METHOD AND APPARATUS OF END-USER RESPONSE TIME DETERMINATION FOR BOTH TCP AND NON-TCP PROTOCOLS

• US 20090228585A1
• Filed: 09/30/2008
• Published: 09/10/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 03/07/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NetScout Systems Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Fluke Corporation (Fortive Corp.)
• Inventors: Prescott, Dan, Roberts, Doug, Kosbab, Bruce
• Granted Patent: US 7,958,190 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3495 for systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/875 Monitoring of systems including the internet
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5009 Determining service level performance parameters or violations of service level contracts, e.g. violations of agreed response time or mean time between failures [MTBF]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5061 characterised by the interaction between service providers and their network customers, e.g. customer relationship management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0864 Round trip delays
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/18 Protocol analysers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/28 Timers or timing mechanisms used in protocols

Abstract

End-user response time in a network is determined by an analyzer which measures client data transfer time, server response time, server data transfer time and, if the protocol is a TCP protocol, further measuring server network round trip time. End-user response time may be approximated by the sum of these determined times.

Claims

1. A method for determining end-user response time on a network in non-TCP protocols, comprising:

determining client data transfer time;

determining server response time;

determining server data transfer time; and

computing end-user response time based on the determined client data transfer time, server response time and server data transfer time.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein client data transfer time is determined as the time between a beginning of data transfer from a client, and then end of a data transfer from the client.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein server response time is determined as the time between the end of data transfer from a client, and then start of a data transfer from a server.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein server data transfer time is determined as the time between the beginning of data transfer from a server, and then end of a data transfer from the server.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein computing end-user response time comprises adding the determined client data transfer time, server response time and server data transfer time.

6. A method for determining end-user response time on a network in both TCP and non-TCP protocols, comprising:

determining client data transfer time;

determining server response time;

determining server data transfer time;

if the protocol is a TCP protocol, further determining server network round trip time; and

computing end-user response time.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein client data transfer time is determined as the time between a beginning of data transfer from a client, and then end of a data transfer from the client.

8. The method according to claim 6, wherein server response time is determined as the time between the end of data transfer from a client, and then start of a data transfer from a server.

9. The method according to claim 6, wherein server data transfer time is determined as the time between the beginning of data transfer from a server, and then end of a data transfer from the server.

10. The method according to claim 6, wherein server network round trip time is determined as the time between a data packet from the server and then the TCP acknowledgement from the client for that packet.

11. The method according to claim 6, wherein computing end-user response time comprises adding the determined client data transfer time, server response time and server data transfer time, and, if the protocol is a TCP protocol, further adding the server network round trip time.

12. An apparatus for determining end-user response time for both TCP and non-TCP protocol traffic on a network, comprising:

a network interface for connecting to and observing traffic on a network;

a processor;

a storage medium for storing data;

wherein said processor performs traffic timing to determine client data transfer time, determine server response time, determine server data transfer time, if the protocol is a TCP protocol further determining server network round trip time, and,

wherein said processor computes end-user response time.

13. The apparatus according to claim 12, wherein client data transfer time is determined as the time between a beginning of data transfer from a client, and then end of a data transfer from the client.

14. The apparatus according to claim 12, wherein server response time is determined as the time between the end of data transfer from a client, and then start of a data transfer from a server.

15. The apparatus according to claim 12, wherein server data transfer time is determined as the time between the beginning of data transfer from a server, and then end of a data transfer from the server.

16. The apparatus according to claim 12, wherein server network round trip time is determined as the time between a data packet from the server and then the TCP acknowledgement from the client for that packet.

17. The apparatus according to claim 12, wherein computing end-user response time comprises adding the determined client data transfer time, server response time and server data transfer time, and, if the protocol is a TCP protocol, further adding the server network round trip time.