Intelligent performance monitoring based on user transactions

• US 20060107255A1
• Filed: 10/22/2004
• Published: 05/18/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 10/22/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Chen, Xiaoping, Lavery, Andrew Jason, Chagoly, Bryan Christopher, McKinney, Howard Milton, Sexton, Kirk Malcolm
• Granted Patent: US 7,552,212 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/127
• 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

Abstract

A system and method to allow an individual transaction in an instrumented software application to be monitored according to its own configuration. In one preferred embodiment, each transaction is associated with a token. The token includes the monitoring configuration that should be used for the associated transaction. When the application entry point is reached for the transaction, the token is looked up and retrieved, and the monitoring policy configuration of the token determines what data is gathered about the transaction.

Claims

1. A method for monitoring an application operating on a computer system, comprising the steps of:

monitoring a first entry point of the application for a first transaction;

when the first entry point is reached by the application, acquiring a first token associated with the first transaction; and

monitoring the first transaction according to a monitoring policy of the first token.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein if the transaction is associated with an empty token, the transaction is not monitored.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the monitoring policy of the first token determines what information is gathered about the first transaction.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first token is acquired by looking up the first transaction in a policy mapper.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

monitoring a second entry point of the application for a second transaction;

when the second entry point is reached, acquiring a second token associated with the second transaction; and

monitoring the second transaction according to a monitoring policy of the second token.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first transaction comprises a plurality of sub-transactions, and wherein each sub-transaction is associated with the monitoring policy of the first token.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first transaction includes a sub-transaction;

wherein the sub-transaction is associated with a second token; and

wherein the second token is derived from the first token.

8. A system for monitoring transactions in an application, the system including processor and memory, comprising:

a probe inserted into the application, wherein the probe monitors an entry point for a transaction of the application; and

a policy mapper that associates a token with the transaction, wherein the token includes monitoring policy configurations for the transaction.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein when the entry point for the transaction is reached, the probe looks up the token in the policy mapper.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the transaction comprises at least one sub-transaction, and wherein the token associated with the transaction is transformed into a token for the sub-transaction.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the transaction is monitored according to the monitoring policy configuration of the token.

12. A computer program product in a computer readable medium, comprising:

first instructions for monitoring a first entry point of the application for a first transaction;

second instructions for, when the first entry point is reached by the application, acquiring a first token associated with the first transaction; and

third instructions for monitoring the first transaction according to a monitoring policy of the first token.

13. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein if the transaction is associated with an empty token, the transaction is not monitored.

14. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the monitoring policy of the first token determines what information is gathered about the first transaction.

15. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the first token is acquired by looking up the first transaction in a policy mapper.

16. The computer program product of claim 12, further comprising:

fourth instructions for monitoring a second entry point of the application for a second transaction;

fifth instructions for, when the second entry point is reached, acquiring a second token associated with the second transaction; and

sixth instructions for monitoring the second transaction according to a monitoring policy of the second token.

17. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the first transaction comprises a plurality of sub-transactions, and wherein each sub-transaction is associated with the monitoring policy of the first token.

18. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the first transaction includes a sub-transaction;

wherein the sub-transaction is associated with a second token; and

wherein the second token is derived from the first token.