What are File Attribute Operations?

The Plumbr Agent monitors file attribute querying performed by using methods such as File.exists(), File.isDirectory(), File.canWrite() and so on. While individual operations like that are usually handled very quickly, typically under a few microseconds, having a large number of them may result in a slow transaction. One of the most common cases is recursively walking a large directory that contains millions of files.

When the wait time for the attribute checking starts impacting end user experience, Plumbr recognizes this and links a File Attribute Operations root cause with the slow transaction. The root cause exposed will contain the following information:

• File(s) being accessed, along with the operation performed (exists(), isDirectory(), etc)
• Call stack from the thread executing the operation, zooming you right to the line in source code accessing the file system.