No stack traces (Java)

Problem

Depending on the situation, you may find error traces in the APM UI that do not include stack traces for your Java app.

Solution

Depending on the situation, follow these troubleshooting procedures.

-XX:-OmitStackTraceInFastThrow

Cause

Returning a 500 error means that the application server itself detected an error and set the HTTPS 500 status code.

• If the error condition was detected and handled by application logic, there was no exception object and thus, no stack.
• If there was an exception object at some point, but it was handled internally by the application code that set the 500 status on the response, then the exception never became visible to the Java agent. There is no stack available for the Java agent to report.

When stack traces are reported, the error results from an exception that was not caught and handled within the application server logic. The Java agent sees the unhandled exception during a monitored transaction, so it reports the stack trace.

However, no stack traces appear for the 500 errors because the application server is handling the errors and then setting the status code. The application code itself does not retain any stack traces.