Linux/Unix

1. Find the Java/Tomcat process id.

% ps ax | grep java

You should see output like this

17207 ?        Sl    78:36 /usr/java/default/bin/java -Djava.util.logging.config.file=/usr/tomcat/tomcat6/conf/logging.properties -Djava.util.logging.manager=org.apache.juli.ClassLoaderLogManager -Xmx1024M -Xms128M -XX:MaxPermSize=256M -Djava.awt.headless=true -Djava.endorsed.dirs=/usr/tomcat/tomcat6/endorsed -classpath :/usr/tomcat/tomcat6/bin/bootstrap.jar -Dcatalina.base=/usr/tomcat/tomcat6 -Dcatalina.home=/usr/tomcat/tomcat6 -Djava.io.tmpdir=/usr/tomcat/tomcat6/temp org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap start

2. Execute the following command to generate a thread dump

% kill -3 
      

Run this command every 5-10 seconds, 5 times.

3.The thread dump is written to the standard output.  It may logged in the console or <tomcat>/logs/stdout or <tomcat>/logs/catalina.out.

4. If you are running JDK 6.0+, you may also use jstack to produce a thread dump.

% jstack -l 
      
        > threaddump.txt  or % jstack 
       
         > threaddump.txt
       
      

Windows

Running as a Windows service

1a. If installed using Tomcat installer, click All Programs ->Apache Tomcat 6.0->Monitor Tomcat. An icon should appear in task bar.

1b. If not installed using Tomcat installer, navigate to <tomcat>/bin, and run the following command

% tomcat7.exe //MS//Tomcat7

The Tomcat monitor icon should appear in the system tray.;

2. Right click the the icon and select Thread Dump.

Run this command every 5-10 seconds, 5 times

3. Look for the thread dump in  <tomcat>/logs/stdout or <tomcat>/logs/catalina.out.

 

Running from startup.bat

1. Open "Windows Task Manager",

2. Find the process ID of the java process

3. Make sure <JDK>/bin is in your command path. Otherwise, navigate to <JDK>/bin

4. Execute the following command to generate a thread dump

% jstack -l 
      
        >  threaddump.txt
      

Run this command every 5-10 seconds, 5 times

If you receive an error running jstack such as the below, then you may need to use psexec:

7988: Insufficient memory or insufficient privileges to attach The -F option can be used when the target process is not responding

 

1. Download psexec from  .

2. Unzip the 'PSTools' directory to a suitable place on your server.

3. Open a command prompt as Administrator and navigate to the location of the PSTools folder using the command prompt.

 

 

4. Open Task Manager > Services and find your Java (Tomcat) service and note down the PID number.

 

 

 5. At the command prompt type 'psexec -s [jdk path]\jstack.exe XXXX >> thread_dump_ddmmyy.log' (where XXXX is your PID and ddmmyy is the current date to append to the name of the log file) then hit enter. 

 

 

Run this command every 5-10 seconds, 5 times

You can also add the full path of your Java 'bin' directory to the server's system path variable. The Java 'bin' directory is usually in 'Program Files\Java\bin\jdk<version>\bin'.  If you add this path to the system variable then you will need to restart the command prompt again for the change to be picked up and the 'jstack' command to work.

reference from：

http://support.jamasoftware.com/entries/20535318-Performing-a-thread-dump-in-Linux-or-Windows