3.1.4.1. Managed Beans or MBeans
An MBean is a Java object that implements one of the standard MBean interfaces and follows the associated design patterns. The MBean for a resource exposes all necessary information and operations that a management application needs to control the resource.
The scope of the management interface of an MBean includes the following:
Attribute values that may be accessed by name
Operations or functions that may be invoked
Notifications or events that may be emitted
The constructors for the MBean's Java class
JMX defines four types of MBeans to support different instrumentation needs:
Standard MBeans: These use a simple JavaBean style naming convention and a statically defined management interface. This is the most common type of MBean used by JBoss.
Dynamic MBeans: These must implement the javax.management.DynamicMBean interface, and they expose their management interface at runtime when the component is instantiated for the greatest flexibility. JBoss makes use of Dynamic MBeans in circumstances where the components to be managed are not known until runtime.
Open MBeans: These are an extension of dynamic MBeans. Open MBeans rely on basic, self-describing, user-friendly data types for universal manageability.
Model MBeans: These are also an extension of dynamic MBeans. Model MBeans must implement the javax.management.modelmbean.ModelMBean interface. Model MBeans simplify the instrumentation of resources by providing default behavior. JBoss XMBeans are an implementation of Model MBeans.
We will present an example of a Standard and a Model MBean in the section that discusses extending JBoss with your own custom services.