Running SPECjAppServer2004 benchmark on Geronimo
Still not a success, your help needed!
This article shows how to measure the performance of the Geronimo application server using the industry standard SPECjAppServer2004 benchmark.
Issues still exist that prevent SPECjAppServer2004 from running on Geronimo.
This article is not a success story, but a collection of notes on the progress that has been made in this direction.
Current issue that requires your help is: #Running the benchmark
Disclaimer: This article is created to write down the existing experience and to make it reproducible. It is not targeted to be a comprehensive guide on either product or on merging them together. It's not also a replacement to the products' documentation, but just a step-by-step guide on how to make things work in a simple configuration, as it worked for me. Make sure you at least look through the documentation on both products before you proceed.
SPECjAppServer is a trademark of the Standard Performance Evaluation Corp. (SPEC). The SPECjAppServer2004 results or findings in this publication have not been reviewed or accepted by SPEC, therefore no comparison nor performance inference can be made against any published SPEC result. The official web site for SPECjAppServer2004 is located at http://www.spec.org/jAppServer2004/.
This article is written for SPECjAppServer2004 v1.05 and Geronimo v1.1. For other versions some stages may be different. Version of this article for Geronimo v1.0 is available here.
The described configuration uses as many Geronimo components as possible, including the built-in Derby database and the built-in Jetty or Tomcat servlet container. In fact, the configuration only uses Java, Geronimo, an external servlet container (e. g. Tomcat) and SPECjAppServer2004. To plug external components (most probably, a database), you have to change your configuration accordingly.
This configuration also assumes that all the components (except, possibly, the SPECjAppServer2004 Driver and the SPECjAppServer2004 Supplier Emulator and its servlet container) are run on the same machine. If you want to run the Distributed workload, your configuration will be different.
This configuration uses the Microsoft Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2 operating system, Cygwin shell, Sun Java SE 1.4.2 and Tomcat v5.0.30 to write this article. If you use another OS, Java or servlet container, some stages may be different.
This article uses forward slashes ( / ) for command lines, adjust to backslashes ( \ ) accordingly if you use Windows command prompt.
This article has the following structure:
- #General information
- #Obtaining products
- #Conventions and environment
- #Installing products
- #Configuring Geronimo
- #Configuring SPECjAppServer2004
- #Deploying components
- #Deploying the Supplier Emulator
- #Running the benchmark
- #Processing results
General information
About Geronimo
Geronimo is the Apache Software Foundation Java EE 1.4 certified application server. It is developed under Apache License and can be downloaded freely.
Apache site: http://apache.org
Product site: http://geronimo.apache.org
Documentation page: http://geronimo.apache.org/documentation.html
The best document available is "Apache Geronimo Development and Deployment" book by Aaron Mulder: http://chariotsolutions.com/geronimo/geronimo-html-one-page.html
The second necessary doc is the Wiki page: http://wiki.apache.org/geronimo/
About SPECjAppServer2004
SPECjAppServer2004 is a commercial benchmark for measuring the performance of Java EE application servers.
SPEC site: http://www.spec.org
Product site: http://www.spec.org/jAppServer2004/
FAQ: http://www.spec.org/jAppServer2004/docs/FAQ.html
User's Guide: http://www.spec.org/jAppServer2004/docs/UserGuide.html
Run and Reporting Rules: http://www.spec.org/jAppServer2004/docs/RunRules.html
Obtaining products
Obtaining Geronimo
The latest Geronimo version for now is 1.1.
General download page: http://geronimo.apache.org/downloads.html
Two builds of Geronimo exist, with Jetty or Tomcat servlet container enabled by default. You can download either one at http://geronimo.apache.org/downloads.html, they are slightly larger than 60 MB in size. This document was written primarily using Jetty version, but Tomcat version works fine also.
Obtaining SPECjAppServer2004
SPECjAppServer2004 costs $2000, you can order it online. See FAQ for details.
The latest version is 1.05 coming as the SPECjAppServer2004-Kit-v1.05-050425.jar
file, 12 MB in size.
Conventions and environment
This section contains important notions that mark the important hosts and directories.
Hosts
This article is written in terms of the following machines:
geronimo.host
– the machine where Geronimo is run, with SPECjAppServer2004 deployed.
emulator.host
– the machine where the SPECjAppServer2004 Supplier Emulator is deployed.
driver.host
– the machine where the SPECjAppServer2004 Driver is run. If you use configuration with multiple Drivers, you have to repeat all the operations for this host on all Driver hosts.
master.host
– the main, Masterdriver.host
in configurations with multiple Drivers.
The emulator.host
and the driver.host
may be the same machine.
