Data logging in content routed networks

• US 20060149788A1
• Filed: 12/21/2005
• Published: 07/06/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/27/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Solace Corp.
• Original Assignee: Solace Systems, Inc. (United Kingdom)
• Inventors: Bosloy, Jonathan, Horton, David, Whalen, Christopher, McAllister, Shawn, Manson, Peter, Ashton, Peter, Fossum, Daniel, Betts, Craig
• Granted Patent: US 7,895,158 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/00 Arrangements for monitoring or testing data switching networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0852 Delays
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/106 using time related information in packets, e.g. by adding timestamps
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/16 Threshold monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/125 involving control of end-device applications over a network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/288 Distributed intermediate devices, i.e. intermediate devices for interaction with other intermediate devices on the same level
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/63 Routing a service request depending on the request content or context
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/966 Distributed

Abstract

A method of managing a content routed network, involves distributing published documents through said network for delivery to subscribers; maintaining data logs pertaining to said published documents at different points in the network; and correlating the data logs to obtain information about the operation of the network.

Claims

1. A method of managing a content routed network, comprising:

distributing published documents through said network for delivery to subscribers;

storing data logs pertaining to said published documents at different points in the network; and

correlating said data logs stored at said different points to obtain information about the operation of said network.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein each said published document is provided with a globally unique correlation tag to allow correlation of said data logs and delivery points of said document to be determined.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said data logs stored at said different points in network include a timestamp indicating when a referenced document passed a particular point.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising examining said timestamps to determine delivery latency of said published document for each subscriber receiving said document.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said data logs include ingress records logging documents received from particular publishers and egress logs logging documents delivered to particular subscribers.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein an ingress record is created as an incoming document is received by a router, and the ingress record is modified or further ingress records pertaining to the document are created as the received document is processed if predetermined conditions affecting the document are met.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein an egress record for a particular document is created when a matching subscriber is found.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein egress records are added or modified as a document is processed at a network node depending on predetermined conditions being met.

9. The method of claim 5, wherein a timestamp is associated with said ingress record.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein an egress record with a timestamp is produced when a document is delivered to a subscriber.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein said timestamp associated with said egress record is compared with the timestamp associated with the ingress record to the document at a publishing point to determine latency in the network.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the published documents are provided with user data assigned by respective publishers, and said user data are recorded in ingress logs, and wherein said user data are carried through the network with the documents and recorded in egress logs when the published documents are delivered to each subscriber at various points in the network.

13. The method of claim 5, wherein archived log files are maintained at the content router for use by a network administrator or external systems.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein said archived log files are sent automatically to a remote server.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein said remote server is an SFTP server.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein said ingress and egress records are written to a current traffic logging file.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein said current traffic logging file is closed when a predetermined condition is met, wherein said predetermined condition is selected from the group consisting of:

its size reaches a configurable threshold;

a configurable amount of time has elapsed since the file was created; and

the file reaches a configurable number of record entries.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein said published documents pass through different networks, and data logs are stored at a boundary between said different networks.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein an egress record is created at the network boundary as a document leaves one network for another network.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein an ingress record is created as the document arrives at one network after leaving another network.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein the egress record indicates the identity of the content routed network to which the document is being sent.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein the ingress record indicates the identity of the content routed network from which the document is received.

23. The method of claim 1, wherein said published documents pass between nodes in a single administrative domain and data logs are stored at each node.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein an egress record is created at a node as a document leaves that node for another node.

25. The method of claim 23, wherein an ingress record is created as the document arrives one node after leaving another node.

26. The method of claim 24, wherein the egress record indicates the identity of the node to which the document is being sent.

27. The method of claim 25, wherein the ingress record indicates the identity of the node from which the document is received.

28. The method of claim 5, wherein said ingress and egress records are formatted using a markup language.

29. The method of claim 7, wherein an egress record is generated when a document cannot be immediately delivered to the matching subscriber.

30. The method of claim 28, wherein the ingress records are of the form:

31. The method of claim 28, wherein the egress records are of the form:

32. The method of claim 5, wherein data logging filters are provided so that the content of the published documents are reflected in the ingress and egress records.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein said data logging filters comprise rules associated with specific publisher identities or a wildcard publisher identity.

34. The method of claim 32, wherein said data logging filters comprise rules associated with specific subscriber identities or a wildcard subscriber identity.

35. The method of claim 1, wherein for high volume applications summary records associated with a specific concept are created at, intervals.

36. The method of claim 35, wherein said specific concept is selected from the group consisting of:

a publisher, a subscriber, an entitlement group, content published and content delivered.

37. The method of claim 35, wherein said summary records include ingress and egress records.

38. The method of claim 35, wherein in addition to the summary records detailed records are created for a small percentage of documents processed.

39. The method of claim 1, wherein a subscription record is generated as subscriptions are added or deleted.

40. The method of claim 39, wherein the subscription records included a field containing the username of the subscriber for which the subscription has been added or removed and optionally zero or more fields from the group consisting of:

timestamp, subscription, filter flag, code, action taken, and result.

41. The method of claim 40, wherein billing information is derived front said subscription records.

42. A content routed network comprising:

a plurality of content routers, each content router comprising;

a central processing unit;

a first memory portion storing programs and data; and

a second memory portion storing log records of published content passing through the content router.

43. The content routed network of claim 42, wherein each of the content routers at the edge of the network are configured to provide said published document with a globally unique correlation tag to allow correlation of said data logs and the determination of delivery points of the document in the network.

44. The content routed network of claim 43, wherein each record includes a timestamp, if multiple records are produced for the same document at various points in the network, the records can be correlated using the unique correlation tag, and the timestamps can be compared for the said document to determine network operation.

45. The content routed network of claim 44, wherein content routers are configured to store ingress records logging documents received from particular publishers and egress records logging documents delivered to particular subscribers.

46. The content routed network of claim 45, wherein the content routers are configured to create an egress record for a particular document when a matching subscriber is found.

47. The content routed network of claim 45, wherein the content routers are configured to provide published documents with user data assigned by respective publishers so that said user data are recorded in ingress logs, carried through the network with the documents, and recorded in egress logs when the published documents are delivered to each subscriber at various points in the network.

48. The content routed network of claim 45, wherein said content routers include storage devices for storing archived log files for use by a network administrator or external systems.

49. The content routed network of claim 48, wherein content routers are configured to send the archived log files automatically to a remote server.

50. The content routed network of claim 48, wherein the ingress and egress records are written to a current traffic logging file, which is closed when a predetermined condition is met, wherein said predetermined condition is selected from the group consisting of:

its size reaches a configurable threshold;

a configurable amount of time has elapsed since the file was created; and

the file reaches a configurable number of record entries.

51. The content routed network of claim 42, which is connected to a different network, and wherein said content routers at the boundary between the different networks are configured to store data logs at the boundary as documents pass between the networks.

52. The content routed network of claim 42, where said content routers further comprise data logging filters so that the content of the published documents is reflected in the ingress and egress records.

53. The method of claim 52, where in said data logging filters comprise rules associated with specific or wildcard publisher identities or specific or wildcard subscriber identities.

54. A content router for content routed network comprising:

a central processing unit;

a first memory portion storing programs and data; and

a second memory portion storing log records of published content passing through the content router.