Introducing Red Hat build of Cryostat 4.0

June 5, 2025
Syed M Shaaf
Related topics:
Java
Related products:
Red Hat build of Cryostat

Red Hat build of Cryostat 4.0 is now generally available. It is the latest iteration of our powerful open source, container-native JDK Flight Recorder (JFR) for monitoring Java applications on Red Hat OpenShift. This release is packed with new features, significant enhancements, and architectural updates designed to provide deeper insights, improved usability, and a more streamlined experience for developers and site reliability engineers (SREs).

For those new to Cryostat, it empowers you to securely manage and analyze JDK Flight Recorder data from your containerized JVMs running on OpenShift. Think of it as your go-to flight data recorder for Java applications, helping you diagnose performance issues, optimize resource consumption, and ensure your applications are running at their peak. With Cryostat, you can start, stop, retrieve, and archive JFR recordings, and even perform automated analysis—all through a user-friendly web console or HTTP API.

What's new and exciting in Cryostat 4.0?

Cryostat 4.0 builds upon its robust foundation, bringing a host of improvements driven by community feedback and the evolving needs of modern cloud-native Java development. Here are some of the highlights you can expect.

Deeper OpenShift integration

Cryostat is further enhancing its integration with Red Hat OpenShift. Version 4.0 offers tighter compatibility, providing a more cohesive experience within the platform. Expect a refined user interface that simplifies common workflows and makes accessing critical performance data faster.

Cryostat web console plug-in

From Cryostat 4.0 onward, the Cryostat web console is also available as a dynamic plug-in for the Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform. By using this plug-in, you can access Cryostat web console functionality directly from the OpenShift Container Platform console without needing to access separate user interfaces for individual Cryostat instances.

Cryostat Agent

Utilizing the Cryostat 4.0 Operator feature for Cryostat Agent Autoconfiguration introduces more advanced configuration capabilities, such as the use of environment variables alongside the automatic configuration conducted by the Operator.

The Harvester is another feature of the Cryostat Agent. This tutorial demonstrates how to enable the periodic JFR data push feature of the Cryostat Agent Harvester.

Quarkus and Hibernate integrations

Cryostat 4.0 includes preset event templates and automated rules to help application developers, DevOps, and administrators to quickly and easily capture these observability events.

Updated Helm chart 

The Cryostat Helm chart now supports OpenShift OAuth authentication and sidecar report generation for any Cryostat instances that you install by using a Helm chart.

Key bug fixes and stability improvements

As with any major release, Cryostat 4.0 includes a range of bug fixes and general maintenance updates to ensure a more stable and reliable monitoring experience.

Red Hat supports a major version of Cryostat for a minimum of 6 months. Red Hat bases this figure on the time that the product gets released on the Red Hat Customer Portal.

You can install and deploy Cryostat on Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.12 or a later version that runs on an x86_64 or ARM64 architecture.

Learn how to use Cryostat 4.0 Kubernetes API discovery configurations with Quarkus Native Image applications powered by GraalVM's support for JFR and JMX observability features.

How to use Cryostat for your Java workloads

You can install the Red Hat build of Cryostat using our OpenShift operator, available in Red Hat OpenShift’s Operator Hub. For non-production usage, you can also try our Helm chart, included as part of OpenShift’s Helm chart repository. You can also try Red Hat build of Cryostat.

Get support for Java

Support for Cryostat, OpenJDK, and Eclipse Temurin is available to Red Hat customers through a subscription to Red Hat Runtimes, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, and Red Hat OpenShift. Contact your local Red Hat representative or Red Hat sales for more details. You can expect support for Java and other runtimes as described under the Red Hat Product Update and Support Lifecycle.

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