Transaction tracer

• US 20040078691A1
• Filed: 12/12/2002
• Published: 04/22/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 10/18/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CA, Inc. (d/b/a CA Technologies) (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Computer Associates Think Inc. (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Cirne, Lewis K., Puryear, Daryl L.
• Granted Patent: US 7,870,431 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 714/38
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3624 by performing operations on the source code, e.g. via a compiler
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3636 by tracing the execution of the program
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3664 Environments for testing or debugging software

Abstract

A user specifies a threshold trace period and can initiate transaction tracing on one, some or all of the transactions running on a software system. Transactions with an execution time that exceeds the threshold trace period are reported to the user using a graphical user interface that lists transactions exceeding the specified threshold. For each listed transaction, a visualization can be provided that enables the user to immediately understand where time was being spent in the traced transaction.

Claims

1. A method for monitoring transactions, comprising the steps of:

collecting data about a set of transactions;

determining whether said transactions satisfy a test; and

reporting one or more transactions satisfying said test.

2. A method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of:

discarding data about one or more transactions not satisfying said test.

3. A method according to claim 1, wherein:

said test includes determining whether a transaction had a duration of more than a threshold time.

4. A method according to claim 1, wherein:

at least one of said transactions includes a method invocation in a running software system that enters a Java Virtual Machine and exits the Java Virtual Machine.

5. A method according to claim 1, wherein:

said step of determining can be turned on and off inside live software.

6. A method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of:

performing anti-flooding.

7. A system for monitoring transactions, comprising:

a user interface; and

an Agent, said Agent performs a method comprising the steps of;

collecting data about a set of transactions,

determining whether said transactions have execution times exceeding a threshold time, and

reporting to said user interface one or more transactions that were determined to have execution times exceeding said threshold time.

8. An apparatus, comprising:

one or more storage devices; and

one or more processors in communication with said one or more storage devices, said one or more processors perform a method comprising the steps of;

collecting data about a set of transactions,

determining whether said transactions have execution times exceeding a threshold time, and

reporting one or more transactions that were determined to have execution times exceeding said threshold time.

9. One or more processor readable storage devices having processor readable code embodied on said processor readable storage devices, said processor readable code for programming one or more processors to perform a method comprising the steps of:

collecting data about a set of transactions;

determining whether said transactions satisfy a test; and

reporting one or more transactions satisfying said test.