Frequent logging of “Entering safepoint region: RevokeBias” messages in syslog from VMware Aria Operations

Products

• VCF Operations/Automation (formerly VMware Aria Suite)

Issue/Introduction

• Frequent log entries are generated at the syslog destination when log forwarding is active in VMware Aria Operations.

• You may observe a large volume of informational JVM logs similar to the following:

  Entering safepoint region: RevokeBias 
  Leaving safepoint region 
  Total time for which application threads were stopped: 0.000#### seconds, Stopping threads took: 0.0000### seconds 
  Application time: 0.0000### seconds
  

• No functional failure or performance degradation is observed in VMware Aria Operations.

Environment

VMware Aria Operations 8.18.x

Cause

This behavior is caused by normal Java Virtual Machine (JVM) safepoint processing used by VMware Aria Operations.

RevokeBias refers to the process where the JVM's biased locking optimization deactivates for an object, often seen in GC logs as a safepoint operation, happening when an object with a biased lock is contended by multiple threads, requiring all threads to pause (Stop-The-World) to reset the lock state, saving CPU. When logging forwarding is enabled in Aria Operations, these informational JVM messages are forwarded to the syslog destination and may appear frequently.

Resolution

Resolution: This is expected behavior and does not indicate a product issue. No action is required, as these messages do not impact the functionality or performance of VMware Aria Operations.

Workaround: If the volume of logs is a concern for your storage or logging environment, configure filtering directly on your syslog destination to suppress or exclude these informational JVM safepoint messages.

• If your destination is VMware Aria Operations for Logs, refer to the Broadcom TechDocs on how to Add a Log Filter Configuration.

• For third-party syslog servers, refer to your vendor's documentation on filtering incoming log events.