Graceful degradation system

• US 20010042227A1
• Filed: 05/11/2001
• Published: 11/15/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 05/11/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Laminar Software, Inc., Quest Software, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Laminar Software, Inc.
• Inventors: Barker, Robert, Stephenson, Patrick
• Granted Patent: US 6,944,798 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 714/47
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/004 Error avoidance G06F11/07 and subgroups take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3006 where the computing system is distributed, e.g. networked systems, clusters, multiprocessor systems multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46; allocation of resources G06F9/50
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3055 Monitoring arrangements for monitoring the status of the computing system or of the computing system component, e.g. monitoring if the computing system is on, off, available, not available error or fault processing without redundancy G06F11/0703; error detection or correction by redundancy in data representation G06F11/08; error detection or correction by redundancy in operation G06F11/14; error detection or correction by redundancy in hardware G06F11/16
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3433 for load management allocation of a server based on load conditions G06F9/505; load rebalancing G06F9/5083; redistributing the load in a network by a load balancer H04L67/1029
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3495 for systems

Abstract

A method for providing for the graceful degradation of the performance and functionality of a distributed computer application. A plurality of sensors monitor the performance and availability of various external resources and/or services required by the application, as well as the performance of various components of the application, and report the information to one or more controllers. The controllers make decisions based on rule-based criteria as to how to modify the behavior of the application according to the performance and availability of the various required resources and services. The controllers send messages to one or more actuators which effect the change in behavior of the application. A console displays the status of the system and allows users to modify the rules used to modify the behavior of the application.

Claims

1. A method for providing for the graceful degradation of the performance of a computer application comprising the steps of:

periodically monitoring performance characteristics of resources used by said application; and

modifying the behavior of said application, based on a comparison of said monitored performance characteristics to one or more predetermined values.

2. The method of

claim 1

wherein said comparison indicated that a particular action by a user of said application will result in an error or degraded performance.

3. The method of

claim 1

wherein the user interface of said application is modified.

4. The method of

claim 1

wherein the functionality of said application is curtailed.

6. The system of

claim 3

further comprising one or more consoles.

13. The system of

claim 6

wherein said one or more controllers send information to said console for output to a user of said application.

38. The system of

claim 6

wherein information regarding the performance of said application is displayed on said console.

39. The system of

claim 6

wherein a user of said system can enter specific rules at said console. to be applied by said one or more controllers to modify the behavior of said application.

40. The system of

claim 6

wherein said console may communicate directly with said one or more sensors.

41. The system of

claim 6

wherein said console may communicate directly with said one or more actuators.

42. The system of

claim 6

wherein said console may communicate with said one or more sensors or said one or more actuators through said one or more controllers.

43. The system of

claim 6

wherein a user of said system can enable or disable individual ones of said one or more sensors or said one or more actuators.

44. The system of

claim 6

wherein said console displays messages and alerts generated by said system.

5. A system for providing for the graceful degradation of the performance of a computer application comprising:

one or more sensors;

one or more controllers; and

one or more actuators.

7. The system of

claim 5

wherein said sensors measure the performance characteristics of various components of said application.

8. The system of

claim 7

wherein said measurements are communicated to said one or more controllers.

9. The system of

claim 5

wherein said one or more controllers decide upon a course of action based on measurements of the performance characteristics of the components of said application.

10. The system of

claim 9

wherein said one or more controllers apply rules to modify the behavior of said application.

11. The system of

claim 9

wherein said rules can be built-in or user-defined.

12. The system of

claim 9

wherein said one or more controllers generate messages to other of said one or more controllers.

14. The system of

claim 9

wherein said one or more controllers send messages to said one or more actuators to effect said modification of said behavior of said application.

15. The system of

claim 7

wherein said one or more sensors are embedded in the application code of said various of said components of said application.

16. The system of

claim 7

wherein said one or more sensors utilize software calls to an operating system supporting the execution of said various components of said application.

17. The system of

claim 7

wherein said one or more sensors are installed on a network are accessing said various components of said application as a client.

18. The system of

claim 7

wherein said one or more sensors measure the response time and availability of various external resources or services required by said various components of said application.

19. The system of

claim 7

wherein a single component of said application is monitored by a plurality of said sensors.

20. The system of

claim 18

wherein said sensors utilize existing performance information.

21. The system of

claim 7

wherein said sensors monitor performance characteristics explicitly specified by a user.

22. The system of

claim 5

wherein said sensors can be generated and placed by said system.

23. The system of

claim 5

wherein said one or more controllers can modify the behavior of said one or more sensors.

24. The system of

claim 23

wherein said one or more controllers can specify the frequency by which said one or more sensors monitor said performance characteristics of various components of said application.

25. The system of

claim 23

wherein said one or more controllers can specify the type of said performance characteristics of various components of said application which are to be monitored by said one or more sensors.

26. The system of

claim 8

wherein said one or more controllers can specify the manner in which said one or more sensors communicate performance characteristic information to said one or more controllers.

27. The system of

claim 14

wherein said actuators may effect modification of the behavior of discrete components of said application.

28. The system of

claim 14

wherein said actuators may modify the user interface of said application.

29. The system of

claim 28

wherein said actuators may restrict the functionality of said application.

30. The system of

claim 14

wherein said actuators may be embedded in the code of said application.

31. The system of

claim 14

wherein a plurality of actuators may be utilized to modify the behavior of one or more components of said application.

32. The system of

claim 14

wherein multiple instances of an actuator may be deployed across replicated instances of external resources or services utilized by said application.

33. The system of

claim 24

wherein said external resources or services includes a user interface rendering mechanism.

34. The system of

claim 14

wherein a single component of said application may be affected by a plurality of actuators.

35. The system of

claim 5

wherein a single controller is utilized.

36. The system of

claim 5

wherein a plurality of controllers arranged in a master/slave hierarchy are utilized.

37. The system of

claim 5

wherein a plurality of controllers arranged in a process group are utilized.

45. An improvement to a standard computer system comprising:

one or more sensors for checking the availability and performance of external resources or services required by various components of an application running on said system;

one or more controllers for collecting information from said one or more sensors and applying rule-base criteria to said information to determine the performance and/or availability of said resources or services; and

one or more actuators for modifying the behavior of said application, based on information collected by said one or more controllers.

46. The improvement of

claim 45

wherein said application may be web-based.

47. The improvement of

claim 45

wherein said application is a multi-tiered client/server application.

48. The improvement of

claim 45

wherein said resources and said services may be supplied by systems connected via a network.

49. The improvement of

claim 48

wherein said sensors, controllers, actuators and consoles communicate via said network.