This tutorial assumes you have some basic knowledge of, or programming experience with, the following technologies.

You will also benefit from having some knowledge on + Monitoring and Management for the Java Platform+

For this tutorial you need to have the following software installed on your computer:

To install the JMX and JConsole plugins, choose Tools > Plugins and download the modules from the NetBeans Update Center.

After you have installed the JMX plugin and your project is open, you can access the JMX wizard by choose File > New File (Ctrl-N) and selecting the JMX category. You can then choose among the following:

You can add attributes and operations to your MBeans with the JMX contextual menu actions, which will popup a dialog box. You can also have your MBeans implement the NotificationEmitter interface.

To update an MBean, either select the MBean class Java file in the Project tree and access the JMX popup menu by right-clicking on the node, or simply right-click in the editor’s window where your MBean class Java file is opened and access the JMX popup menu.

These actions are demonstrated in Exercise 3 of the + Adding JMX Instrumentation to a Java Application+ tutorial.

To remotely connect to your MBeans and manage your application, your MBeans need to be registered into an MBean Server.

An MBean Server is the main central piece of the JMX technology. It keeps reference of all MBean registered into it, can send notifications of new MBean registration or deletion, and can accept remote connections to expose attributes and operations of its registered MBeans. If you are not familiar with MBean Server role, read the + javax.management.MBeanServer+ API documentation.

Starting with JDK 5, the Java Platform provides a default MBean Server, called the Platform MBean Server. It enables you to monitor the JVM, but you can also use it to register your own MBeans into it. For details on the Java Platform MBean Server, read the + java.lang.management.ManagementFactory + API documentation.

Depending on its logic, determine where in your application code you want your MBeans to be registered, typically in the initialization phase of your Main class. Right-Click in your editor’s window at the location where you want the MBean’s registration code to be generated, select the JMX submenu and then the "Generate MBean Registration…​" action.

This action is demonstrated in Exercise 5 of the + Adding JMX Instrumentation to a Java Application+ tutorial.

JConsole is a JMX-compliant graphical tool for monitoring a Java virtual machine. JConsole can monitor both local and remote JVMs and can be used to monitor and manage JMX applications.

Typically, the work flow of implementing and executing manageable applications is as follows:

After you install the JMX and JConsole plugins you will see that the following buttons are added to the toolbar. The actions are also accessible under the Debug menu item in the main menu.

Note. JConsole is part of the Java Platform and can be used independently from the IDE. For details, refer to the following resources.

The JMX module includes a sample application with JMX monitoring built into it.

Notes. The IDE might prompt you to install the JUnit libraries if you did not install the JUnit plugin previously. You can click Resolve in the Resolve Resource Problems dialog box to launch the Installer to install the JUnit plugin. Alternatively, you can install the JUnit plugin in the Plugins manager.

Notes. You might see a Connection Failed warning in the Java Monitoring & Management Console when the console attempts to connect to the Anagram Game process. For this tutorial you can click Insecure when you are prompted to authorize the connection.

Clicking this button launches and displays the Anagram Game:

The JConsole window is also displayed.

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This document was a short and quick introduction to the JMX module for NetBeans IDE. For more detailed information, see the following JMX module tutorial: