System and Methods for Tracking Processing Unit Usage

• US 20100179979A1
• Filed: 10/30/2009
• Published: 07/15/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/14/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Kadashevich, A. Julie
• Granted Patent: US 7,886,302 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/202
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3419 by assessing time
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/865 Monitoring of software

Abstract

A method and system for monitoring the CPU time consumed by a software agent operating in a computer system. A resource tracking process is executed on the system. When an operating agent is detected, an agent lifetime timer is initialized. Then, CPU resources for the agent are identified and stored. Checks are made at predetermined intervals to determine if the agent is still alive. When the agent terminates, a measurement is made of the CPU time utilized by the agent. The measurement is then stored in memory.

Claims

1. A method for monitoring system processor resources utilized by a software agent operating in a computer system, wherein said agent comprises an executable sequence of instructions, comprising:

identifying said agent, wherein said identifying is performed by a CPU resource tracking process determining that said agent is running;

associating, by said CPU resource tracking process responsive to said identifying of said agent, an agent identifier with said agent, wherein said agent is one of a plurality of software agents operating in said computer system, and wherein said agent identifier uniquely identifies said agent within said plurality of software agents operating in said computer system;

initiating, responsive to said identifying of said agent, an agent lifetime timer for measuring an operating interval of said agent during which said agent is running in said computer system;

determining said operating interval using said agent lifetime timer by identifying a start time at which said CPU resource tracking process determined that said agent is running and a completion time at which said CPU resource tracking process determines that said agent has expired, and computing said operating interval as the difference between said starting time and said completion time;

calculating an amount of said system processor resources utilized by said agent during said operating interval at least in part by detecting a plurality of threads created by said agent during said operating interval, wherein said calculating said amount of said system processor resources utilized by said agent during said operational interval further includes calculating CPU usage for each of said plurality of threads and adding said calculated CPU usage for all of said plurality of threads together to determine at least a portion of said amount of system processor resources utilized by said agent during said operating interval, wherein said calculating said CPU usage for each of said plurality of threads is performed responsive to each respective one of said plurality of threads expiring, and wherein said adding said calculated CPU usage for all of said plurality of threads together is performed by adding said calculated CPU utilization for each respective one of said plurality of threads responsive to each respective one of said plurality of threads expiring, wherein each of said plurality of threads is a path of execution such that multiple of said plurality of threads can be executed simultaneously; and

storing said operating interval, said amount of system processor resources utilized by said agent during said operating interval and said agent identifier in a computer-readable memory.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said computer-readable memory includes a hash table.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

associating said operating interval and said agent identifier with other operating intervals and agent identifiers associated with other ones of said plurality of software agents operating in said computer system.

4. The method of claim 3 further comprising:

filtering said plurality of software agents according to predefined filtering criteria to produce a filtered set.

5. The method of claim 4 further comprising:

rank ordering said filtered set.

7. The method of claim 4 further comprising:

determining a corrective measure for at least one member of said filtered set having an amount of system processor resources utilized that exceeds a predetermined threshold.

8. The method of claim 7 further comprising:

displaying said corrective measure on a display device.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein said corrective measure is implemented by said system.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

running a collection probe to determine if a total amount of consumed system processor resources exceeds a predetermined threshold; and

performing said initiating step when said total amount of consumed system processor resources exceeds said configuration threshold.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein said agent comprises a web based event driven agent, and wherein said agent identifier comprises a name and an HTTP (HyperText Transport Protocol) thread identifier.

12. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

computing statistics for said plurality of threads.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprising:

rank ordering said plurality of threads.

14. The method of claim 13 further comprising:

providing said plurality of threads a display device.

6. The method of claim further comprising:

making said filtered set available to a display device.

15. A computer system including a computer readable storage medium having program code executable by a processor stored thereon, for monitoring system processor resources utilized by a software agent operating in said computer system, wherein said agent comprises an executable sequence of instructions, said program code comprising:

program code for identifying said agent, wherein said identifying is performed by a CPU resource tracking process determining that said agent is running;

program code for associating, by said CPU resource tracking process responsive to said identifying of said agent, an agent identifier with said agent, wherein said agent is one of a plurality of software agents operating in said computer system, and wherein said agent identifier uniquely identifies said agent within said plurality of software agents operating in said computer system;

program code for initiating, responsive to said identifying of said agent, an agent lifetime timer for measuring an operating interval of said agent during which said agent is running in said computer system;

program code for determining said operating interval using said agent lifetime timer by identifying a start time at which said CPU resource tracking process determined that said agent is running and a completion time at which said CPU resource tracking process determines that said agent has expired, and computing said operating interval as the difference between said starting time and said completion time;

program code for calculating an amount of said system processor resources utilized by said agent during said operating interval at least in part by detecting a plurality of threads created by said agent during said operating interval, wherein said calculating said amount of said system processor resources utilized by said agent during said operational interval further includes calculating CPU usage for each of said plurality of threads and adding said calculated CPU usage for all of said plurality of threads together to determine at least a portion of said amount of system processor resources utilized by said agent during said operating interval, wherein said calculating said CPU usage for each of said plurality of threads is performed responsive to each respective one of said plurality of threads expiring, and wherein said adding said calculated CPU usage for all of said plurality of threads together is performed by adding said calculated CPU utilization for each respective one of said plurality of threads responsive to each respective one of said plurality of threads expiring, wherein each of said plurality of threads is a path of execution such that multiple of said plurality of threads can be executed simultaneously; and

program code for storing said operating interval, said amount of system processor resources utilized by said agent during said operating interval and said agent identifier in a computer-readable memory.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein said computer-readable memory includes a hash table.

17. The system of claim 15, said program code further comprising:

program code for associating said operating interval and said agent identifier with other operating intervals and agent identifiers associated with other ones of said plurality of software agents operating in said computer system.

18. The system of claim 17, said program code further comprising:

program code for filtering said plurality of software agents according to predefined filtering criteria to produce a filtered set.

19. The system of claim 18, said program code further comprising:

program code for rank ordering said filtered set.

20. The system of claim 19, said program code further comprising:

program code for making said filtered set available to a display device.

21. The system of claim 15, said program code further comprising:

program code for determining a corrective measure for at least one member of said filtered set having an amount of system processor resources utilized that exceeds a predetermined threshold.

22. The system of claim 21, said program code further comprising:

program code for displaying said corrective measure on a display device.

23. The system of claim 21, wherein said corrective measure is implemented by said system.

24. The system of claim 15, said program code further comprising:

program code for running a collection probe to determine if a total amount of consumed system processor resources exceeds a predetermined threshold; and

program code for performing said initiating step when said total amount of consumed system processor resources exceeds said configuration threshold.

25. A computer program product, comprising:

a computer readable storage medium having program code executable by a processor stored thereon, for monitoring system processor resources utilized by a software agent operating in said computer system, wherein said agent comprises an executable sequence of instructions, said program code comprising;

program code for identifying said agent, wherein said identifying is performed by a CPU resource tracking process determining that said agent is running;

program code for associating, by said CPU resource tracking process responsive to said identifying of said agent, an agent identifier with said agent, wherein said agent is one of a plurality of software agents operating in said computer system, and wherein said agent identifier uniquely identifies said agent within said plurality of software agents operating in said computer system;

program code for initiating, responsive to said identifying of said agent, an agent lifetime timer for measuring an operating interval of said agent during which said agent is running in said computer system;

program code for determining said operating interval using said agent lifetime timer by identifying a start time at which said CPU resource tracking process determined that said agent is running and a completion time at which said CPU resource tracking process determines that said agent has expired, and computing said operating interval as the difference between said starting time and said completion time;

program code for calculating an amount of said system processor resources utilized by said agent during said operating interval at least in part by detecting a plurality of threads created by said agent during said operating interval, wherein said calculating said amount of said system processor resources utilized by said agent during said operational interval further includes calculating CPU usage for each of said plurality of threads and adding said calculated CPU usage for all of said plurality of threads together to determine at least a portion of said amount of system processor resources utilized by said agent during said operating interval, wherein said calculating said CPU usage for each of said plurality of threads is performed responsive to each respective one of said plurality of threads expiring, and wherein said adding said calculated CPU usage for all of said plurality of threads together is performed by adding said calculated CPU utilization for each respective one of said plurality of threads responsive to each respective one of said plurality of threads expiring, wherein each of said plurality of threads is a path of execution such that multiple of said plurality of threads can be executed simultaneously; and

program code for storing said operating interval, said amount of system processor resources utilized by said agent during said operating interval and said agent identifier in a computer-readable memory.