.168.0.166:9999/red5

You should now be able to monitor Red5 using JVisualVM.

References

An idiot's guide to RMI/JMX remote connections - without SSL / authentication

Monitor Your Applications With JConsole - Part 2