Analysis of Database Performance Reports for Graphical Presentation of Summary Results

• US 20090327854A1
• Filed: 06/30/2008
• Published: 12/31/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: R2 Solutions LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Chhajer, Ritesh Rajkaran, Mehta, Satish
• Granted Patent: US 8,156,421 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/227
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/217 Database tuning G06F16/2282 takes precedence; database performance monitoring G06F11/3409

Abstract

Computer implemented methods, programs and systems for displaying statistical data in a graphical user interface are provided. According to the method, baseline data is imported from a first report which corresponds to a trouble-free period. Similarly, critical data is imported from a second report corresponding to a trouble period. The imported data is compared and analyzed to create a results table, each cell in the results table corresponding to a timestamp and a statistical item. The cells in the results table contain a visual identifier according to the criticality of the comparison of the statistical items from the baseline data and the critical data. The results table is presented on a display to the user.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for displaying statistical data in a graphical user interface, the method comprising:

importing baseline data from a first report, the first report corresponding to a trouble-free period;

importing critical data from a second report, the second report corresponding to a trouble period;

creating a results table, each cell in the results table corresponding to a timestamp and a statistical item, each cell containing a visual identifier corresponding to a criticality of a comparison of the statistical items from the baseline and the critical data in each cell; and

presenting the results table on a display.

2. The computer implemented method as recited in claim 1, wherein the visual identifier is a color associated with the criticality of the cell.

3. The computer implemented method as recited in claim 1, wherein the criticality is a finite value associated with a deviation of the statistical item in the critical data from the statistical item in the baseline data.

4. The computer implemented method as recited in claim 1, wherein presenting the results table further includes, displaying the results table by rows and columns, wherein each row corresponds to a statistical item, wherein each column corresponds to a timestamp, wherein each cell is a space displaying the visual identifier.

5. The computer implemented method as recited in claim 1, further including,

creating a plurality of results tables, each result table associated with a node in a database cluster, and

presenting the plurality of results tables on the display.

6. The computer implemented method as recited in claim 5, further including,

assigning a table criticality to each results table, the table criticality being an aggregate for the criticalities of all the cells in the each results table, and sorting the results tables according to results table criticality before presenting the results tables.

7. The computer implemented method as recited in claim 6, further including,

discarding a plurality of results tables with a lowest table criticality before presenting the results tables.

8. The computer implemented method as recited in claim 5, further including,

creating a summary results table, each cell in the summary results table having a criticality value corresponding to a most critical value of the corresponding cells in the results tables being summarized.

9. The computer implemented method as recited in claim 5, further including,

creating a summary results table, each cell in the summary results table including a value representing a number of the corresponding cells in the results tables with a highest criticality value.

10. The computer implemented method as recited in claim 1, further including,

creating a plurality of results tables, each result table associated with data about a node in a database cluster corresponding to different time periods, creating a summary results table, each cell in the summary results table having a criticality value corresponding to a most critical value of the corresponding cells in the results tables being summarized, and

presenting the plurality of results tables on the display.

11. A computer program embedded in a computer-readable storage medium, when executed by one or more processors, for displaying statistical data in a graphical user interface, the computer program comprising:

program instructions for importing baseline data from a first report, the first report corresponding to a trouble-free period;

program instructions for importing critical data from a second report, the second report corresponding to a trouble period;

program instructions for creating a results table, each cell in the results table corresponding to a timestamp and a statistical item, each cell containing a visual identifier corresponding to a criticality of a comparison of the statistical items from the baseline and the critical data in each cell; and

program instructions for presenting the results table on a display.

12. The computer program as recited in claim 11, further comprising,

program instructions for creating a plurality of results tables, each result table associated with a node in a database cluster, and

program instructions for presenting the plurality of results tables on the display.

13. The computer program as recited in claim 11, further including,

program instructions for creating a zoomed results table by combining pairs of consecutive cells corresponding to the same statistical item into one cell in the zoomed table.

14. The computer program as recited in claim 12, further comprising,

program instructions for creating a summary results table, each cell in the summary results table having information from the corresponding cells from all the summary results tables,

wherein the database cluster has four nodes,

wherein presenting the results table further includes,

displaying the summary results table by rows and columns, wherein each row corresponds to a statistical item, wherein each column corresponds to a timestamp, wherein each cell includes four spaces, wherein each of the four spaces displays the visual identifier from one of the results tables.

15. The computer program as recited in claim 11, further including,

a computer program including program instructions to automate the creation and presentation of the results table.

16. The computer program as recited in claim 11, further including,

program instructions to reduce the results table by eliminating rows where all the cells in the row are trouble-free cells, and

program instructions to reduce the results table by eliminating columns where all the cells in the column are trouble-free cells.

17. A system for displaying statistical data in a graphical user interface, the system comprising:

a computer device having a processor; and

a memory, the memory including,

a first report including baseline database data from a trouble-free period,

a second report including critical data from a trouble period, and

a report analysis program,

wherein the program instructions from the report analysis program when executed by the processor cause the processor to,

create a results table in memory, each cell in the results table corresponding to a timestamp and a statistical item, each cell containing a visual identifier corresponding to a criticality of a comparison of the statistical items from the baseline and the critical data in each cell, and

present the results table on a display.

18. The system as recited in claim 17, wherein baseline and critical data is collected every one of ten, fifteen, thirty, or sixty minutes.

19. The system as recited in claim 17, wherein the statistical item is a wait event in an Oracle database.

20. The system as recited in claim 17, wherein the first report and the second report are generated by an Automatic Workload Repository (AWR) computer program.