Method and apparatus for redirecting transactions based on transaction response time policy in a distributed environment

• US 20060167891A1
• Filed: 01/27/2005
• Published: 07/27/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 01/27/2005
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Emuchay, Nduwuisi I., Chagoly, Bryan Christopher, Blaisdell, Russell C., Sexton, Kirk Malcolm
• Application Number:
  US11/044,463
• Publication Number:
  US 20060167891A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3495 for systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/81 Threshold
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/87 Monitoring of transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/875 Monitoring of systems including the internet
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes

Abstract

A method, system, and computer program instructions for using existing performance monitoring solutions to detect performance issues in an enterprise, and providing and executing a corrective action on any server being monitored in the enterprise to correct the performance issue. When a management agent on a monitored server detects a threshold violation, the management agent sends a violation event to the management server. Upon receiving the violation event, the management server distributes a corrective action associated with the threshold violation to a set of defined management agents involved in the transaction. Each management agent then runs the corrective action to remedy the performance problem.

Claims

1. A method in a data processing system for managing event responses, comprising:

receiving, at a management server, a violation event from a management agent on a monitored server, wherein the violation event represents a threshold violation at a specific location on the monitored server;

identifying a defined set of management agents based on the violation event received; and

distributing a corrective action to the defined set of management agents responsive to receiving the violation event, wherein the corrective action is associated with the threshold violation, and wherein each management agent in the defined set of management agents runs the corrective action on its respective monitored server to remedy a performance problem.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the management server defines a monitoring policy in a performance monitoring system;

assigns a corrective action to a performance threshold associated with the monitoring policy;

associates a monitoring policy with monitored servers running a management agent; and

distributes the monitoring policy to the defined set of management agents, wherein each management agent in the defined set of management agents is used to detect if a threshold is violated based on the monitoring policy.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of management agents to receive the corrective action based on the violation event is user-defined.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the corrective action includes one of stopping and starting a process, invoking a remote script or command, modifying a monitored application configuration, and modifying an operating system configuration.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the corrective action includes redirecting an incoming request from a desired transaction to a predefined alternate transaction.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the corrective action is configured as a throttling control, wherein a portion of incoming requests are redirected to the predefined alternate transaction and remaining incoming requests are processed in a normal manner.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the predefined alternate transaction includes an error page.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein the predefined alternate transaction includes a page with a different functionality than the desired transaction.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the corrective action notifies an edge transaction in a monitoring policy to begin redirecting all new incoming requests for a transaction.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the corrective action runs on any monitored server upstream or downstream in a transaction.

11. The method of claim 2, wherein the performance threshold is an acceptable response time.

12. A system for managing event responses in a distributed network environment, comprising:

a management server; and

a defined set of management agents connected to the management server, wherein a management agent in the defined set of management agents detects a threshold violation at a specific location on a monitored server and sends a violation event to the management server;

wherein an association between the violation event and a corrective action is defined on the management server;

wherein the management server identifies the defined set of management agents based on the violation event received and distributes the corrective action to the defined set of management agents; and

wherein each management agent in the defined set of management agents runs the corrective action on its respective monitored server to remedy a performance problem.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the management server defines a monitoring policy in a performance monitoring system;

assigns a corrective action to a performance threshold associated with the monitoring policy;

associates a monitoring policy with monitored servers running a management agent; and

distributes the monitoring policy to the defined set of management agents, wherein each management agent in the defined set of management agents is used to detect if a threshold is violated based on the monitoring policy.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the set of management agents to receive the corrective action based on the violation event is user-defined.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein the corrective action includes one of stopping and starting a process, invoking a remote script or command, modifying a monitored application configuration, and modifying an operating system configuration.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein the corrective action includes redirecting an incoming request from a desired transaction to a predefined alternate transaction.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the corrective action is configured as a throttling control, wherein a portion of incoming requests are redirected to the predefined alternate transaction and remaining incoming requests are processed in a normal manner.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the predefined alternate transaction includes an error page.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein the predefined alternate transaction includes a page with a different functionality than the desired transaction.

20. The system of claim 12, wherein the corrective action notifies an edge transaction in a monitoring policy to begin redirecting all new incoming requests for a transaction.

21. The system of claim 12, wherein the corrective action runs on any monitored server upstream or downstream in a transaction.

22. The system of claim 13, wherein the performance threshold is an acceptable response time.

23. The system of claim 12, wherein the management server is located in a data processing system.

24. The system of claim 12, wherein the defined set of management agents are located in a plurality of data processing systems.

35. The computer program product of claim 24, wherein the performance threshold is an acceptable response time.

25. A computer program product in a computer readable medium for managing event responses, comprising:

first instructions for receiving, at a management server, a violation event detected by a management agent on a monitored server, wherein the violation event represents a threshold violation at a specific location on the monitored server;

second instructions for identifying a defined set of management agents based on the violation event received; and

third instructions for distributing a corrective action to the defined set of management agents responsive to receiving the violation event, wherein the corrective action is associated with the threshold violation, and wherein each management agent in the defined set of management agents runs the corrective action on its respective monitored server to remedy a performance problem.

26. The computer program product of claim 25, wherein the management server defines a monitoring policy in a performance monitoring system;

assigns a corrective action to a performance threshold associated with the monitoring policy;

associates a monitoring policy with monitored servers running a management agent; and

distributes the monitoring policy to the defined set of management agents, wherein each management agent in the defined set of management agents is used to detect if a threshold is violated based on the monitoring policy.

27. The computer program product of claim 25, wherein the set of management agents to receive the corrective action based on the violation event is user-defined.

28. The computer program product of claim 25, wherein the corrective action includes one of stopping and starting a process, invoking a remote script or command, modifying a monitored application configuration, and modifying an operating system configuration.

29. The computer program product of claim 25, wherein the corrective action includes redirecting an incoming request from a desired transaction to a predefined alternate transaction.

30. The computer program product of claim 29, wherein the corrective action is configured as a throttling control, wherein a portion of incoming requests are redirected to the predefined alternate transaction and remaining incoming requests are processed in a normal manner.

31. The computer program product of claim 29, wherein the predefined alternate transaction includes an error page.

32. The computer program product of claim 29, wherein the predefined alternate transaction includes a page with a different functionality than the desired transaction.

33. The computer program product of claim 25, wherein the corrective action notifies an edge transaction in a monitoring policy to begin redirecting all new incoming requests for a transaction.

34. The computer program product of claim 25, wherein the corrective action runs on any monitored server upstream or downstream in a transaction.