Method and system for analyzing an application

• US 20060224925A1
• Filed: 04/05/2005
• Published: 10/05/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 04/05/2005
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Lake, John M.
• Application Number:
  US11/099,044
• Publication Number:
  US 20060224925A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 714/38
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/008 Reliability or availability analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3414 Workload generation, e.g. scripts, playback

Abstract

An application is analyzed by obtaining the resource availability for one or more resources of a computer infrastructure. In particular, the resource availability can be obtained while the application is executing and when the application is not executing. By comparing respective resource availabilities, the resource consumption by the application can be determined. Additionally, a power spectrum can be generated based on one or both of the resource availabilities to analyze the behavior and/or resource consumption of various processes. As a result, the invention can be used to analyze the performance of the application, its impact on one or more other applications, compare different versions of the application, or the like, without requiring any knowledge of the application itself.

Claims

1. A method of analyzing a target application, the method comprising:

obtaining a reference availability of a resource for a computer infrastructure and a reference time period by processing a sample workload using the computer infrastructure without the target application executing;

obtaining a target availability of the resource and a target time period by processing the sample workload using the computer infrastructure with the target application executing; and

analyzing the target application based on the reference availability, the reference time period, the target availability and the target time period.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising obtaining a baseline availability of the resource for the reference time period without processing the sample workload and without the target application executing, wherein the analyzing step is further based on the baseline availability.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising warming up the target application before the obtaining a target availability step.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the resource comprises one of a processor or a memory.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the analyzing step includes calculating an amount of the resource consumed by the target application.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the obtaining steps includes:

performing the processing a plurality of times to obtain preliminary availability data for the corresponding availability and the corresponding time period; and

calculating the corresponding availability and the corresponding time period based on the preliminary availability data.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the analyzing step includes generating a power spectrum based on the target availability.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the analyzing step further includes generating a power spectrum based on the reference availability.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising analyzing an impact of the target application on a set of applications based on the power spectrums.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a new version of the target application;

repeating the obtaining a target availability and analyzing steps for the new version of the target application; and

comparing the new version of the target application with the original target application.

11. A method of generating a system for analyzing a target application, the method comprising:

obtaining a computer infrastructure; and

for each of the steps of claim 1, deploying a means for performing the step to the computer infrastructure.

12. A computer-readable medium for enabling a computer infrastructure to analyze a target application, the computer-readable medium comprising computer program code for performing the method steps of claim 1.

13. A system for analyzing a target application, the system comprising:

a system for obtaining a reference availability of a resource for a computer infrastructure and a reference time period by processing a sample workload using the computer infrastructure without the target application executing;

a system for obtaining a target availability of the resource and a target time period by processing the sample workload using the computer infrastructure with the target application executing; and

a system for analyzing the target application based on the reference availability, the reference time period, the target availability and the target time period.

14. The system of claim 13, further comprising a system for obtaining a baseline availability of the resource for the reference time period without processing the sample workload and without the target application executing, wherein the target application analysis is further based on the baseline availability.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the resource comprises one of a processor or a memory.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the system for analyzing calculates an amount of the resource consumed by the target application.

17. The system of claim 13, wherein the system for analyzing generates a power spectrum for at least one of the target availability or the reference availability.

18. The system of claim 13, further comprising:

a system for receiving a new version of the target application, wherein the system for obtaining a target availability obtains a second target availability and a second target time period for the new version of the target application; and

a system for comparing the new version of the target application with the original target application.

19. A method of analyzing a set of applications, the method comprising:

obtaining a reference availability of a resource for a computer infrastructure and a reference time period by processing a sample workload using the computer infrastructure without a target application executing;

obtaining a target availability of the resource and a target time period by processing the sample workload using the computer infrastructure with the target application executing;

generating a power spectrum based on the reference availability;

generating a power spectrum based on the target availability; and

analyzing the set of applications using the power spectrums.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising obtaining a baseline availability of the resource for the reference time period without processing the sample workload and without the target application executing, wherein the power spectrums are further based on the baseline availability.

21. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

receiving a new version of the target application;

obtaining a new target availability of the set of resources and a new target time period by processing the sample workload using the computer infrastructure with the new version of the target application executing;

generating a new power spectrum based on the new target availability; and

comparing the new version of the target application with the original target application.

22. The method of claim 19, wherein at least one of the obtaining steps includes:

performing the processing a plurality of times to obtain preliminary availability data for the corresponding availability and the corresponding time period; and

calculating the corresponding availability and the corresponding time period based on the preliminary availability data.

23. The method of claim 19, further comprising analyzing the target application based on the reference availability, the reference time period, the target availability and the target time period.

24. A program product stored on a computer-readable medium, which when executed, analyzes a target application, the program product comprising:

program code for obtaining a reference availability of a resource for the computer infrastructure and a reference time period by processing a sample workload using the computer infrastructure without the target application executing;

program code for obtaining a target availability of the resource and a target time period by processing the sample workload using the computer infrastructure with the target application executing; and

program code for analyzing the target application based on the reference availability, the reference time period, the target availability and the target time period.