After the Platform is installed section 1.3 of the Getting Started Guide directs users to the jmx console.

A more logical starting point might be the main page of the EAP instance.

On this page there are several links for managing the server:

• Admin console
• JMX Console
• JBoss Web Console
• Tomcat status (full) (XML)

*Admin Console*

The Admin console is described in the book "Admin Console User Guide" (http://docs.redhat.com/docs/en-US/JBoss_Enterprise_Application_Platform/5/html/Admin_Console_User_Guide/index.html)

You might mention that the Admin console is implemented as a Seam app. (check comment from Jason)

The Admin console allows you to start / stop / restart the server remotely. It also allows you to view deployed web apps and a bunch of other things described in chapter one of the Adminstration Console Quickstart Guide (http://www.redhat.com/docs/en-US/JBoss_Enterprise_Application_Platform/5.0.0/html/Administration_Console_Quick_Start_Guide/Administration_Console_Quick_Start_Guide-Overview.html)

According to chapter 3 of this book access to the console is configured along with the JMX console, by editing jmx-console-users.properties - in other words, the JMX Console and the Administration Console share login credentials. (check comment from Jason)

*JMX Console*

"The JMX (Java Management Extensions) Console provides a view into the raw data of the microkernel of the JBoss Application Server." (from the link below - however, AS 5.0 now uses a microcontainer instead of a microkernel - so what does the JMX console now do?) (check comment from Jason)

There is a whole bunch of information describing the different things you can do with the JMX Console here: http://community.jboss.org/wiki/JMXConsole.

While the articles on the JBoss wiki explain how to do things with the JMX Console, the answer to the question: "why would I do these things?" is not so obvious... One use case is found in Section 6.5 of the Admin and Config Guide [1].

The 4.2 Server Configuration Guide has a whole chapter about the JMX microkernel and the JMX Console: http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/jboss/jboss-eap-4.2/doc/Server_Configuration_Guide/The_JBoss_JMX_Microkernel.html

However, the relevancy of this material is now uncertain. According to the new Server Configuration Guide: " The JBoss Microcontainer project is standalone and replaces the JBoss JMX Microkernel used in the 4.x JBoss Enterprise Application Platforms.
The JBoss Microcontainer integrates nicely with the JBoss Aspect Oriented Programming framework (JBoss AOP). JBoss AOP is discussed in Chapter 6, JBoss AOP Support for JMX in JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 5 remains strong and MBean services written against the old Microkernel are expected to work."

See also 15.2.1, 15.3, 16.2.1.3, 21.1.2, 24.6.2, 24.6.3.8, 24.6.4 of the Admin and Config Guide for more use cases and background information on the use and functionality of the JMX console.

This should be clarified in this section of the guide while explaining the purpose and usage of the JMX Console in EAP 5.x. It seems that its main purpose is to enable diagnostics for troubleshooting and performance tuning. However, something should also be explained about the new microcontainer, the role of the microkernel and its relation to the microcontainer, and the new role of the JMX Console, if it has changed since 4.2. (check comment by Jason)

[1] http://docs.redhat.com/docs/en-US/JBoss_Enterprise_Application_Platform/5/html/Administration_And_Configuration_Guide/index.html#d0e2961