System and method for application performance management

• US 20030009507A1
• Filed: 06/29/2001
• Published: 01/09/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: BMC Software Incorporated (KKR & Co., Inc.)
• Original Assignee: BMC Software Incorporated (KKR & Co., Inc.)
• Inventors: Shum, Annie
• Granted Patent: US 7,350,209 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 718/104
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/32 with visual or acoustical indication of the functioning of the machine
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3409 for performance assessment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3414 Workload generation, e.g. scripts, playback
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3495 for systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/87 Monitoring of transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/875 Monitoring of systems including the internet
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/02 Capturing of monitoring data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0882 Utilisation of link capacity
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 715/965 for process control and configuration
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 715/966 Computer process, e.g. operation of computer
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 715/967 Visual or iconic programming

Abstract

An improved method and system for complex and integrated application performance management which tracks end-to-end computer resource consumption of a first business application workflow in an enterprise system. The first business application workflow may include a plurality of components. The plurality of components may further include one or more component types. A second or subsequent business application workflow may be embedded or linked as a component of the first business application workflow. Resource usage information of the plurality of components (including resource usage information of underlying units of work of the plurality of components) may be correlated to determine cumulative resource usage information for the first business application workflow. The resource usage information may be displayed in a graphical user interface. User input may be received indicating one or more of the following for the first business application workflow: an application name, a natural business unit, and a mission-critical ranking.

Claims

1. A method, based on a Web enabled graphical wizard, of tracking end-to-end resource usage information of a first business application workflow in an enterprise system, wherein the first business application workflow includes a plurality of components, the method comprising:

examining resource usage information of the plurality of components;

correlating the resource usage information of the plurality of components to determine cumulative resource usage information for the first business application workflow; and

storing the resource usage information of the plurality of components and the cumulative resource usage information for the first business application workflow in a memory in response to said correlating, wherein the cumulative resource usage information for the first business application workflow comprises information regarding the resource usage information of the plurality of components.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein resources for which resource usage information is examined, correlated, and stored, comprises one or more of the following:

CPU usage, I/O activity, database accesses, memory usage, network bandwidth, network latency, software serialization, or synchronization delays.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein resource usage information of the plurality of components comprises resource usage information of underlying units of work of the plurality of components.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein units of work of the plurality of components comprise one or more of the following:

processes, threads, program names, executable names, transactions, GroupWare, MiddleWare, Enterprise Resource Planning, Customer Relationship Management, messages, network packets, computer jobs, computer tasks, performance groups, service classes, service class periods, or report classes.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of components comprises one or more of the following component types:

transactions, databases, servers, networks, user defined.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

embedding or linking a second or subsequent business application workflow as a component of the first business application workflow;

wherein said correlating further comprises adding the resource usage information for the embedded or linked second or subsequent business application workflow to the resource usage information of the plurality of components to determine cumulative resource usage information for the first business application workflow.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating one or more reports using the resource usage information of the plurality of components and the cumulative resource usage information for the first business application workflow.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the reports generated using the resource usage information of the plurality of components and the cumulative resource usage information for the first business application workflow include end-to-end component completion times.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the cumulative resource usage information for the first business application workflow comprises a sequence of entrances and exits through one or more of the plurality of components.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying the resource usage information of the plurality of components and the cumulative resource usage information for the first business application workflow in a graphical user interface.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein said storing comprises storing the resource usage information of the plurality of components and the cumulative resource usage information for the first business application workflow in a database comprised in the memory.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein resources for which resource usage information is examined, correlated, and stored, comprises one or more of the following:

CPU usage, I/O activity, database accesses, memory usage, network bandwidth, network latency, software serialization, or synchronization delays.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein resource usage information of the plurality of components for each business application workflow comprises resource usage information of underlying units of work of the plurality of components for each business application workflow.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein units of work of the plurality of components for each business application workflow comprise one or more of the following:

processes, threads, program names, executable names, transactions, GroupWare, MiddleWare, Enterprise Resource Planning, Customer Relationship Management, messages, network packets, computer jobs, computer tasks, performance groups, service classes, service class periods, or report classes.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein the plurality of components for each business application workflow comprises one or more of the following component types:

transactions, databases, servers, networks, user defined.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

embedding or linking a second or subsequent business application workflow as a component of the first business application workflow of the plurality of business application workflows;

wherein said correlating further comprises adding the resource usage information for the embedded or linked second or subsequent business application workflow to the resource usage information of the plurality of components to determine cumulative resource usage information for the first business application workflow of the plurality of business application workflows.

