Java Profiling with DTrace

DTrace, a dynamic tracing framework on Solaris is a valuable and extremely easy-to-use tool if you find yourself analyzing Java performance issues on Solaris. While there is a lot of information on DTrace available (see the DTrace Wiki, which includes an extensive user guide), less information is available on using DTrace specifically with Java applications. My motivation with this post is to focus on profiling Java applications with DTrace.

Quick Tour

If you're not at all familiar with DTrace, look at the Getting Started section of the user guide. In short, DTrace allows you to specify a set of actions you would like performed at a location of interest (in the kernel or an application). A location of interest is referred to as a probe. In addition to a numerical ID, each probe is identified by the following four pieces of information:

• The probe Provider name
• The probe Module
• The name of the Function where the probe is located
• A Name for the probe, designed for human readability