Thanks sedj. I've already attempted option 2, but the Tomcat documentation you point to is not enough for my little mind. It says to configure conf/server.xml to include my own mbeans-descriptor.xml file. I've done that, and I've also instrumented my servlet classes with appropriate MBeans, but I don't know how to write the mbeans-descriptor.xml file, and can find no documentation or examples.
First things first, is it true that I can instrument my servlet classes with MBeans and then have those MBeans exposed via Tomcat and JMX to the JDK 1.5 jconsole app?
If so, then your option 2 seems the best way to go, but it seems that I need a hand-holding example of how to do it all, step by step. Do you know of one? Thanks.