As we can see from the previous section, we can run a Java application and the 'jdb' debugger separately in shared memory mode. But this requires that the Java application and the 'jdb' debugger must be running on the same machine.
If you have a large application that you need to run a big server machine, you can debug that application by running the 'jdb' debugger on your own desktop machine using the socket debugging communication mode as presented in the previous section.
Let's try it now. Open a command window on a windows system and run:
C:\herong>java -agentlib:jdwp=transport=dt_socket, address=localhost:8888,server=y,suspend=y Hello Listening for transport dt_socket at address: 8888
The target application is launched in "socket server" mode. Its execution is suspended. Now open another command window and run:
C:\herong>jdb -connect com.sun.jdi.SocketAttach:hostname=localhost, port=8888 Set uncaught java.lang.Throwable Set deferred uncaught java.lang.Throwable Initializing jdb ... > VM Started: No frames on the current call stack main[1] stop in Hello.main Deferring breakpoint Hello.main. It will be set after the class is loaded. main[1] cont > Set deferred breakpoint Hello.main Breakpoint hit: "thread=main", Hello.main(), line=3 bci=0 3 System.out.println("Hello world!"); main[1] quite
Cool. I know how to run "jdb" to debug an application running on a remote machine now!
However, the command suggested in the JPDA documentation did not work:
C:\herong>jdb -attach localhost:8888 java.io.IOException: shmemBase_attach failed: The system cannot find the file specified at com.sun.tools.jdi.SharedMemoryTransportService.attach0(... ...
My guess is that the Windows version of "jdb" assumes "shared memory" as the default transport mode.