JMX 1.2 introduced the possibility to replace, at runtime, the MBeanServer implementation by specifying a full qualified name of a javax.management.MBeanServerBuilder subclass with the system property "javax.management.builder.initial".
When creating a new MBeanServer instance, the MBeanServerFactory checks (every time) for the value of that system property; if it is not null, loads (using the context classloader), instantiates, and delegates the MBeanServerBuilder subclass to create MBeanServer instances.

Since now the creation of MBeanServer instances can be delegated to a custom MBeanServerBuilder, it is possible to achieve two things:

This is very simple to achieve:

               
java -cp jmxri.jar;mx4j-impl.jar -Djavax.management.builder.initial=mx4j.server.MX4JMBeanServerBuilder <MyClass>
               
            

Note how the classpath specifies first the JMXRI jar and then the MX4J implementation jar.

A custom MBeanServerBuilder allows you to specify how to create an MBeanServer.
Any JMX implementation has already in place a mechanism that uses a default MBeanServerBuilder to create instances of the default MBeanServer implementation.
In order to be able to "decorate" an MBeanServer it is sufficient to specify a custom MBeanServerBuilder that "decorates" the default one; then the implementation of the custom MBeanServerBuilder will "decorate" the default MBeanServer.

However, implementing a "decorating" MBeanServerBuilder requires a bit of precision.
We will explain how to do this in detail in the following, using as example the MX4J implementation.

Using the MBeanServerBuilder to "decorate" an MBeanServer requires to write two classes:

Let's suppose we want to decorate the default MBeanServer by adding logging statements whenever a MBeanServer method is called.
First, we write the "decorating" MBeanServer:

               
public class LoggingMBeanServer extends ChainedMBeanServer
{
   // Overridden just to make it public
   public void setMBeanServer(MBeanServer server)
   {
      super.setMBeanServer(server);
   }

   public Object getAttribute(ObjectName objectName, String attribute)
      throws MBeanException, AttributeNotFoundException, InstanceNotFoundException, ReflectionException
   {
      Object value = super.getAttribute(objectName, attribute);
      System.out.println("[LOGGER] getAttribute() returned: " + value);
      return value;
   }

   // And so on for all other MBeanServer methods.
}
            
            

The class ChainedMBeanServer simply forwards the calls to a nested MBeanServer. ChainedMBeanServer thus allows to create a "chain" of MBeanServers that are called in succession, one after the other, from the outermost to the innermost.

Second, we write the "decorating" MBeanServerBuilder:

               
public class LoggingBuilder extends ChainedMBeanServerBuilder
{
   public LoggingBuilder()
   {
      super(new mx4j.server.MX4JMBeanServerBuilder());
   }

   public MBeanServer newMBeanServer(String defaultDomain, MBeanServer outer, MBeanServerDelegate delegate)
   {
      LoggingMBeanServer extern = new LoggingMBeanServer();
      MBeanServer nested = getMBeanServerBuilder().newMBeanServer(defaultDomain, outer == null ? extern : outer, delegate);
      extern.setMBeanServer(nested);
      return extern;
   }
}
            
            

As for the ChainedMBeanServer class, also ChainedMBeanServerBuilder simply forwards the calls to a nested MBeanServerBuilder. Also here, ChainedMBeanServerBuilder allows to create a "chain" of MBeanServerBuilders that are called in succession, one after the other, from the outermost to the innermost.

The MBeanServerBuilder chain works in parallel with the MBeanServer chain in this way:

               
MBeanServerFactory  -- calls -->   LoggingBuilder     -- calls -->  MX4JMBeanServerBuilder
                                         |                                   |
                                      creates                             creates
                                         |                                   |
                                         V                                   V
       Application  -- calls -->  LoggingMBeanServer  -- calls -->     MX4JMBeanServer
            
            

Note the LoggingBuilder constructor: there is where the MBeanServerBuilder chain is created.
The LoggingBuilder specifies a chain of only two rings, the LoggingBuilder itself, and MX4J's default MBeanServerBuilder, MX4JMBeanServerBuilder.
This chain is hardcoded in the builder, meaning that if you want to change it at runtime you cannot: either you change and recompile the custom builder, or you use another custom builder.

Note also the usage of the ternary operator (condition ? this : that) in the nested newMBeanServer() call: checking for nullity of the "outer" argument is of fundamental importance for the builder to be "chainable". If this check is not made, then LoggingBuilder cannot be reused as a ring of a longer chain if, in future, we modify it to accept as parameter to the constructor other builders (i.e. other "rings").

It is of course possible to use different builders from different vendors, simply by creating a custom builder that "chains" all the other in the desired sequence:

               
public class ComplexBuilder extends ChainedMBeanServerBuilder
{
   public LoggingBuilder()
   {
      super(new com.sun.jmx.bar.BarBuilder(new com.ibm.jmx.foo.FooBuilder(new mx4j.server.MX4JMBeanServerBuilder())));
   }
}
            
            

Just remember that MX4JMBeanServerBuilder is a "terminal" builder and must always be the last in the chain.
Other vendors are expected to provide an API for their custom builders very similar to ChainedMBeanServerBuilder (which is mostly being able to take a javax.management.MBeanServerBuilder as argument to a constructor).

We saw above that is possible to "decorate" MBeanServers by decorating the default mechanism of the MBeanServerBuilder already in place in any JMX implementation.
We saw that to a chain of builders corresponded a chain of servers.
However, it's possible that a builder specifies more than one ring for the server chain, in the following way:

               
MBeanServerFactory --calls-->  LoggingBuilder    --calls-->          PerformanceBuilder    --calls-->    MX4JMBeanServerBuilder
                                     |                                        |                                     |
                                  creates                                  creates                               creates
                                     |                                   /         \                                |
                                     V                                  V           V                               V
       Application --calls--> LoggingMBeanServer --calls--> TimingServer --calls--> CountingServer --calls--> MX4JMBeanServer
            
            

An example of such chains is present in the MX4J testsuite, in the test class that tests the MBeanServerBuilder functionality.

A (non complete) list of possible "decorators" for MBeanServer may include functionality such as: