Techniques for health monitoring and control of application servers

• US 20060048017A1
• Filed: 08/30/2004
• Published: 03/02/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 08/30/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Pacifici, Giovanni, Anerousis, Nikolaos, Mummert, Lily Barkovic, Black-Ziegelbein, Elizabeth Ann, Hanson, Susan Maureen
• Granted Patent: US 8,627,149 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 714/47
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1438 Restarting or rejuvenating
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3409 for performance assessment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/81 Threshold

Abstract

Techniques for improving application server performance and availability are provided. In one aspect, a method of monitoring the health of one or more application servers comprises the following steps. One or more health classes are specified, each of the one or more health classes defining one or more health policies for the one or more application servers. At least one of the one or more health policies is monitored. Violations, if any, of the one or more health policies are detected.

Claims

1. A method of monitoring the health of one or more application servers, the method comprising the steps of:

specifying one or more health classes, each of the one or more health classes defining one or more health policies for the one or more application servers;

monitoring at least one of the one or more health policies; and

detecting violations, if any, of the one or more health policies.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of storing configurations of the one or more health classes.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the specifying step further comprises the step of defining one or more targets of the one or more health classes.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of taking corrective action based on the violations detected.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the step of taking corrective action based on the violations detected further comprises rejuvenation of at least one of the one or more application servers.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of taking automatic corrective action based on the violation detected.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of requesting user approval to take corrective action based on the violation detected.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of monitoring at least one of the one or more health policies comprises monitoring one or more predetermined attributes of the one or more application servers.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of detecting violations comprises detecting violations based on one or more health conditions.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of detecting violations comprises detecting violations based on one or more health conditions selected from the group consisting of age of an application server, work performed, memory usage patterns and unusually long response times of request.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of implementing the one or more health policies on a computer system.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the step of implementing the one or more health policies on a computer system comprises use of a health controller.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of monitoring at least one of the one or more health policies comprises use of one or more health sensors.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of monitoring at least one of the one or more health policies comprises use of one or more health sensors automatically configured to monitor the one or more health policies.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of detecting violations further comprises the step of producing a diagnostic message.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of employing a topology manager to monitor one or more of an addition of a health class, a deletion of a health class and a modification of a health class.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of employing a topology manager to monitor one or more of an addition of a target and a deletion of a target.

18. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of employing a topology manager to monitor changes in cluster membership.

19. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of resolving conflicts between health classes by selecting the health class with the narrowest scope.

20. An apparatus for monitoring the health of one or more application servers, the apparatus comprising:

a memory; and

at least one processor, coupled to the memory, operative to;

monitor at least one of one or more health policies for the one or more application servers, the one or more health policies being defined by one or more specified health classes; and

detect violations, if any, of the one or more health policies.

21. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the at least one processor is further operative to take corrective action based on the violations detected.

22. An article of manufacture for monitoring the health of one or more application servers, comprising a machine readable medium containing one or more programs which when executed implement the steps of:

monitoring at least one of one or more health policies for the one or more application servers, the one or more health policies being defined by one or more specified health classes; and

detecting violations, if any, of the one or more health policies.

23. The article of manufacture of claim 22, further comprising the step of taking corrective action based on the violations detected.