JBoss Operation Network (JON) installation tutorial

In this tutorial we will learn how to install JBoss Operation Network (JON) which provides centralized control, configuration, and visibility to JBoss applications and related infrastructure.

JBoss Operation Network is part of RedHat subscription, however you can download a trial version at https://access.redhat.com/downloads#eval

jboss operation network JON tutorial

Unpack the JON server into a folder of your like:

jar xvf jon-server-3.0.1.GA.zip

Now Download from the same location the EAP Plugin pack for JBoss ON which will allow your EAP to be monitored by JON:

Unzip the plugin pack jon-plugin-pack-eap-3.1.2.GA.zip into the folder jon-server-3.0.1.GA\plugins of your installation

Installing the database

 In order to work , the JON needs a database where to store metrics and other kind of information. You can opt for Oracle or PostgreSQL. In this tutorial we will show how to use PostgreSQL

Start PostgreSQL  using the administrator user and create one user named rhqadmin and one database named as well rhqadmin:


C:\Program Files\PostgreSQL\8.3\bin>psql -U postgres
Insert Password for user postgres

Welcome to psql 7.4.16, the PostgreSQL interactive terminal.
Type:  \\copyright for distribution terms
       \\h for help with SQL commands
       \\? for help on internal slash commands
       \\g or terminate with semicolon to execute query
       \\q to quit

postgres=# CREATE USER rhqadmin PASSWORD 'rhqadmin';
CREATE ROLE
postgres=# CREATE DATABASE rhq OWNER rhqadmin;
CREATE DATABASE
postgres=#

Now restart the PostgreSQL service

Installing JON

In order to start JON, you have to move to the bin folder of your installation and start the rhq server:

C:\jon-server-3.0.1.GA\bin>rhq-server.bat start
Starting the RHQ Server [rhqserver-EV2C768AE0A93C] service...
RHQ Server [rhqserver-EV2C768AE0A93C] started.

The RHQ Server process will start in the background,

Now point your browser to http://localhost:7080/. Because the RHQ Server has not completed its installation yet, this URL will take you to the
RHQ Server Installer web application.

jboss operation network JON tutorial

By default, the installer displays only the basic settings required for installation.
Point to your PostgreSQL and verify that the connection to the database is ok.

jboss operation network JON tutorial

Now complete the installation by clicking on the Install Server button at the bottom of the page:

JBoss JON tutorial EAP

Starting the Agent

In order to collect data from your services, an agent needs to be installed on each of the machines being monitored. The most common setup is to have the RHQ agent installed on the same machine on which the EAP is running. If you have multiple machines, an agent can be installed on each machine.
However, if you want to get started quickly with RHQ, you can simply activate the embedded agent that ships with the RHQ distribution. In order to activate the embedded agent, find rhq-server-properties, which is located in the bin folder
of your JON distribution, and enable it by changing the following property:

# Embedded RHQ Agent
rhq.server.embedded-agent.enabled=true

Connecting to the JON Console

Let’s connect to the RHQ Server from your browser at the following address,which will direct you into the site dashboard: http://localhost:7080/

A login form will be prompted; you can use the default credentials, which are rhqadmin/rhqadmin:

jboss operation network JON tutorial

In order to be able to monitor your resources, you need to check at first that your plugins have been correctly installed, so move to the upper “Administration” tab and check the plugin status into the left Configuration->Agent Plugins option

jboss operation network JON tutorial

Once that you have verified your plugins, move to the Inventory upper menu where you will check in your “Discovery Queue” which are the servers that have been discovered. You need to check the Server that you want to monitor and click on the lower “Import” button.

jboss operation network JON tutorial

As you can see, we have imported some resources, namely the embedded JBoss AS 4 application server.

jboss operation network JON tutorial

In the next tutorial we will show how to monitor some running instances of JBoss AS using JON. Stay tuned!

Found the article helpful? if so please follow us on Socials