The geronimo.host
and the emulator.host
may be the same machine, moreover, the SPECjAppServer2004 Supplier Emulator may be deployed into a Geronimo built-in servlet container (Jetty or Tomcat).
The geronimo.host
and the driver.host
may be the same machine, but you have to adjust the Geronimo configuration, as both Geronimo and the SPECjAppServer2004 Driver create RMI Registry on the default port (1099) and would conflict on that.
Sharing geronimo.host
with emulator.host
or driver.host
is contradicting with the SPECjAppServer2004 documentation and would impact the performance severely and invalidate the benchmark results. However technically this is possible.
Directories
This section lists important directories that are futher addressed in this article. They can be chosen arbitrary, but should not overlap.
<GERONIMO>
– directory at thegeronimo.host
where Geronimo is installed.
<SPEC>
– directory at thegeronimo.host
where SPECjAppServer2004 is installed.
<KIT>
– directory at thegeronimo.host
containing the files attached to this article.
<TOMCAT>
– directory at theemulator.host
where Tomcat is installed.
<DRIVER>
– directory at thedriver.host
that is a copy of the<SPEC>
directory.
<DRIVER_GERONIMO>
– directory at thedriver.host
that is a copy of the<GERONIMO>
directory.
<JAVA_HOME>
–JAVA_HOME
location at thedriver.host
.
<OUTPUT>
– directory at thedriver.host
where the SPECjAppServer2004 Driver will store its output.
<DUMP>
– directory at thedriver.host
where the SPECjAppServer2004 Driver will store its temporal files.
It was reported that some components may work incorrectly if working paths are too long or contain spaces. So it's recommended that you avoid long paths and spaces in them.
Installing products
First, save the files attached to this article to a local directory. This will be your <KIT>
directory.
Installing Geronimo
You can easily install Geronimo using the .zip
or .tar.gz
archive.
Extract the downloaded archive to a local directory. The geronimo-1.1
directory is created, that is your <GERONIMO>
directory.
Installing SPECjAppServer2004
Run:
java -jar SPECjAppServer2004-Kit-v1.05-050425.jar
Click Next, read and accept the license agreement, and type in the directory you want the SPECjAppServer2004 to be installed to. This directory will be your <SPEC>
directory.
Click Install.
Wait until the installation completes, then click Ready.
Configuring Geronimo
Adjusting configuration
Adjust the EJB configuration by adding the allowHosts
attribute to the <GERONIMO>/var/config/config.xml
file, as shown below.
This is necessary to allow the SPECjAppServer2004 Driver to remotely access the EJBs deployed in Geronimo.
If your geronimo.host
and your driver.host
are the same machine, you have to adjust the port number of the Geronimo RMI Registry (to e. g. 1199), otherwise it would conflict with the SPECjAppServer2004 Driver that uses the default port of 1099:
Starting Geronimo
Go to your <GERONIMO>
directory.
Start Geronimo by typing:
java -jar bin/server.jar
It will take some time to start. After that, you will see:
If you get another result, particularly, if network errors show up, then something has gone wrong.
Sometimes, the startup fails because some local network addresses are inaccessible. This could happen, for example, if you have used a VPN interface that is disconnected now. By default, Geronimo uses the first local address it comes across to access its components, and may try to use a stale address, causing startup errors.
You may try disabling and then re-enabling the unused network interfaces to resolve such issues.
Accessing the console
Open your web browser and connect to the Geronimo Console at http://geronimo.host:8080/console/
Log in using the user name and password you provided during the installation (system and manager by default).
Now you may investigate the console if you wish.
Creating the database
Go to the downmost link in the console, DB Manager.
Create the benchmark database by typing its name (SPECDB) in the Create DB field and clicking Create.
Locating the SQL files
To create database tables, you can use the default SQL scripts provided in the <SPEC>/schema/sql
directory. However, the directory includes five scripts, and they contain DROP TABLE
commands that would fail if you try to execute them in the console when tables are not yet created.
Instead, it is recommended that you use the allTablesNoDrop.sql file, if you are creating the tables from scratch, or allTables.sql file if you want to drop and recreate the tables. Both files were created from the <SPEC>/schema/sql
files by simple concatenation, allTablesNoDrop.sql also has DROP TABLE
commands removed.
Creating the tables
Make sure SPECDB is selected in Use DB field and then copy-paste the SQL code to SQL Command/s frame. Click Run SQL button above it.
After a short delay, the frame will clear and the Result field below it will say SQL command/s successful. If not – check what you did wrong and try again.
If you use multiple SQL scripts, repeat the operations above for each of them.
