NetBeans 8.1 Remote Debugging with WebLogic

Need to debug your application?  With NetBeans 8.1 (dev) and WebLogic it's very easy to do.

First start your WebLogic server in debug mode.  The startup scripts generated for a domain provide an option to start the server in debug mode. 

To run in debug mode, set the environment variable "debugFlag" to a value of "true" and  start the server.

$ export debugFlag="true"
$ ./startWebLogic.sh

 This launches the server with a command line such as that shown below, which sets the standard Java debug properties:

Starting WLS with line:
/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_40.jdk/Contents/Home/bin/java -server -Xdebug -Xnoagent -Xrunjdwp:transport=dt_socket,address=8453,server=y,suspend=n -Djava.compiler=NONE  -Xmx512m -Dweblogic.Name=myserver -Djava.security.policy=/tmp/dev_update2/wls12130/wlserver/server/lib/weblogic.policy  -Xverify:none -Djava.endorsed.dirs=/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_40.jdk/Contents/Home/jre/lib/endorsed:/tmp/dev_update2/wls12130/wlserver/../oracle_common/modules/endorsed  -ea -da:com.bea... -da:javelin... -da:weblogic... -ea:com.bea.wli... -ea:com.bea.broker... -ea:com.bea.sbconsole... -Dwls.home=/tmp/dev_update2/wls12130/wlserver/server -Dweblogic.home=/tmp/dev_update2/wls12130/wlserver/server -Dweblogic.utils.cmm.lowertier.ServiceDisabled=true weblogic.Server

The console will display a message confirming the debug Java VM is using:

Listening for transport dt_socket at address: 8453

Now on the NetBeans side, create a new Server entry for your WebLogic instance using the new Remote Domain option:
 

Check the Server debug mode enabled option and specify the port (8453 by default):

 

Now specify the new server as the destination to use to run the application:

Now to debug your application, simply set a break point in your code and select the Debug option for the project:

 
This will build and deploy the application to the WebLogic remotely then open the Debugger in the IDE and connect it automatically to the WebLogic debug port. 

From here you can use all the standard debug facilities to step through your code, view stacks, instance data and so forth.

Debug away!