18. The method of claim 12, further comprising generating one or more reports using the resource usage information of the plurality of components for each business application workflow and the cumulative resource usage information for each business application workflow.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the reports generated using the resource usage information of the plurality of components for each business application workflow and the cumulative resource usage information for each business application workflow include end-to-end component completion times.

20. The method of claim 12, wherein the cumulative resource usage information for each business application workflow comprises a sequence of entrances and exits through one or more of the plurality of components for each business application workflow.

21. The method of claim 12, further comprising displaying the resource usage information of the plurality of components for each business application workflow and the cumulative resource usage information for each business application workflow in a graphical user interface.

22. The method of claim 12, wherein said storing comprises storing the resource usage information of the plurality of components for each business application workflow and the cumulative resource usage information for each business application workflow in a database comprised in the memory.

27. The carrier medium of claim 26, wherein the carrier medium is a memory medium.

12. A method of tracking end-to-end resource usage information of a plurality of business application workflows in an enterprise system, wherein each of the plurality of business application workflows includes a plurality of components, the method comprising:

examining resource usage information of the plurality of components for each business application workflow;

correlating the resource usage information of the plurality of components for each business application workflow to determine cumulative resource usage information for each business application workflow;

storing the resource usage information of the plurality of components for each business application workflow and the cumulative resource usage information for each business application workflow in a memory in response to said correlating, wherein the cumulative resource usage information for each business application workflow comprises information regarding the resource usage information of the plurality of components for each business application workflow;

receiving user input indicating a mission-critical ranking for each business application workflow;

sorting the plurality of business application workflows based on the mission-critical ranking for each business application workflow to construct a hierarchy of business application workflows.

23. A system, based on a Web enabled graphical wizard, of tracking end-to-end resource usage information of a first business application workflow in an enterprise system, wherein the first business application workflow includes a plurality of components, the system comprising:

a CPU;

a memory medium coupled to the CPU which stores a resource usage tracking program, wherein the resource usage tracking program is executable to;

examine resource usage information of the plurality of components;

correlate the resource usage information of the plurality of components to determine cumulative resource usage information for the first business application workflow; and

store the resource usage information of the plurality of components and the cumulative resource usage information for the first business application workflow in a memory in response to said correlating, wherein the cumulative resource usage information for the first business application workflow comprises information regarding the resource usage information of the plurality of components.

24. A system, based on a Web enabled graphical wizard, of tracking end-to-end resource usage information of a plurality of business application workflows in an enterprise system, wherein each of the plurality of business application workflows includes a plurality of components, the system comprising:

a CPU;

a memory medium coupled to the CPU which stores a resource usage tracking program, wherein the resource usage tracking program is executable to;

examine resource usage information of the plurality of components for each business application workflow;

correlate the resource usage information of the plurality of components for each business application workflow to determine cumulative resource usage information for each business application workflow;

store the resource usage information of the plurality of components for each business application workflow and the cumulative resource usage information for each business application workflow in a memory in response to said correlating, wherein the cumulative resource usage information for each business application workflow comprises information regarding the resource usage information of the plurality of components for each business application workflow;

receive user input indicating a mission-critical ranking for each business application workflow;

sort the plurality of business application workflows based on the mission-critical ranking for each business application workflow to construct a hierarchy of business application workflows.

25. A carrier medium which stores program instructions for tracking end-to-end resource usage information of a first business application workflow in an enterprise system, wherein the first business application workflow includes a plurality of components, wherein the program instructions are executable to implement:

examining resource usage information of the plurality of components;

correlating the resource usage information of the plurality of components to determine cumulative resource usage information for the first business application workflow; and

storing the resource usage information of the plurality of components and the cumulative resource usage information for the first business application workflow in a memory in response to said correlating, wherein the cumulative resource usage information for the first business application workflow comprises information regarding the resource usage information of the plurality of components.

26. A carrier medium which stores program instructions for tracking end-to-end resource usage information of a plurality of business application workflows in an enterprise system, wherein each of the plurality of business application workflows includes a plurality of components, wherein the program instructions are executable to implement:

examining resource usage information of the plurality of components for each business application workflow;

correlating the resource usage information of the plurality of components for each business application workflow to determine cumulative resource usage information for each business application workflow;

storing the resource usage information of the plurality of components for each business application workflow and the cumulative resource usage information for each business application workflow in a memory in response to said correlating, wherein the cumulative resource usage information for each business application workflow comprises information regarding the resource usage information of the plurality of components for each business application workflow;

receiving user input indicating a mission-critical ranking for each business application workflow;

sorting the plurality of business application workflows based on the mission-critical ranking for each business application workflow to construct a hierarchy of business application workflows.