How do I generate a Java thread dump on Linux/Unix?

Solution Verified - Updated -

Environment

  • Java
  • Linux and most Unix-like environments

Issue

  • How do I generate a thread dump in JBoss while running on Linux?
  • How do I generate a JBoss stack trace on Linux?
  • How do I redirect output of kill -3 to a file?
  • JBoss has high cpu usage, freezes, hangs, or doesn't release idle threads, how can I get a thread dump to troubleshoot?
  • JMS messages are getting lost, how can I generate a thread dump to investigate?
  • Unable to take thread dump using Kill -3 in server.log or console.log

Resolution

Following are methods for generating a Java thread dump on Unix:

1) OpenJDK / Sun JDK
Use jps -lv to find the Java process ID for issuing kill -QUIT or kill -3.
Be sure the -Xrs JVM option is not being used, as it causes SIGQUIT and SIGWAITING signals to be ignored. Running kill -3 sends a SIGQUIT signal to the JVM, so using this option will cause kill -3 to be ignored. See Java Application launcher.
If using OpenJDK or Sun JDK 1.6 or later, using jstack is an option. This is useful when redirecting standard out to a file is problematic for some reason (e.g. it is not desirable to restart the JVM just to redirect standard out). Execute the following, passing in the Java process ID:

jstack -l JAVA_PID > jstack.out

2) Note the process ID number of the Java process (e.g. using top, a grep on ps -axw, etc.) and send a QUIT signal to the process with the kill -QUIT or kill -3 command. For example:

   kill -3 JAVA_PID

3) Download either threaddump_linux.sh.tar.gz or threaddump_solaris.sh.tar.gz , and extract the script. Make the script executeable with chmod 755
It will capture a series of 6 thread dumps spaced 20 seconds apart (modify as needed), passing in the Java process ID as an argument. For example:

Linux: sh ./threaddump_linux.sh JAVA_PID
Solaris: bash ./threaddump_solaris.sh JAVA_PID

Be sure to test the script before the issue happens to make sure it runs properly in your environment.

4) Download either threaddump_linux-continuous.sh.tar.gz or threaddump_solaris-continuous.sh.tar.gz , and extract the script. Make the script executeable with chmod 755
It will capture thread dumps spaced 20 seconds apart (modify as needed), passing in the Java process ID as an argument. For example:

Linux: sh ./threaddump_linux-continuous.sh JAVA_PID
Solaris: bash ./threaddump_solaris-continuous.sh JAVA_PID

Be sure to test the script before the issue happens to make sure it runs properly in your environment.

5) Use the below command to start your JBoss instance and then use kill -3 to generate the threaddumps.
If the Java application is started with a service script that logs console output, the thread dumps will be in the console log. Otherwise, redirect stdout to a file on startup.

nohup $JBOSS_HOME/bin/run.sh -c  yourinstancename $JBOSS_OPTS >> console-$(date +%Y%m%d).out  2>&1 < /dev/null &
kill -3 JAVA_PID

This will redirect your output/threadump to the file console specified in the above command.

6) Download 'linux_jstack-continuous.tar.gz', and extract the script. Make the script executeable with chmod 755
It will use jstack to capture a series of 6 thread dumps spaced 20 seconds apart (modify as needed), passing in the Java process ID as an argument. Make sure you set "JAVA_HOME" in this script. It generates a file called "jstack_threaddump.out" in the directory where this script is executed. For example:

./threaddump_linux_jstack-continuous.sh JAVA_PID
Notes:
  • Verify that the Java process is still running with the ps aux command (R or S state in STAT column) . For example, jstack -F <pid> puts the target Java process in a "trace stop" (T) state. Threads in the (T) state will receive the signal for a thread dump; however, output will be delayed until the process continues.
  • You need to make sure to execute jstack command from the same user as the java process. Please see this article for more details.
  • There are known bugs related to using other jstack options (e.g. -F, -m, etc.) and/or thread dump tools are not able to parse the output, so if any other options besides -l are proposed, be sure to test capturing and parsing the output.
  • In some circumstances running jstack might cause a performance impact. It is reported that a slowness in response time can be observed when running jstack in some scenarios.
  • If you want to take thread dumps to identify which Java threads consume high cpu, please see How do I identify high CPU utilization by Java threads on Linux/Solaris and use the attached sample script in the article.
JBoss EAP 5.x

To redirect stdout to a file on startup:

sh run.sh > console.log 2>&1

If having trouble redirecting stdout, modify $JBOSS_HOME/bin/run.sh and change the line:

org.jboss.Main "$@"

to read:

org.jboss.Main "$@" > console.log

Save and restart JBoss normally. Now kill -3 or kill -QUIT should create a thread dump in the file console.log.

JBoss EAP 6.x

The recommendation is to use jstack.