Configuring SPECjAppServer2004
Basic configuration
deploy
directory
Go to the <SPEC>/src/deploy
directory and copy the reference
subdirectory with its contents with the name geronimo
.
geronimo.env
file
Go to the <SPEC>/config
directory.
Put the attached geronimo.env template file there. Edit it, make sure you set the values for the following variables:
JAS_HOME=<SPEC>
JAVA_HOME=<JAVA_HOME>
J2EE_HOME=<GERONIMO>
JAS_HOST=geronimo.host
EMULATOR_HOST=emulator.host
Use forward slashes ( / ) as directory separators!
You may leave the other variables intact.
appsserver
file
Edit the <SPEC>/config/appsserver
file – replace the word default there with the word geronimo.
run.properties
file
Edit the <SPEC>/config/run.properties
file. Note that it will be used on the driver.host
and make sure the following variables have correct values:
Url = http:/
/geronimo.host:8080/SPECjAppServer/app?
outDir = <OUTPUT>
dumpDir = <DUMP>
setenv.bat
file
Edit the <SPEC>/bin/setenv.bat
file, make sure you set the values for the following variables:
JAVA_HOME=<JAVA_HOME>
JAS_HOME=<DRIVER>
APPSSERVER=geronimo
Building the application
Go to the <SPEC>
directory.
Clean-up your installation:
ant/bin/ant clean
Build the application and configure it for Geronimo:
ant/bin/ant -Dappserver=geronimo
You will get the BUILD SUCCESSFUL diagnostic.
Make sure the files SPECjAppServer.ear
and Emulator.war
are created in the <SPEC>/jars
directory.
Rename emulator.war
to Emulator.war
.
Preparing database configuration
In the described configuration, the same database is used for all tables.
Go to the <SPEC>/config
directory. Replace the content of each of the *db.properties
files you find there with the contents of the attached db.properties template file. Make sure the pipeDir
variable there points to a valid temporary directory, adjust if necessary.
Loading the tables
Run:
ant/bin/ant -Dappserver=geronimo loaddb
After some time, you will get the BUILD SUCCESSFUL diagnostic.
Deploying components
At this stage you need to deploy the configured components to Geronimo.
Note that if your geronimo.host
and your driver.host
are the same machine, and you changed the port number of the Geronimo RMI Registry, you should specify that port number in all deployer commands, like this:
java -jar bin/deployer.jar --port 1199 ...
Deploying database connector
To deploy a connector to the Derby SPECDB database you created earlier, go to the <GERONIMO>
directory and run:
java -jar bin/deployer.jar --user system --password manager deploy repository/tranql/tranql-connector-derby-embed-xa/1.1/tranql-connector-derby-embed-xa-1.1.rar <KIT>/sjas-db.xml
You will get the Deployed SPEC/SPECjAppServerDB/1.05/car diagnostic.
Deploying JMS connector
To deploy an ActiveMQ JMS connector for SPECjAppServer2004, go to the <GERONIMO>
directory and run:
java -jar bin/deployer.jar --user system --password manager deploy repository/geronimo/ge-activemq-rar/1.1/ge-activemq-rar-1.1.rar <KIT>/sjas-jms.xml
You will get the Deployed SPEC/SPECjAppServerJMS/1.05/car diagnostic.
Deploying the main application
To deploy SPECjAppServer2004 on Geronimo, this configuration uses the deployment plan that was originally found in Geronimo sources at http://svn.apache.org, modified and updated for Geronimo version 1.1.
Go to the <GERONIMO>
directory and run:
java -jar bin/deployer.jar --user system --password manager deploy <SPEC>/jars/SPECjAppServer.ear <KIT>/sjas2004.xml
You will get the Deployed SPEC/SPECjAppServer/1.05/ear diagnostic.
Verifying the deployment
At this stage you may check that the deployment has been done correctly and that SPECjAppServer2004 is operational.
Atomicity tests
Open the deployed SPECjAppServer2004 page: http://geronimo.host:8080/SPECjAppServer/
In the left-hand menu, click the Atomicity Tests link.
You will see the results of three atomicity tests' runs. If all three of them are marked as PASSED, your deployment is correct.
Manual transactions
Open the deployed SPECjAppServer2004 page: http://geronimo.host:8080/SPECjAppServer/
In the left-hand menu, click the Go Trade Autos! or Go Build Cars! link.
Log in with the default credentials (1
) by clicking Log in.
You should see the program interface and be able to perform transactions.
Deploying the Supplier Emulator
To deploy the SPECjAppServer2004 Supplier Emulator at the emulator.host
, use one of the following:
The Geronimo built-in servlet container (in case the emulator.host
and the geronimo.host
are the same machine); or a stand-alone servlet container on the emulator.host
.
