The article discusses the differences between APM tools like AppDynamics and GC log analysis tools such as GCeasy. APM tools monitor application performance in production, while GCeasy offers detailed insights into Garbage Collection metrics, phases, causes, and optimization recommendations. GCeasy complements APM tools, enhancing memory management and performance tuning across environments.
The invocation of System.gc() or Runtime.getRuntime().gc() triggers stop-the-world Full GCs, freezing the JVM and potentially degrading user experience. These calls can originate from various sources including developers, libraries, and RMI. Detecting these calls is crucial, and enabling GC logs can help. Possible solutions include using the JVM argument '-XX:+DisableExplicitGC' or configuring RMI's gcInterval properties.