Method and apparatus for exposing monitoring violations to the monitored application

• US 20060168199A1
• Filed: 01/27/2005
• Published: 07/27/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 01/27/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Chagoly, Bryan Christopher, Emuchay, Nduwuisi
• Granted Patent: US 7,631,073 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

A method and system for exposing monitoring violations to monitored applications is provided. A monitored application may detect that a monitoring application has been applied to monitor a transaction. Based on a defined policy or a threshold within policy, the monitored application may determine if the transaction is in a violation state. If the transaction is in a violation state, the mechanism of the present invention enables the monitoring application to notify the monitored application, such that the monitored application may take corrective action to correct the violation.

Claims

1. A method in a data processing system for exposing monitoring violations to a monitored application, the method comprising:

configuring a monitored application to interact with a monitoring application;

initiating a transaction in the monitored application;

querying a status of the transaction at the monitored application from the monitoring application;

receiving a notification of the status at the monitored application from the monitoring application; and

determining if the transaction is in a violation state based on the status at the monitored application.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

if the transaction in a violation state, taking corrective actions to correct a violation, wherein the taking step is performed by the monitored application.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the configuring step comprises:

deploying a monitoring component to an application server; and

inserting code into the monitored application using the monitoring component.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

defining a policy and at least one threshold in the monitoring application; and

sending the policy and the at least one threshold to a performance monitoring engine.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the initiating step comprises:

generating a transaction using code inserted by the monitoring component; and

matching the transaction against at least one defined policy in a management agent and determining if at least one defined policy matches the transaction.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

if the at least one defined policy matches the transaction, returning a valid correlator; and

invoking a start method on the performance monitoring engine using the valid correlator.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the determining step comprises examining a policy mapper in the management agent to determine if the transaction is defined in the at least one defined policy.

8. The method of claim 3, wherein the monitoring component is implemented using an aspect oriented programming method.

9. The method of claim 4, wherein the at least one threshold is a limit of one of a response time of the transaction, a central processing unit usage of the data processing system, and memory consumption of the data processing system.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the querying step comprises:

retrieving a status code from a performance monitoring engine, wherein the performance monitoring engine is one of application response management engine and a performing monitoring engine monitoring system resources.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the determining step comprises:

if the status code is greater than zero, the transaction is in a violation state.

if the status code is not greater than zero, the transaction is not in a violation state.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the taking step comprises:

if the transaction is in a violation state, alerting the monitoring application of the violation;

aborting the transaction using code inserted by the monitoring component, wherein the code invokes an abort method on the performance monitoring engine; and

taking an alternative code path to correct the transaction.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the taking step comprises:

if the status code is not in a violation state, stopping the transaction using code inserted by the monitoring component, wherein the code invokes a stop method on the performance monitoring engine.

14. A data processing system for exposing monitoring violations to a monitored application, the data processing system comprising:

configuring means for configuring a monitored application to interact with a monitoring application;

initiating means for initiating a transaction in the monitored application;

querying means for querying a status of the transaction at the monitored application from the monitoring application;

receiving a notification of the status at die monitored application from the monitoring application;

determining means for determining if the transaction is in a violation state based on the status at the monitored application.

15. The data processing system of claim 14, further comprising:

if the transaction in a violation state, taking means for taking corrective actions to correct a violation, wherein the taking means is performed by the monitored application.

16. The data processing system of claim 14, wherein the configuring means comprises:

deploying means for deploying a monitoring component to an application server; and

inserting means for inserting code into the monitored application using the monitoring component.

17. The data processing system of claim 16, further comprising:

defining means for defining a policy and at least one threshold in the monitoring application; and

sending means for sending the policy and the at least one threshold to a performance monitoring engine.

18-22. -22. (canceled)

23. A computer program product in a computer readable medium for exposing monitoring violations to a monitored application, the computer program product comprising:

first instructions for configuring a monitored application to interact with a monitoring application;

second instructions for initiating a transaction in the monitored application;

third instructions for querying a status of the transaction at the monitored application from the monitoring application;

fourth instructions for receiving a notification of the status at the monitored application from the monitoring application; and

fifth instructions determining if the transaction is in a violation state based on the status.

24. The computer program product of claim 23, further comprising:

if the transaction in a violation state, sixth instructions for taking corrective actions to correct a violation, wherein the sixth instructions are performed by the monitored application.

25. The computer program product of claim 23, wherein the first instructions comprises:

first sub-instructions for deploying a monitoring component to an application server; and

second sub-instructions for inserting code into the monitored application using the monitoring component.

26-31. -31. (canceled)