Method and system for problem determination in distributed enterprise applications

• US 20040054984A1
• Filed: 04/08/2003
• Published: 03/18/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 04/08/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Lam, Robert S., Chong, James C., Tsang, Arthur, Tang, Henry, Chan, Joseph L., So, Chi Hong, Patel, Tushar M., Chow, Raymond, Heler, Jean-Jacques
• Granted Patent: US 7,383,332 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/103
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/079 Root cause analysis, i.e. error or fault diagnosis in a hardware test environment G06F11/22; in a software test environment G06F11/36
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/302 where the computing system component is a software system
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3409 for performance assessment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services

Abstract

A method, system and computer program are provided for problem determination in an enterprise computer system in a distributed environment. In the method, information is obtained regarding the enterprise applications, and high-level information is presented to a user, with one or more prompts are provided to the user for more detailed information. In response to a request from a user for more detailed information about the application, more detailed information is provided to the user. Several levels of more detailed information about applications, including information as to individual threads, is available. The method also includes the steps of receiving instructions from an administrator to establish an account for a user, associating one or more servers with the account, and providing access to the corresponding user only to the associated servers. In the method, searches may be conducted for strings and requests, and identified strings and requests may be sorted by a variety of criteria.

Claims

1. A method for problem determination for enterprise applications running in a distributed environment, comprising the steps of obtaining information regarding the enterprise applications, presenting high level information, comprising a plurality of information items, selected from said obtained information in a format accessible to a user, providing to the user one or more prompts to request more detailed information relative to one or more of said information items, receiving in response to one of said prompts a request from a user for more detailed information as to one or more of said information items, and providing the requested more detailed information to the user in response to the request.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of presenting high level information comprises presenting information about application performance on a plurality of servers.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the application performance information comprises information as to the number of completed requests over a plurality of recent time periods.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of providing more detailed information comprises the step of displaying concurrently information concerning use by one application of each of a plurality of servers.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the provided information comprises use of CPU of each server by the selected application.

6. The method of claim 4, further comprising the step of providing still more detailed information, said still more detailed information comprising information on a thread-by-thread basis as to at least one of said servers.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein said information on a thread-by-thread basis comprises information as to use of resources by each thread.

8. The method of claim 6, further comprising the step of providing a filter having one or more criteria and selectively displaying only those of said threads meeting said criteria.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein said criteria comprise at least one request type.

10. The method of claim 4, further comprising the step of providing still more detailed information with respect to a selected thread.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein said still more detailed information with respect to a selected thread comprises an execution history in terms of a method trace of a request being processed by the selected thread

12. The method of claim 4, further comprising the step of providing a list of method calls.

13. A method for problem determination for enterprise applications running in a distributed environment on a plurality of servers, comprising the steps of receiving instructions from an administrator to establish an account for a user, associating one or more servers with the account, and providing access to the corresponding user only to the associated servers.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein, in response to instructions from an administrator, a first server group is established, and a corresponding user has access to servers in said first server group.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein, in response to instructions from an administrator, a second server group is established, said second server group including selected servers in said first server group.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the corresponding user has first rights as to a first server, and second rights as to a second server.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein said first rights consist of rights to view information.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein said second rights consist of rights to view information and to perform selected commands.

20. The method of claim 14, wherein a command is sent to a probe-publish engine.

51. The system of claim 14, wherein said command is sent to a probe-publish engine.

19. A method for problem determination and cure for enterprise applications running in a distributed environment, comprising the steps of identifying a thread running in the environment, providing a user with an option to execute a soft kill of the thread, and, in response to a command to execute a soft kill, adding code to the thread that causes an exception to be thrown so that the thread is canceled.

21. A method for problem determination for enterprise applications running in a distributed environment, comprising the steps of prompting a user to select an application server and a search inquiry, searching among all active URL strings for web requests and active class names for remote enterprise java bean requests responsive to the search inquiry, and displaying identified strings and requests.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein a search inquiry comprises a text string.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein a search inquiry comprises all transactions having greater than a threshold age.

