1. A computer-implemented method, comprising: implementing at a server node in a network of nodes an application server instance having a virtual machine control unit; launching with the virtual machine control unit at least two worker nodes within the application server instance, each of the at least two worker nodes providing a respective run-time environment; in each of the respective run-time environments of the at least two worker nodes, executing a respective virtual machine (“VM”) and a respective virtual machine monitor for the respective VM, and running by the respective VM a respective application , including storing a local object within a respective heap internal to and maintained by the VM; one of the virtual machines (“VMs”) instantiating a data object in a shared heap of the application server instance external to the at least two worker nodes and accessible by the VMs of the at least two worker nodes; and publishing status data to a monitoring memory of the application server instance external to and shared by the at least two worker nodes and the shared heap, wherein the monitoring memory is accessible to a monitoring console configured to display the published status data, the published status data including data specifying a utilization of the shared heap, and for each of the plurality of worker nodes, data specifying a utilization of the internal heap of the respective VM, and data specifying a history of garbage collecting events of the internal heap of the respective VM.