Editing Java Management Extensions (section)

== Architecture ==
[[File:JMX Architecture.svg|thumb|400px|JMX architecture]]

JMX uses a three-level architecture:
# The ''Probe'' level – also called the ''Instrumentation'' level – contains the probes (called [[#Managed beans|MBeans]]) [[Instrumentation (computer programming)|instrumenting]] the resources
# The ''Agent'' level, or MBeanServer – the core of JMX. It acts as an intermediary between the MBean and the applications.
# The ''Remote Management'' level enables remote applications to access the MBeanServer through connectors and adaptors. A connector provides full remote access to the MBeanServer API using various communication ([[Java remote method invocation|RMI]], [[IIOP]], [[Java Message Service|JMS]], [[List of web service specifications|WS-*]] …), while an adaptor adapts the API to another protocol ([[Simple Network Management Protocol|SNMP]], …) or to Web-based GUI ([[HTML]]/[[HTTP]], [[Wireless Markup Language|WML]]/[[HTTP]], …).

Applications can be generic consoles (such as [[JConsole]]<ref>[http://java.sun.com/developer/technicalArticles/J2SE/jconsole.html Using JConsole to Monitor Applications]</ref> and [[MC4J]]<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://mc4j.org/confluence/display/mc4j/Home |title=The MC4J project creates management software for J2EE application servers and other Java applications. |access-date=2006-08-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070323111823/http://www.mc4j.org/confluence/display/mc4j/Home |archive-date=2007-03-23 |url-status=dead }}</ref>) or domain-specific (monitoring) applications. External applications can interact with the MBeans through the use of JMX connectors and protocol adapters. Connectors serve to connect an agent with a remote JMX-enabled management application. This form of communication involves a connector in the JMX agent and a connector client in the management application.

The [[Java Platform, Standard Edition]] ships with one connector, the '''RMI connector''', which uses the Java Remote Method Protocol that is part of the [[Java remote method invocation]] API. This is the connector which most management applications use.

Protocol adapters provide a management view of the JMX agent through a given protocol. Management applications that connect to a protocol adapter are usually specific to the given protocol.