24. The method of claim 21, wherein a search inquiry comprises transactions started within a selected time window.

25. The method of claim 21, wherein a search inquiry comprises that have issued more than a threshold number of SQLs.

26. The method of claim 21, wherein a search inquiry comprises all transactions that have issued more than a threshold number of methods.

27. A method for problem determination for enterprise applications running in a distributed environment, comprising the steps of prompting the user to enter an exclude list of class names of applications not to be monitored, prompting the user to enter an exclude override list of class names to be monitored, and upon receiving the an exclude override list defining a subset of class names in the exclude list, monitoring all classes other than the classes identified in the exclude list and not identified in the exclude override list.

28. A method for problem determination for enterprise applications running in a distributed environment, comprising the steps of:

monitoring activity based availability of an application running on a server, and displaying for the user an indication of whether the server is available or unavailable based on the activity based availability.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein the step of monitoring activity based availability comprises monitoring any change in central processing unit usage attributable to the application.

30. The method of claim 28, wherein the step of monitoring activity based availability comprises monitoring any change in throughput volume attributable to the application.

31. The method of claim 28, wherein the step of monitoring activity based availability comprises monitoring any change in memory usage attributable to the application.

32. A system for problem determination for enterprise applications running in a distributed environment, comprising means for obtaining information regarding the enterprise applications, means for presenting high level information, comprising a plurality of information items, selected from said obtained information in a format accessible to a user, means for providing to the user one or more prompts to request more detailed information relative to one or more of said information items, means for receiving in response to one of said prompts a request from a user for more detailed information as to one or more of said information items, and means for providing the requested more detailed information to the user in response to the request.

33. The system of claim 32, wherein said means for presenting high level information comprises means for presenting information about application performance on a plurality of servers.

34. The system of claim 33, wherein the application performance information comprises information as to the number of completed requests over a plurality of recent time periods.

35. The system of claim 32, wherein said means for providing more detailed information comprises the step of displaying concurrently information concerning use by one application of each of a plurality of servers.

36. The system of claim 36, wherein the provided information comprises use of CPU of each server by the selected application.

37. The system of claim 36, further comprising means for providing still more detailed information, said still more detailed information comprising information on a thread-by-thread basis as to at least one of said servers.

38. The system of claim 37, wherein said information on a thread-by-thread basis comprises information as to use of resources by each thread.

39. The system of claim 37, further comprising means for providing a filter having one or more criteria and selectively displaying only those of said threads meeting said criteria.

40. The system of claim 39, wherein said criteria comprise at least one request type.

41. The system of claim 37, further comprising means for presenting still more detailed information with respect to a selected thread.

42. The system of claim 41, wherein said still more detailed information with respect to a selected thread comprises an execution history in terms of a method trace of a request being processed by the selected thread

43. The system of claim 42, further comprising the step of providing a list of method calls.

44. A system for problem determination for enterprise applications running in a distributed environment on a plurality of servers, comprising means for receiving instructions from an administrator to establish an account for a user, means for associating one or more servers with the account, and means for providing access to the corresponding user only to the associated servers.

45. The system of claim 44, wherein, in response to instructions from an administrator, a first server group is established, and a corresponding user has access to servers in said first server group.

46. The system of claim 45, wherein, in response to instructions from an administrator, a second server group is established, said second server group including selected servers in said first server group.

47. The system of claim 44, wherein the corresponding user has first rights as to a first server, and second rights as to a second server.

48. The system of claim 47, wherein said first rights consist of rights to view information.

49. The system of claim 48, wherein said second rights consist of rights to view information and to perform selected commands.

50. A system for problem determination and cure for enterprise applications running in a distributed environment, comprising means for identifying a thread running in the environment, providing a user with an option to execute a soft kill of the thread, and, in response to a command to execute a soft kill, adding code to the thread that causes an exception to be thrown so that the thread is canceled.

