computer science

InspectIT

InspectIT is a computer science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand InspectIT rather than just read about it. In short: inspectIT is an open-source application performance management (APM) tool, which enables the diagnosis, analysis and monitoring of Java applications. inspectIT is developed by NovaTec Consulting GmbH, an IT consulting company from Stuttgart (Germany), but it has been made open-source in August 2015. Functionality inspectIT follows a "user-transaction-centered” approach, whereby the focus is on the analysis of concre…

Key takeaways

InspectIT belongs to computer science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect InspectIT to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of InspectIT from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

inspectIT is an open-source application performance management (APM) tool, which enables the diagnosis, analysis and monitoring of Java applications. inspectIT is developed by NovaTec Consulting GmbH, an IT consulting company from Stuttgart (Germany), but it has been made open-source in August 2015.

Functionality inspectIT follows a "user-transaction-centered” approach, whereby the focus is on the analysis of concrete user requests. For each request against a system which is supervised by inspectIT, a detailed call tree, named invocation sequence, is constructed. The invocation sequences contain the exact execution times of all invocations of instrumented methods. Using this information, user requests can be analyzed and root causes of potential problems can be discovered. Also included in the invocation sequences are all requests against databases which can be used to detect and solve problems in the database access layer or certain queries. Since version 1.8.1, inspectIT offers functionality for real user monitoring that records user interaction with, for example, a website or web-based application.

Architecture The architecture of inspectIT consists of three main components:

inspectIT Agent — it is integrated into the system which should be supervised, collects diagnostic information of the integrated measuring points and sends the gathered data to the central inspectIT Server. The agent is designed to introduce as little as possible overhead into the target system, in terms of CPU and memory usage. inspectIT Server (also called centralized measurement repository (CMR)) — it receives, processes and stores the diagnostic information sent by the inspectIT agents and provides it to the inspectIT user interface. inspectIT User Interface - it is an Eclipse RPC based application and enables the analysis of the diagnostic information provided by the inspectIT Server.

Functioning During the Java class loading process of the JVM, a Java-based agent is integrated into the class loading process, which is able to intercept and modify the Java bytecode of loaded classes. Contrary to profilers, inspectIT injects measurement points only at specific locations to keep the overhead of the measurements at a minimum. Using this approach, it allows the user to transparently inject measurement points into an application without adapting its source code.

History and naming The development of inspectIT started in the year 2005 under the name NovaSpy as closed source software. It was renamed into inspectIT in 2008 and the first major release (version 1.0) has been released in March 2010. Since then, new versions have been released on a regular basis.

Open source On August 14, 2015, inspectIT has been made available as open-source software under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (ALv2).

References

External links Official website Documentation Website of founding developer

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with InspectIT

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what InspectIT claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In computer science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to InspectIT before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about InspectIT ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of InspectIT

In research: InspectIT appears in computer science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses InspectIT in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: InspectIT is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Quality management, Software performance management, Software testing, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for InspectIT outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study InspectIT in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what InspectIT means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain InspectIT out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is InspectIT in simple terms?

Why does InspectIT matter?

Because it connects several computer science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study InspectIT?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on InspectIT.