Zulu^® Mission Control Quick Start Guide

Zulu Mission Control is a fully-tested build of JDK Mission Control, which was open sourced by Oracle and is managed as a project under the OpenJDK umbrella. Coupled with Flight Recorder, Mission Control delivers low-overhead, interactive monitoring and management capabilities for Java workloads.

Follow the steps below to install Zulu Mission Control, connect to a Java Virtual Machines (JVM) and gain real-time visibility into all aspects of the running application.

1. Zulu Platform Requirements 

Zulu Mission Control is compatible with the JVMs contained in the following JDKs:

• Zulu 14.0 and newer
• Zulu 13.0 and newer
• Zulu 11.0 and newer
• Zulu 8u202 (8.36) and newer
• OpenJDK 11+15 and newer
• Oracle Java 11
• Oracle Java 8 (commercial feature – may have fees associated)

2. Download 

Download Zulu Mission Control from https://www.azul.com/products/zulu-mission-control,choosing the appropriate version for your system, save it locally, and change to that directory.

3. Extract the Archive

Expand the downloaded file.

Linux:

$ tar -xzvf zmc7.1.1.79-ca-linux_x64.tar.gz

macOS:

$ tar -xzvf zmc7.1.1.79-ca-macos_x64.tar.gz

Windows:

unzip -zxvf zmc7.1.1.79-ca-win_x64.zip

4. Start your Application

Start your Java application using one of the compatible JDKs. E.g.:

$ $JAVA_HOME/bin/java -jar MyApplication.jar

5. Start Zulu Mission Control

Linux:

$ zmc7.1.1.79-ca-linux_x64/zmc

macOS:

$ zmc7.1.1.79-ca-macos_x64/Zulu\ Mission\ Control.app/Contents/MacOS/zmc

Windows:

> zmc7.1.1.79-ca-win_x64\zmc.exe

6. [Windows Only] Switching the JVM installation for Mission Control

On Windows, zmc.exe will use the default JVM installation configured in the registry. Zulu Mission Control needs to be launched from a full JDK to be able to detect local JVM instances automatically. If this is a JRE, you will see the warning below:

 

To change the JVM used by Mission Control, follow these steps:

1. Open zmc.ini configuration file, located in the same directory as the zmc.exe
2. Before the line -vmargs, add two lines:
   • On the first line, write –vm
   • On the second line, write the path to your JDK installation (e.g., C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.6.0_31\bin\javaw.exe)

7. Find JVM to connect to

Locate the JVM running your application.

1. In the upper left pane of the Zulu Mission Control window click on the tab labeled, “JVM Browser”.
2. Select and expand the list item associated with the JVM instance running your application.
3. Right-click the “MBean Server” item and select “Start JMX Console”. A new tab will appear in the large pane on the right side of the Zulu Mission Control window. This pane represents the JMX Data retrieved from the JVM.

8. Start a Flight Recording, if necessary

1. If the Flight Recorder displays “No Recordings”, start one by right-clicking on the Flight Recorder line in the JVM Browser tab and selecting “Start Flight Recording…”
2. Select either a fixed duration recording or a continuous recording, and either a Profiling configuration (fine-grained) or a Continuous configuration (lower overhead), then click Finish.

9. Dump the Flight Recording

1. A Flight Recording should appear below the Flight Recorder line in the JVM Browser. Right-click on the line representing the Flight Recording and select “Dump whole recording”
2. A new tab will appear in the large pane on the right side of the Zulu Mission Control window. This pane represents the Flight Recording just dumped from the JVM running your application.

10. Examine the Flight Recording using Zulu Mission Control

If not already activated, select the tab labeled “Outline” in the left pane of the Zulu Mission Control Window. This tab contains different views of the data collected in the Flight Recording.

11. Demo

We have also prepared a demonstration video narrated by Azul Systems Deputy CTO Simon Ritter. The video walks you through the configuration and setup of both Flight Recorder and Zulu Mission Control. Click here, then move the slider at the bottom of the screen image to minute 31:40.