ACCURATE MEASUREMENT AND MONITORING OF COMPUTER SYSTEMS
First Claim
1. In a computing environment, a method comprising:
- (a) initializing a computer system monitoring test to obtain a data set comprising data corresponding to a computer system'"'"'s states over a plurality of iterations;
(b) in a current iteration, collecting data corresponding to the computer system state and computing a computed interval based upon an actual start time associated with this current iteration and a desired interval;
(c) waiting for the computed interval; and
(d) returning to step (b) until the test is complete.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Described is a technology that improves the quality of data collected during computer system monitoring for subsequent analysis via dynamic adjustment, prediction, and/or elapsed collection time considerations. An interval is computed from an actual iteration start time and a desired interval; a subsequent data collection iteration occurs after a sleep time based on the computed interval. The sleep time may be based on an elapsed data collection time that accounts for delays in collecting the data, and/or based on a prediction obtained from historical data such as past iteration start times. When recorded, the elapsed data collection times may be used as a measure of error and/or for estimating an actual read time for a given iteration'"'"'s counter read, as well as to estimate a number of processor time slices taken to collect the data, which may be used in the time estimate and/or in the measure of error.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. In a computing environment, a method comprising:
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(a) initializing a computer system monitoring test to obtain a data set comprising data corresponding to a computer system'"'"'s states over a plurality of iterations; (b) in a current iteration, collecting data corresponding to the computer system state and computing a computed interval based upon an actual start time associated with this current iteration and a desired interval; (c) waiting for the computed interval; and (d) returning to step (b) until the test is complete. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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- 13. In a computing environment, a system comprising, a software monitor coupled to a set of counters that indicate a state of a computer system, the software monitor reading the set of counters over a number of iterations and associating each iteration with a time value corresponding to when the iteration began, the software monitor including a dynamic adjustment mechanism that dynamically adjusts a sampling interval for starting a next iteration based on an actual start time associated with a current iteration, or a dynamic delay prediction mechanism that dynamically adjusts a sampling interval based on historical data as to when one or more previous iterations have actually started, or a combination of a dynamic adjustment mechanism and a delay prediction mechanism.
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17. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions, which when executed perform steps, comprising:
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(a) obtaining a desired iteration interval for reading a set of counters in a monitoring test over a plurality of iterations; (b) obtaining a first current system time; (c) reading a set of counter values and recording the set of counter values in association with a timestamp corresponding to the first current system time; (d) obtaining a second current system time and determining an elapsed data collection time based on the first and second current system times; (e) computing a sleep time based upon the first and second current system times and the desired iteration interval; (f) waiting for the sleep time; and (g) returning to step (b) for a further iteration until the monitoring test is complete. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19)
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Specification