Note that SPECjAppServer2004 documentation requires that the Supplier Emulator servlet container should have the keep-alive
option turned off. You can ignore this requirement, but that would impact the performance severely.
Using the Geronimo servlet container
Go to the <GERONIMO>
directory and run:
java -jar bin/deployer.jar --user system --password manager deploy <SPEC>/jars/Emulator.war <KIT>/sjas-emulator.xml
You will get the Deployed SPEC/Emulator/1.05/war @ http://geronimo.host:8080/Emulator diagnostic.
Using a stand-alone servlet container
This configuration assumes that your stand-alone servlet container on the emulator.host
is Tomcat running on the default port (8080).
Install Tomcat to your <TOMCAT>
directory on the emulator.host
.
Do not bother editing <SPEC>/config/tomcat.env
file or running ant/bin/ant -f tomcat.xml
.
Both files are obsolete, they generate the Emulator.war
file, which has already been created at #Building the application phase.
Copy the <SPEC>/jars/Emulator.war
file to the <TOMCAT>/webapps
directory and remove the <TOMCAT>/webapps/Emulator
directory if it exists.
Go to the <TOMCAT>
directory on the emulator.host
and start Tomcat:
bin/catalina run
Veryfying the deployment
Go to the page http://emulator.host:8080/Emulator/
. It should load normally and contain a single directory, dtd
, with two files inside, delivery.dtd
and po.dtd
.
Go to the page http://emulator.host:8080/Emulator/EmulatorServlet
. You should see a page with text like this:
Emulator Servlet seems to work OK
JAS_HOST : emulator.host
JAS_PORT : 8080
Servlet URL : Supplier/DeliveryServlet
Number of Transactions : 0
Servlet invoked without command specified
Running the benchmark
Copy the <GERONIMO>
directory to the driver.host
, the copy will be your <DRIVER_GERONIMO>
directory (in fact you only need some jars from it).
Copy the <SPEC>
directory to the driver.host
, the copy will be your <DRIVER>
directory.
In the <DRIVER>/config/geronimo.env
file adjust the JAS_HOME
variable to the <DRIVER>
directory and J2EE_HOME
variable to the <DRIVER_GERONIMO>
directory.
Go to the <DRIVER>
directory on the driver.host
and run:
bin/setenv.bat
This configures the environment to run the Driver.
To start the Driver itself, run:
bin/driver.bat
If you wish to run a distributed load with multiple Drivers, then after the Driver is started on the first host (the master.host
), start the Driver on other driver hosts like this:
bin/driver.bat master.host
After starting the Driver, you should see the output like this:
This means the Driver started normally.
Note the times for Rampup, SteadyState, Rampdown and Finish to figure out the time needed for the benchmark to complete.
You can interrupt the run at any point with Ctrl-C
.
Sometimes binding exceptions or other problems may occur at the Driver startup. In such a case, interrupt the test run with Ctrl-C
and rerun it again. Sometimes it helps.
It's recommended to reload the database tables before each run, particularly if previous run was not finished correctly. Otherwise, errors like this may occur:
During the run, the following diagnostics may appear in the Driver window:
and in the same time, various TransactionRolledback
and other exceptions of the same kind are being printed in the Geronimo shell.
These diagnostics are probably caused by the fact that TranQL version 1.3 used in Geronimo version 1.1 does not provide the necessary transaction isolation level. Hopefully, this problem will be fixed in TranQL version 1.3.1.
After the run has completed successfuly, you will see the output like this:
The number of JOPS is a final benchmark metric.
For now these values for Geronimo are terribly low, and don't depend on the hardware being used. Probably this is due to some configuration issues that still exist or due to TranQL issue mentioned above.
Processing results
When driver is run, a subdirectory with a numerical name is created in the <OUTPUT>
directory. The subdirectory with the largest number corresponds to the latest run. After the Driver run is complete, the result.props
file is created there, it contains the raw results from the benchmark.
Go to the <DRIVER>/reporter
directory, copy the file Sample_Submission.txt
under arbitraty name (e. g. Your_Submission.txt
) and edit the copy, as described in SPECjAppServer2004 User's Guide :: Section 5 – Results, add the raw data from the result.props
file.
Run the following command to generate an HTML benchmark report, it would be named Your_Submission.report.html
:
java -cp reporter.jar reporter Your_Submission.txt
Run the following command to generate a text-only benchmark report, it would be named Your_Submission.report.txt
:
java -cp reporter.jar reporter -a Your_Submission.txt
For the details on how yo submit your results, see SPECjAppServer2004 User's Guide :: Section 5.3 – Submitting the Results