While deploying a pretty simple web application on JBoss AS 5.1 (using the default profile) I noticed some weird cyclic CPU spikes even without ANY load on the server. It would start right after the server was started and the spikes would use ~40% of the CPU. Not exactly satisfying. I did the usual trip around the good, old web and quickly found out that the administration console in JBoss AS 5.x would create these hiccups. I deleted the administration console and saw CPU utilization drop to ~10%. That is what I call improvement.

While searching the web I found this little piece on how to optimize JBoss AS 5.x. And yes, it does include removal of the administration console as well.