IBM WebSphere Application Server extension
- Latest Dynatrace
- Extension
- Published Sep 03, 2026
Monitor IBM WebSphere Application Server and Open Liberty thread pools, servlet sessions, and web application requests with PMI metrics.
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Overview
IBM WebSphere Application Server is a Java EE application server that hosts enterprise applications in both traditional WebSphere and Open Liberty environments. This extension reads Performance Monitoring Infrastructure (PMI) counters directly from the monitored application server process through OneAgent. You see runtime health alongside the traces, logs, and code-level insights that OneAgent already collects for the same process.
Use cases
- Spot thread exhaustion or over-provisioning by comparing active threads against pool size for each pool.
- Track live servlet sessions per application to understand user concurrency and session load trends.
- Correlate request volume per application with traffic spikes, drops, and deployment changes.
- Analyze application server runtime health next to distributed traces from the same process for full-stack context.
Requirements
- OneAgent installed on the host running IBM WebSphere Application Server, with the application server process monitored.
- Dynatrace version 1.341+
Enable Java PMI Extensions 2.0OneAgent feature activated.- PMI enabled on the application server.
Compatibility information
- IBM WebSphere Application Server (traditional)
- Open Liberty
- A supported Linux or Windows operating system
Activation and setup
- Install OneAgent on the host running your application server.
- Confirm that Dynatrace monitors the application server process.
- Activate the
Enable Java PMI Extensions 2.0OneAgent feature, then restart the monitored process. - Enable the PMI modules listed under Requirements on the application server.
- In Dynatrace, select Add to environment to activate the extension, and enable the feature sets that match your environment. Traditional WebSphere and Open Liberty use separate feature sets.
- Open the process page for your application server and select the WebSphere Application Server section to see the charts.
Details
Licensing and costs
There is no charge to use the extension. You are only charged for the data that the extension ingests.
The IBM WebSphere Application Server extension ingests custom metrics, which consume Davis Data Units (DDUs) (Dynatrace classic license) or Metrics powered by Grail (DPS), according to your license model.
This extension queries for data every minute. To estimate the number of metric data points produced by your extension configuration, use the following list that gives you a number of metrics per feature set and a multiplier value depending on which entity the metric is split by. Sum these values to get the total data points per minute.
Thread pool2 x number of monitored process group instances x number of thread poolsThread pool (Open Liberty)2 x number of monitored process group instances x number of thread poolsSessions1 x number of monitored process group instances x number of web applicationsSessions (Open Liberty)1 x number of monitored process group instances x number of web applicationsRequests1 x number of monitored process group instances x number of web applications
The traditional and Open Liberty feature sets cover the same counters on different runtimes, so a single process group instance reports only one of each pair. Enable only the feature sets that match your environment.
Dynatrace Platform Subscription
In the Dynatrace Platform Subscription, metric ingestion consumes Metrics powered by Grail according to the number of ingested metric data points.
To calculate the approximate yearly consumption, apply the following calculation: <metric data points per minute> * 60 minutes * 24 hours * 365 days.
Dynatrace classic license
In the classic licensing model, metric ingestion consumes Davis Data Units (DDUs) at the rate of .001 DDUs per metric data point. Multiply the above formula for annual data points by .001 to estimate annual DDU usage.
The DDU cost above does not include any possible log events or custom events that the extension triggers. For more information, see DDU events.
Feature sets
When activating your extension using a monitoring configuration, you can limit monitoring to one of the feature sets. To work properly, the extension has to collect at least one metric after the activation.
In highly segmented networks, feature sets can reflect the segments of your environment. Then, when you create a monitoring configuration, you can select a feature set and a corresponding ActiveGate group that can connect to this particular segment.
All metrics that aren't categorized into any feature set are considered to be the default and are always reported.
A metric inherits the feature set of a subgroup, which in turn inherits the feature set of a group. Also, the feature set defined on the metric level overrides the feature set defined on the subgroup level, which in turn overrides the feature set defined on the group level.
Sessions (OpenLiberty)
| Metric name | Metric key | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Live sessions | websphere.appserver.live_sessions | Live session count from servlet sessions module |
Thread pool (OpenLiberty)
| Metric name | Metric key | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Active threads | websphere.appserver.active_threads | Active thread count from thead pool module |
| Pool size | websphere.appserver.pool_size | Pool size from thread pool module |
Requests
| Metric name | Metric key | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Request Count | websphere.appserver.requests | Request count from web app module |
Sessions
| Metric name | Metric key | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Live sessions | websphere.appserver.live_sessions | Live session count from servlet sessions module |
Thread pool
| Metric name | Metric key | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Active threads | websphere.appserver.active_threads | Active thread count from thead pool module |
| Pool size | websphere.appserver.pool_size | Pool size from thread pool module |
FAQ
Why are no metrics arriving?
Check the following, in order:
- OneAgent monitors the application server process, and the process has its own process page.
- You activated the
Enable Java PMI Extensions 2.0OneAgent feature and restarted the monitored process afterward. - The application server has PMI enabled for the modules you expect metrics from.
- The feature sets enabled on the monitoring configuration match your runtime. Traditional WebSphere and Open Liberty use separate feature sets.