JBoss Fuse 6

If you are capturing thread dumps from a child container, note that the process is different to the root container. Be sure to check the process ID (PID) using 'ps' or similar before selecting the PID to run the script against. eg:

ps -ef | grep child1

testusr 27803     1  0 09:41 pts/1    00:00:12 /usr/java/jdk1.7.0_21/jre/bin/java -server ... -Dkaraf.home=/home/testusr/apps/product-distributions -Dkaraf.base=/home/testusr/apps/product-distributions/instances/child1  org.apache.karaf.main.Main

Related:
How do I identify high CPU utilization by Java threads on Linux/Solaris

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12 Comments

Log in to comment
DP Pro 599 points
29 February 2012 1:29 PM

Hello

Referred Linux script doesn't work:

[dariusz.panasiuk as root@jat421-pop1/home/dariusz.panasiuk]#./threaddump_linux.sh.tar_10 $(pgrep java -u jboss) -bash: ./threaddump_linux.sh.tar_10: cannot execute binary file
[dariusz.panasiuk as root@jat421-pop1/home/dariusz.panasiuk]#
[dariusz.panasiuk as root@jat421-pop1/home/dariusz.panasiuk]#wc -l threaddump_linux.sh.tar_10
24 threaddump_linux.sh.tar_10

cheers

Dariusz

Vladimir Vasilev's picture Red Hat Active Contributor 107 points
25 September 2014 1:54 PM

It's tar-ed gzip

tar -xzvf threaddump_linux.sh.tar_10.gz

SD Newbie 15 points
7 January 2015 5:51 AM

There should be a full explanation like which pid to take a dump of... for e.g. under jboss eap 6 managed domain. you will see 5 minimum java processes running.... how to find out which process pid to use whilte taking dump.

Thanks
J

JL Red Hat Guru 1795 points
7 January 2015 10:02 PM

Which process to take a thread dump of depends on the problem you are trying to solve. If it is a hang or bottleneck in a JBoss instance, take a dump of that. Some problems around management operations getting stuck may require taking dumps of all of them.

ds Community Member 77 points
4 June 2015 2:21 PM

where is the output stored for this kill -3 command?

LO Red Hat Guru 2534 points
4 June 2015 3:50 PM

It is written to stdout. Depending on how your Java application is started and whether it is attaching stdout to its logger, will determine where the thread trace is written.

In most cases, it is written to the terminal from where the process was launched. This is why it is important to redirect the terminal's stdout and stderr file descriptors to a file.

Using jstack takes out the guesswork in where your output will be written and I recommend using it if at all possible.

Hope that helps,
Larry

ds Community Member 77 points
4 June 2015 5:28 PM

Thanks Larry, however, Jstack is not available in RHEL 6.6 . I have installed openjdk 1.7 but couln't find jstack.

LO Red Hat Guru 2534 points
4 June 2015 8:34 PM

jstack is included in the openjdk development packages. For example: java-1.7.0-openjdk-devel

Are you not able to install the devel package which includes the JDK components?

ds Community Member 77 points
8 June 2015 2:46 PM

Hi Larry,
Yes, I managed to install. There are certail problems with JDK 1.7.0_79, which prevent me from getting output. Followed this https://access.redhat.com/solutions/9907, but I end up getting
Error communicating with server. The message was:

Error Class Code: 37

However, I am the one who registered rhn_classic on the server. This is very confusing.

LO Red Hat Guru 2534 points
8 June 2015 10:51 PM

You will not need the debuginfo packages. The devel package is in the rhel/update repository. Basically, java-1.7.0-openjdk is the JRE and java-1.7.0-openjdk-devel is the JDK. jstack is included in the JDK.

As for the Error Class Code: 37, the solution While subscribing channels to systems using "rhn-channel" utility from the client system, it fails with error "Error Class Code: 37"
 seems relevant.

Pavel Moravec's picture Red Hat Guru 2012 points
18 January 2019 4:27 PM

Shall not be one of prerequisites of successful usage of jstack presence of devel and debuginfo packages? Since e.g. on Satellite6 (where candlepin is deployed as an Apache Tomcat application), I had to follow https://access.redhat.com/solutions/1441633, in particular:

develpkg=$(rpm -q java-1.7.0-openjdk | sed "s/openjdk/openjdk-devel/1")
yum install yum-tools $develpgk
debuginfo-install java-1.7.0-openjdk
LO Red Hat Guru 2534 points
18 January 2019 9:35 PM

You shouldn't need the debug packages unless you are attempting to troubleshoot the native JVM components. This would not typically apply to Java thread dumps. However, I could see the use as it relates to a Java core dump.

You are correct about the openjdk-devel package though. But this solution applies to both Oracle JDK and OpenJDK as well as platforms that may not be RPM based. Basically, you need to make certain you have the jstack binary available which is part of the JDK and not typically included with the JRE.