Profile Entire Java Program Execution in VisualVM

Question

In Java profiling, it seems like all (free) roads nowadays lead to the VisualVM profiler included with JDK6. It looks like a fine program, and everyone touts how you can \

Answer 1

The advice with -Xrunjdwp is incorrect. It just enables debugger and with suspend=y it waits for debugger to attach. Since VisualVM is not debugger, it does not help you. However inserting System.in or Thread.sleep() will pause the startup and allows VisualVM to attach to your application. Be sure to read Profiling with VisualVM 1 and Profiling with VisualVM 2 to better understand profiler settings. Note also that instead of profiling, you can use 'Sampler' tab in VisualVM, which is more suitable for profiling entire java program execution. As other mentioned you can also use NetBeans Profiler, which directly support profiling of the application startup.