WebSphere Commerce Version 7.0.0.9 or later

Using the Performance Measurement tool

Use the Performance Measurement tool to generate reports to help you analyze your cache settings and performance. By generating and analyzing these reports, you can change your caching to improve your cache performance.

Before you begin

Ensure that can complete the following tasks in your environment:
  • Configure the size of log files
  • Configure the log level of which layer to measure and at which depth.
  • Analyze the logs that are produced by the server administrator and identify potential improvements.

About this task

To run the Performance Measurement tool to generate reports, you use a command-line utility run the batch file that calls the tool. This file contains the details for the report that you want to generate. For example, the file can include the following information:
  • The list of log files to analyze
  • The location in which to store the reports
  • The type of reports to produce
The tool uses a Cloudscape database to store and aggregate metric data. This database is provided with all versions of WebSphere Commerce for use with only the Performance Measurement tool. You do not need to install this database as the JAR files for this database are included by default in the following directory.
  • SolarisLinuxAIXWC_installdir\performance\lib
  • WindowsWC_installdir\performance\lib
The database is also configured by default to work with the Performance Measurement tool and is created when you run the Performance Measurement tool.

Procedure

  1. Optional: If you want to run the Performance Measurement tool in your production environment, configure the tool to point to the trace.log file. In a development environment, the location for this file does not change and is configured by default for the tool.
    1. Go to the following directory.
      • SolarisLinuxAIXWC_installdir\performance\config
      • WindowsWC_installdir\performance\config
    2. Open the following properties file for editing:
      • runtime-analysis.properties
      • WebSphere Commerce Developeranalysis.properties
    3. Update the values for the properties in this file to configure how the tool generates reports.

      Specifically, update value for the logFileToLoadList property. If you are specifying multiple log files, separate the files with the '|' character. Your log files are generated by logging frameworks such as Java Logging and Log4J. If you include any log file that is not related to performance metrics, the tool ignores the file.

      For information about the properties that you can configure, review the comments for each property within the analysis.properties file.
    4. Save and close the file.
  2. Configure your logging. The Performance Measurement tool uses the log files for your site to gather metric data for generating the reports.
    1. Open the WebSphere Application Server administration console.
    2. Expand Troubleshooting and click Logs and trace.
    3. Click the server for which you want to enable tracing. The logging and tracing options for the server display.
    4. Click Diagnostic Trace. The Diagnostic Trace Service window displays in the workspace.
    5. Click the Configuration or Runtime tab.
      Changes made to Configuration are stored on the file system and applied when the server starts. You must restart the server to pick up any changes. Change the log detail levels in this tab to find issues that originate or occur when the server is initiated. Modifications to the Runtime log detail levels are applied immediately and are lost after the server is restarted.
    6. Select Change Log Detail Levels.
    7. Expand *[All Components] > com.ibm.commerce.* > com.ibm.commerce.foundation.* > com.ibm.commerce.foundation.logging.*. The loggers that the Performance Measurement tool uses are within the com.ibm.commerce.foundation.logging.service.* package.
    8. Select to enable the entire com.ibm.commerce.foundation.logging.service.* package or select the individual logging layers that you want to enable or disable within this package. For more information about the individual logging layers, see Performance measurement loggers.
    9. Click Apply > OK to apply the changes to your server. If you selected to change the log details levels on the Configuration tab, restart your server.
  3. Reproduce the scenario that needs to be measured by running an operation or performance test. When you reproduce the scenario, the metric data is recording in the log files, which the Performance Measurement tool gathers when you generate a report.
  4. Run the tool with a command-line utility to generate the performance reports.
    1. Open a command-line utility and go the following directory:
      • SolarisLinuxAIXWC_installdir/bin
      • WindowsWC_installdir\bin
      • WebSphere Commerce DeveloperWCDE_installdir\bin
    2. Run the following command:
      • SolarisLinuxAIXgeneratePerformanceReport.sh
      • WebSphere Commerce DeveloperWindowsgeneratePerformanceReport.bat
    When you run the tool, the following reports generate:
  5. Analyze the generated reports to identify the processes where the cache settings can be improved.
    The reports are generated within the following directory for your system:
    • SolarisLinuxAIXWC_installdir/performance/reports
    • WindowsWC_installdir\performance\reports
    • WebSphere Commerce DeveloperWCDE_installdir\performance\reports

What to do next

Configure your caching, or make design or architectural changes that are based on your analysis to improve performance.