52. A system for problem determination for enterprise applications running in a distributed environment, comprising means for prompting a user to select an application server and a search inquiry, means for searching among all active URL strings for web requests and active class names for remote enterprise java bean requests responsive to the search inquiry, and means for displaying identified strings and requests.

53. The system of claim 52, wherein a search inquiry comprises a text string.

54. The system of claim 52, wherein a search inquiry comprises all transactions having greater than a threshold age.

55. The system of claim 52, wherein a search inquiry comprises transactions started within a selected time window.

56. The system of claim 52, wherein a search inquiry comprises transactions that have issued more than a threshold number of SQLs.

57. The system of claim 52, wherein a search inquiry comprises all transactions that have issued more than a threshold number of methods.

58. A system for problem determination for enterprise applications running in a distributed environment, comprising means for prompting a user to enter an exclude list of class names of applications not to be monitored, prompting the user to enter an exclude override list of class names to be monitored, and means for, upon receiving the an exclude override list defining a subset of class names in the exclude list, monitoring all classes other than the classes identified in the exclude list and not identified in the exclude override list.

59. A system for problem determination for enterprise applications running in a distributed environment, comprising means for monitoring activity based availability of an application running on a server, and means for displaying for the user an indication of whether the server is available or unavailable based on the activity based availability.

60. The system of claim 59, wherein said means for monitoring activity based availability comprises means for monitoring any change in central processing unit usage attributable to the application.

61. The system of claim 59, wherein said means for monitoring activity based availability comprises means for monitoring any change in throughput volume attributable to the application.

62. The system of claim 59, wherein the step of monitoring activity based availability comprises monitoring any change in memory usage attributable to the application.

63. A computer program for problem determination for enterprise applications running in a distributed environment, said program consisting of instructions stored on a medium, said instructions, when executed on a processor causing the processor to execute the steps of:

presenting high level information, comprising a plurality of information items, selected from said obtained information in a format accessible to a user, providing to the user one or more prompts to request more detailed information relative to one or more of said information items, receiving in response to one of said prompts a request from a user for more detailed information as to one or more of said information items, and providing the requested more detailed information to the user in response to the request.

64. A computer program for problem determination for enterprise applications running in a distributed environment, said program consisting of instructions stored on a medium, said instructions, when executed on a processor causing the processor to execute the steps of:

receiving instructions from an administrator to establish an account for a user, associating one or more servers with the account, and providing access to the corresponding user only to the associated servers.

65. A computer program for problem determination and cure for enterprise applications running in a distributed environment, said program consisting of instructions stored on a medium, said instructions, when executed on a processor causing the processor to execute the steps of:

identifying a thread running in the environment, providing a user with an option to execute a soft kill of the thread, and, in response to a command to execute a soft kill, adding code to the thread that causes an exception to be thrown so that the thread is canceled.

66. A computer program for problem determination for enterprise applications running in a distributed environment, said program consisting of instructions stored on a medium, said instructions, when executed on a processor causing the processor to execute the steps of prompting a user to select an application server and a search inquiry, searching among all active URL strings for web requests and active class names for remote enterprise java bean requests responsive to the search inquiry, and displaying identified strings and requests.

67. A computer program for problem determination for enterprise applications running in a distributed environment, said program consisting of instructions stored on a medium, said instructions, when executed on a processor causing the processor to execute the steps of prompting the user to enter an exclude list of class names of applications not to be monitored, prompting the user to enter an exclude override list of class names to be monitored, and upon receiving the an exclude override list defining a subset of class names in the exclude list, monitoring all classes other than the classes identified in the exclude list and not identified in the exclude override list.

68. A computer program for problem determination for enterprise applications running in a distributed environment, said program consisting of instructions stored on a medium, said instructions, when executed on a processor causing the processor to execute the steps of monitoring activity based availability of an application running on a server, and displaying for the user an indication of whether the server is available or unavailable based on the activity based availability.