Heartbeat Heuristics

• US 20070180077A1
• Filed: 01/30/2006
• Published: 08/02/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 11/15/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Bhatia, Brijesh D., Joanovic, Vladimir, Negritoiu, Stefan C., Letca, Ilarie G.
• Granted Patent: US 7,917,613 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0817 by checking functioning
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/10 Active monitoring, e.g. heartbeat, ping or trace-route

Abstract

A device monitoring system for monitoring a device comprising: a database including a health record for the device; a heartbeat server coupled to the database; a heartbeat agent operating on the device and coupled to the heartbeat server; a heartbeat packet sent from the heartbeat agent to the heartbeat server; and an update to the health record of the device responsive to the heartbeat packet.

Claims

1. A device monitoring system for monitoring a device comprising:

a database including a health record representing the device;

a heartbeat server coupled to the database;

a heartbeat agent operating on the device and coupled to the heartbeat server;

a heartbeat packet sent from the heartbeat agent to the heartbeat server; and

an update to the health record representing the device, the update responsive to the heartbeat packet.

2. The system of claim 1 further comprising:

a group including the heartbeat server and the device;

a second group including a second heartbeat server and a second device, the second heartbeat server being coupled to the database, and the second device being coupled to the second heartbeat server.

3. The system of claim 2 further comprising a second heartbeat agent operating on the heartbeat server.

4. The system of claim 3 further comprising:

a coupling between the heartbeat server and the second heartbeat server;

a second heartbeat packet sent from the second heartbeat agent to the second heartbeat server; and

a second update to a second health record, the second health record representing the heartbeat server, the second update responsive to the second heartbeat packet.

5. The system of claim 2 further comprising a ping sent from the second heartbeat server to the second device.

6. The system of claim 5 further comprising:

a ping reply responsive to the ping sent from the second device to the second heartbeat server; and

a third update to a third health record, the third health record being for the second device, the third update responsive to the ping reply.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein the heartbeat packet conforms to User Datagram Protocol format.

8. The system of claim 1 further comprising a persistent connection between the heartbeat agent and the heartbeat server, the persistent connection conforms to a connection-oriented protocol.

9. The system of claim 8 wherein if the persistent connection is broken then the health record is updated to indicate that the heartbeat agent is “

down”

.

10. The system of claim 1 wherein the device sends the heartbeat packet to a third heartbeat server, the third heartbeat server being coupled to a second database.

11. The system of claim 1 wherein the heartbeat packet includes information that can be used to help determine if a system or an application operating on the device is capable of performing its intended functions.

12. The system of claim 1 wherein the heartbeat packet includes a timestamp and an identifier that uniquely identifies the device.

13. The system of claim 1 wherein the heartbeat agent includes information identifying the heartbeat server or identifying a backup heartbeat server.

14. A computer-implemented method for monitoring a device, the method comprising:

sending a heartbeat packet on a heartbeat send interval from a heartbeat agent to a heartbeat server, the heartbeat agent operating on the device;

receiving the heartbeat packet at the heartbeat server;

updating a cache entry responsive to the heartbeat packet, the cache entry representing the device; and

setting an indication that the heartbeat packet was received.

15. The method of claim 14 further comprising:

checking the indication on a heartbeat check interval; and

if the indication has been set, then clearing the indication, but if the indication has not been set, then

sending a ping to the device, and then

detecting a ping reply or a lack of a ping reply from the device, and then

updating the cache entry responsive to the ping reply or the lack of the ping reply.

16. The method of claim 15 further comprising:

on a database update interval, determining if the cache entry has been updated; and

if the cache entry has been updated, updating a health record responsive to the cache entry.

17. The method of claim 15 further comprising, if the indication has not been set and an “

ignore missing heartbeats”

flag is set for the device, then skipping the steps of sending, detecting and updating.

18. The method of claim 14 wherein the method is embodied on computer-readable media.

19. A computer-implemented method for monitoring a device, the method comprising:

on a heartbeat check interval, determining if a new heartbeat packet has been received from the device; and

if the new heartbeat packet has been received, then indicating an “

up”

status for the device, but

if the new heartbeat packet has not been received, then sending a ping to the device, and then

determining if a ping reply has been received from the device, and then

if the ping reply has been received, then

indicating a “

heartbeat agent unavailable”

status for the device, but

if the ping reply has not been received, then indicating a “

down”

status for the device.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein the method is embodied on computer-readable media.