Application manager for monitoring and recovery of software based application processes

• US 20030061265A1
• Filed: 09/25/2001
• Published: 03/27/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 09/25/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: PATH Reliability, Inc.
• Original Assignee: PATH Reliability, Inc.
• Inventors: Noy, Oded, Maso, Brian
• Granted Patent: US 7,028,225 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 718/105
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1438 Restarting or rejuvenating
• 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 11/3438 monitoring of user actions tracking the activity of the user H04L67/535
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3495 for systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/865 Monitoring of software
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/87 Monitoring of transactions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1001 for accessing one among a plurality of replicated servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10015 Access to distributed or replicated servers, e.g. using brokers

Abstract

A constant monitoring and recovery system that enables the measurement of task usage/metrics and performance of software-based business applications. These metrics can then be evaluated by logic, in combination with each other and/or a timer, in a distributed environment. This is accomplished with the introduction of an extremely low overhead to the application host. The results of the logic evaluation can cause real-time and real-world responses such as application restart, interaction with load balancing equipment, or notification (via email, pager, etc.). Data can also be persisted to a database for later archival or evaluation, with the ability to reduce granularity over time. Specifically, an application manager monitors business application processes, notifies failure and automatically recovers software based business applications based on the logic of the underlying applications. The application manager comprises three main components that work together: Instrumentation API for setting up monitoring parameters; Event Notification and Automatic Recovery Evaluation Engine; Monitoring Console Server.

Claims

1. A constant monitoring and recovery system in a distributed information exchange network environment, comprising:

measurement means that measure information relating to task usage, metrics and performance of a software-based business application process; and

evaluation means for evaluating measured information based on underlying logic of the process.

2. A constant monitoring and recovery system as in claim 1, wherein the evaluation means is configured to evaluate the information by logic in combination with each other.

3. A constant monitoring and recovery system as in claim 1, wherein the evaluation means is configured dynamically from outside the application, and may be altered in real time.

4. A constant monitoring and recovery system as in claim 1, wherein the measurement means and evaluation means are implemented in an application host.

5. A constant monitoring and recovery system as in claim 4, where the measurement means and evaluation means introduce relatively low overhead to the application host.

6. A constant monitoring and recovery system as in claim 1, further providing means for initiating real-world responses based on the results of the evaluation means.

7. A constant monitoring and recovery system as in claim 6, wherein the real-world responses comprise at least one of application restart, interaction with load balancing equipment, and failure notification.

8. A constant monitoring and recovery system as in claim 7, wherein the means for initiating is configured to complete an existing process before restarting the application.

9. A constant monitoring and recovery system as in claim 1, further comprising a database that allows measured information to persist for later archival and/or evaluation

10. A constant monitoring and recovery system as in claim 9, further comprising a system for retaining measured information at specified levels of granularity for specified periods of time.

11. An application manager for a software based business application process, comprising:

monitoring means for monitoring metrics and performance of the process;

evaluation means for evaluating monitored information based on logic of the process;

recovery means for automatically recovering the application based on evaluated monitored information.

12. An application manager as in claim 11, wherein the recovery means is configured to recover the application after the existing process has been completed.

13. An application manager as in claim 11, wherein the recovery means comprises means for notifying an administrator of failure of the process.

14. An application manager as in claim 11, wherein the monitoring means is configured to provide access into the performance of various components of the software-based business application to determine various levels of functionality of the application.

15. An application manager as in claim 14, wherein the monitoring means measures, when the application is in use, at least one of the levels of performance of actual business logic of the application, and details of interactions of the monitored application with other external applications.

16. An application manager as in claim 11, wherein the evaluation means is configured to collected, filter, aggregate, and or evaluate measured information against the logic, based on specified criteria.

17. An application manager as in claim 11, wherein the evaluation means is configured dynamically from outside the application, and may be altered in real time.

18. An application manager as in claim 11, further comprising archival means for persisting data to be available for historical as well as real-time reporting.

19. An application manager as in claim 11, further comprising a system for retaining measured information at specified levels of granularity for specified periods of time.

20. An application manager as in claim 11, wherein the recovery means is configured to perform failure notification and recovery based on logical evaluation of monitored data, and to initiate real-world events, including at least one of restarting the application process, performing a soft shutdown to further minimize service disruption and loss of information, and sending a notification to an administrator.

21. An application manager for constant monitoring and recovery of a software based business application process, comprising:

an instrumentation API for setting up monitoring parameters;

an event notification and automatic recovery evaluation engine processing information from the instrument API; and

a monitoring console server providing a monitoring operations of the application manager.

22. An application manager as in claim 21, wherein the instrumentation API is customizable, allowing one to instrument and monitor unlimited tasks within standard or custom code in existing programs.

23. An application manager as in claim 21, wherein the event notification and automatic recovery evaluation engine comprises at least one of:

means for forwarding information to the monitoring console server for archiving and data mining;

means for alerting system administrator when performance thresholds are reached or when a compete restart of a failed application is necessary; and

means for performing a soft shutdown whereby an application is stopped in stages, keeping transactions from getting lost and ensuring enterprise reliability and availability.

24. An application manager as in claim 21, wherein the monitoring console server comprises at least one of:

means for providing determination of the functionality of immediate activity and historical data;

means for creating personalized views according to individual administrative roles and security access levels;

means for selecting what information and performance data can be accessed remotely; and

means for facilitating viewing data securely in real time via a web browser.

25. An application manager as in claim 21, further comprising means for data logging and mining, which is configured to record system metrics including alerts, restart time, performance and reliability data to a database, and forwarding data to a central logging server for event logging and data mining.