# 24 Java files, ElasticAPM Java agent takes more than 6 seconds to attach **URL:** \ **Category:** APM\ **Tags:** docker, java\ **Created:** [February 6, 2023, 8:30am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/24-java-files-elasticapm-java-agent-takes-more-than-6-seconds-to-attach/324771 "2023-02-06T08:30:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![VVK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/e47774/32.png) [@VVK](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/VVK)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2023, 8:30am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/24-java-files-elasticapm-java-agent-takes-more-than-6-seconds-to-attach/324771/1 "2023-02-06T08:30:26Z")
Hello APM Java Gurus **APM Server version** : 7.17.6 / 7.17.8 **APM Agent language and version** : 1.33.0 / 1.34.1 **Is there anything special in your setup?** _Are you using a load balancer in front of the APM Servers?_\* It is running in AWS _Have you changed index pattern, generated custom templates, changed agent configuration etc._ Nothing special **Description of the problem including expected versus actual behaviour. Please include screenshots (if relevant)**: My docker image has just 24 java files and fair number of dependencies. It takes approximately 7 seconds to attach. **Provide logs and/or server output (if relevant)**: ```auto 2023-02-06 08:07:48,091 [elastic-apm-metadata-0] INFO co.elastic.apm.agent.impl.metadata.SystemInfo - Failed to execute command "uname -n" with exit code -1 2023-02-06 08:07:48,171 [elastic-apm-metadata-0] INFO co.elastic.apm.agent.impl.metadata.SystemInfo - Failed to execute command "hostname" with exit code -1 2023-02-06 08:07:48,311 [Attach Listener] INFO co.elastic.apm.agent.util.JmxUtils - Found JVM-specific OperatingSystemMXBean interface: com.sun.management.OperatingSystemMXBean 2023-02-06 08:07:48,406 [Attach Listener] INFO co.elastic.apm.agent.configuration.StartupInfo - Starting Elastic APM 1.34.1 as XXXXX-YYYY-write-service-svc on Java 11.0.14 Runtime version: 11.0.14+9-post-Debian-1deb11u1 VM version: 11.0.14+9-post-Debian-1deb11u1 (Debian) Linux 5.4.219-126.411.amzn2.x86_64 2023-02-06 08:07:48,407 [Attach Listener] INFO co.elastic.apm.agent.configuration.StartupInfo - service_name: 'XXXXX-YYYY-write-service-svc' (source: Environment Variables) 2023-02-06 08:07:48,407 [Attach Listener] INFO co.elastic.apm.agent.configuration.StartupInfo - environment: 'sandbox' (source: Environment Variables) 2023-02-06 08:07:48,407 [Attach Listener] INFO co.elastic.apm.agent.configuration.StartupInfo - transaction_sample_rate: '0.1' (source: Environment Variables) 2023-02-06 08:07:48,407 [Attach Listener] INFO co.elastic.apm.agent.configuration.StartupInfo - secret_token: 'XXXX' (source: Environment Variables) 2023-02-06 08:07:48,407 [Attach Listener] INFO co.elastic.apm.agent.configuration.StartupInfo - server_url: 'https://elk-apm-jaeger-apm-http.elastic-apm:8200' (source: Environment Variables) 2023-02-06 08:07:48,407 [Attach Listener] INFO co.elastic.apm.agent.configuration.StartupInfo - verify_server_cert: 'false' (source: Environment Variables) 2023-02-06 08:07:48,407 [Attach Listener] INFO co.elastic.apm.agent.configuration.StartupInfo - application_packages: 'AAA.BBB.CCC' (source: Environment Variables) 2023-02-06 08:07:48,407 [Attach Listener] INFO co.elastic.apm.agent.configuration.StartupInfo - circuit_breaker_enabled: 'true' (source: Environment Variables) 2023-02-06 08:07:57,184 [Attach Listener] INFO co.elastic.apm.agent.impl.ElasticApmTracer - Tracer switched to RUNNING state 2023-02-06 08:07:57,380 [Service Thread] INFO co.elastic.apm.agent.micrometer.MicrometerMetricsReporter - Registering Micrometer MeterRegistry: io.micrometer.core.instrument.simple.SimpleMeterRegistry@22d7fd41 2023-02-06 08:07:58,596 [elastic-apm-server-healthcheck] INFO co.elastic.apm.agent.report.ApmServerHealthChecker - Elastic APM server is available: { "build_date": "2022-11-24T04:31:09Z", "build_sha": "311a5edd33673721ad8be4c538635b4d22adeb88", "publish_ready": true, "version": "7.17.8"} 2023-02-06 08:07:59,098 [elastic-apm-remote-config-poller] INFO co.elastic.apm.agent.configuration.ApmServerConfigurationSource - Received new configuration from APM Server: {capture_body=errors, transaction_max_spans=500, transaction_sample_rate=1} ``` Let me know.. whether I have any issue because of which such slowness to launch agent? I use the approach discussed in [Programmatic API setup to self-attach | APM Java Agent Reference [1.x] | Elastic](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/apm/agent/java/current/setup-attach-api.html) Question: I use springboot. The agent documentation says start the first statement to be executed is ElasticApmAttacher.execute() and then other application code I tried multiple ways to make the start time less without loosing the effectiveness like in @PostConstruct annotation; ApplicationReadyEvent etc.. **Is there any way to reduce the startup time?** **What is the problem:** My podSpec's livenessProbe/ReadinessProbes and HPA specs kick in making things messy at the application level. Meaning: **time** it takes to launch pod for consumption **is quite high** and then subsequently issues come because of probes. one workaround is: increases the threshold values in probes.. but that is not so great solution to convince other applications 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Eyal\_Koren](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/eyal_koren/32/36830_2.png) [@Eyal\_Koren](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Eyal_Koren)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2023, 9:02am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/24-java-files-elasticapm-java-agent-takes-more-than-6-seconds-to-attach/324771/2 "2023-02-06T09:02:14Z")
Take a look at the related [guide](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/apm/agent/java/current/tuning-and-overhead.html#tuning-agent-startup). I would start with the third option - setting the `enable_instrumentations` config. If you do it properly it can make a big difference. In order to get the optimal set of instrumentations to enable, try the following: 1. do increase the timeout threshold **temporarily** 2. start your application 3. make sure all entry points were invoked, so that all instrumentations are applied 4. stop the service and extract the instrumentation set from the bottom of the agent log 5. use the generated set as the value of the `enable_instrumentations` config 6. set [`application_packages`](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/apm/agent/java/current/config-stacktrace.html#config-application-packages) with the root package of your 24 Java classes (or anything else that is part of your application and not the dependencies) 7. start your application and see if startup time was reduced enough If you are using our [public API](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/apm/agent/java/current/public-api.html) let me know, you may need to add something. If the above doesn't reduce the startup time enough, try the `start_async` route. I hope this helps. Looking forward to hear back as we are looking into ways of improving our capabilities around startup optimizations. ---
**Author:** ![VVK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/e47774/32.png) [@VVK](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/VVK)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2023, 12:07pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/24-java-files-elasticapm-java-agent-takes-more-than-6-seconds-to-attach/324771/3 "2023-02-06T12:07:30Z")
Thanks for very quick reply. I will try to follow your way of looking at the tuning. As of now I am using **only vanilla instrumentation** i.e. at the start of application, - I am just putting ` ElasticApmAttacher.attach();` - application\_packages has been already configured. - Not yet started using the public api (for span/transaction etc). I will definitely reply on this thread in coming days ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2023, 8:07am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/24-java-files-elasticapm-java-agent-takes-more-than-6-seconds-to-attach/324771/4 "2023-02-27T08:07:45Z")
This topic was automatically closed 20 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.