public synchronized void startAgent() {
    try {
      filterConfiguration.configure();
    } catch (UnableToSetSerialFilterException e) {
      throw new RuntimeException(e);
    }
    loadWebApplications();

    if (!running && config.getJmxManagerPort() != 0) {
      try {
        configureAndStart();
      } catch (IOException e) {
        throw new ManagementException(e);
      }
      running = true;
    }
  }
This system property is set to true when the embedded HTTP server is started so that the
embedded pulse webapp can use a local MBeanServer instead of a remote JMX connection.
geode-core/src/main/java/org/apache/geode/management/internal/ManagementAgent.java