WebLogic, Mission Control, remote Flight Recordings and iptables

Getting this mix to work under JDK8 is not well documented. There are a few limitations you have to run into first:

• RMI data port is normally dynamic, unless configured to be fixed
• RMI passwords are not set (obviously)
• RMI access profile is insufficient for MissionControl
• jmx.mbeanserver is started with insufficient rights for MissionControl

Here the sequence to get it working under WebLogic 12, in combination with JDK8

Open the iptables sufficiently:

## 8001-8010 = JVM open ports for rmi, Mission Control
## 8101-8110 = JVM open ports for rmi data, Mission Control
-A INPUT -p tcp -m state --state NEW -m tcp --dport 8001:8010 -j ACCEPT
-A INPUT -p tcp -m state --state NEW -m tcp --dport 8101:8110 -j ACCEPT

Add the following startup options to the Managed Server, in case no passwords are required:

-XX:+UnlockCommercialFeatures 
-XX:+FlightRecorder 
-Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.port=8001 
-Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.rmi.port=8101 
-Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.ssl=false 
-Djavax.management.builder.initial=weblogic.management.jmx.mbeanserver.WLSMBeanServerBuilder 
-Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.authenticate=false

Add the following startup options to the Managed Server, in case passwords are required:

-XX:+UnlockCommercialFeatures -XX:+FlightRecorder 
-Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.port=8001 
-Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.rmi.port=8101 
-Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.ssl=false  
-Djavax.management.builder.initial=weblogic.management.jmx.mbeanserver.WLSMBeanServerBuilder 
-Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.authenticate=true

Now we need the rmi access and password file set. The default access file is insuffient. Modify the file
$jdk_home/jre/lib/management/jmxremote.access

monitorRole   readonly
controlRole   readwrite \
              create javax.management.monitor.*,javax.management.timer.* \
              create com.sun.management.MissionControl \
              unregister

And we need to set a password, in case we set -Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.authenticate=true, in file $jdk_home/jre/lib/management/jmxremote.password

monitorRole YourMonitorPasswordHere
controlRole YourControlPasswordHere

Now, you can connect and make Flight Recordings from remote: