Server recording and client playback of computer network characteristics

• US 20060136187A1
• Filed: 01/27/2006
• Published: 06/22/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/15/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Stone, Adam C., Nace, Eric W.
• Granted Patent: US 7,464,014 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 703/13
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3419 by assessing time
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3476 Data logging G06F11/14, G06F11/2205 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3495 for systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/875 Monitoring of systems including the internet
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/069 using logs of notifications; Post-processing of notifications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/145 involving simulating, designing, planning or modelling of a network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/028 by filtering

Abstract

A system and a method for server recording and client playback of computer network characteristics. In general, the network simulation system includes a recording module residing on a server that records and stores the network characteristics in a data collector file. The system also includes a playback module residing on a client that plays back the data collector file upon request. The data collector file includes a log file, which is used to store initial request data, and a data file, which is used to store other data. The method of the invention includes recording computer network characteristics on a recording server and playing back the recording on a client to the same or another server. The recording method uses a global filter residing on the server to record the network characteristics. The playback method plays back the data collector file to simulate the characteristics of real-world network sessions.

Claims

1. A method for simulating network characteristics, comprising:

recording network characteristics using a record module having a filter that resides on a server; and

storing the recorded network characteristics in a data collector file for playback on a playback machine.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising capturing network data from a host environment using the filter.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the filter is a global filter.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising implementing the filter into an operating system of the server.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising limiting a size of the data collector file that stores the recorded network characteristics by using a log restriction/rolling module.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising limiting the size of the data collector file by at least one of:

(a) deleting at least a portion of the data collector file;

(b) moving at least of portion of the data collector file to another machine.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the data collector file comprises a log file, which stores header and tracking information, and a data file, which stores other types of data.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising caching at least a portion of incoming network data and subsequently writing the cached data to the log file.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising playing back the recorded network characteristics using a playback module that resides on the playback machine.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising playing back the recorded network characteristics to a testing server, wherein the playback machine is a client.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising reading at least a portion of the recorded network characteristics stored in the data collector file.

12. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for simulating network characteristics, comprising:

recording network characteristics using a record module having a filter residing on a server; and

storing the recorded network characteristics in a data collector file for playback on a playback machine.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 12, further comprising capturing network data from a host environment of the server.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the network data comprises header data and body data, and further comprising storing the captured network data is in a data collector file comprising a log file, which stores the header data, and a data file, which stores the body data.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 12, further comprising tracking network information from the recording server.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the playback machine is a client machine.

17. A method for simulating network characteristics, comprising:

a recording step for recording network characteristics using a record module having a filter that resides on a server; and

a storing step for storing the recorded network characteristics in a data collector file for playback on a playback machine.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising a playback step for playing back the recorded network characteristics using a playback module residing on the playback machine.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

a first data collection step for storing header data in a log file; and

a second data collection step for storing body data in a data file, wherein the log file and the data file are part of a data collector file for storing the recorded network characteristics.

20. The method of claim 17, further comprising a generation step for generating a custom-generated log file that stores the recorded network characteristics, wherein the custom-generated log file is not a server log file of the server.