DISTRIBUTED COMPUTING SYSTEM THAT MONITORS CLIENT DEVICE REQUEST TIME AND SERVER SERVICING TIME IN ORDER TO DETECT PERFORMANCE PROBLEMS AND AUTOMATICALLY ISSUE ALTERTS

• US 20120159267A1
• Filed: 12/21/2010
• Published: 06/21/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/21/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Guest-tek Interactive Entertainment Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Guest-tek Interactive Entertainment Ltd.
• Inventors: Gyorffy, John
• Granted Patent: US 8,543,868 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 714/55
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0709 in a distributed system consisting of a plurality of standalone computer nodes, e.g. clusters, client-server systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0757 by exceeding a time limit, i.e. time-out, e.g. watchdogs
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0766 Error or fault reporting or storing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3419 by assessing time
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3495 for systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/06 Management of faults, events, alarms or notifications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0686 Additional information in the notification, e.g. enhancement of specific meta-data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0852 Delays
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0876 Network utilisation, e.g. volume of load or congestion level
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/16 Threshold monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1027 Persistence of sessions during load balancing

Abstract

A client device in a distributed system may include a timer for timing a request time duration substantially including a period of time that the client device is waiting for results to be received via a network from a server in response to a request sent by the client device. A network interface may receive a value of a service time duration from the server. The service time duration may correspond to time that the server spent servicing the request. A processor may subtract the service time duration from the request time duration to thereby calculate a difference time duration, and automatically control the network interface to issue one or more alert messages to a network operation center (NOC) via the network when the difference time duration is greater than a difference time threshold. The difference time threshold may be determined according to a type of the request.

Claims

1. A distributed computing system comprising one or more client devices and one or more servers coupled via a network, each client device having:

a timer for timing a request time duration substantially including a period of time that the client device is waiting for results to be received via the network from a server in response to a request sent by the client device;

a network interface coupled to the network for receiving a value of a service time duration from the server; and

a processor coupled to the timer and the network interface for subtracting the service time duration from the request time duration to thereby calculate a difference time duration, and automatically controlling the network interface to issue one or more alert messages to a network operation center (NOC) via the network when the difference time duration is greater than a difference time threshold.

2. The distributed computing system of claim 1, wherein the processor is further for determining the difference time threshold at least according to a type of the request.

3. The distributed computing system of claim 2, wherein:

each client device further has a log storing at least data sufficient for determining the difference time duration for a plurality of previous requests of different types; and

the processor is for determining the difference time threshold for a request of a particular type further according to the difference time duration for previous requests of the particular type as stored in the log.

4. The distributed computing system of claim 2, wherein the processor is further for determining the difference time threshold for each of a plurality of types of requests according to one or more threshold configuration messages received via the network.

5. The distributed computing system of claim 2, wherein the processor is for including at least a request type identifier corresponding to the type of the request, and values of the difference time duration and the difference time threshold in the one or more alert messages.

6. The distributed computing system of claim 5, wherein:

each client device is utilized by at least one user for operating on a plurality of cases;

the request is made by the client device as a result of the user operating on a particular case; and

the processor is further for including a case identifier corresponding to the particular case in the one or more alert messages.

7. The distributed computing system of claim 2, wherein:

the timer is further for timing an operation time duration substantially corresponding to a period of time that the client device is performing an operation that causes the client device to make the request; and

the processor is further for determining a client processing threshold at least according to a type of the operation, subtracting the request time duration from the operation time duration to thereby calculate a client processing time duration, and transmitting the one or more alert messages to the network operation center (NOC) via the network when the client processing time duration is greater than the client processing time threshold.

8. The distributed computing system of claim 2, wherein the processor is further for determining a service time threshold at least according to the type of the request, and transmitting the one or more alert messages to the network operation center (NOC) via the network when the service time duration is greater than the service time threshold.

9. The distributed computing system of claim 2, wherein the processor is further for determining a request time threshold at least according to the type of the request, and retrying the request and transmitting the one or more alert messages to the network operation center (NOC) via the network when the request time duration is greater than the request time threshold.

10. The distributed computing system of claim 2, wherein each server includes:

a timer for timing the service time duration substantially corresponding to the period of time that the server spends servicing the request;

a network interface coupled to the network for receiving the request from the client device and sending the value of the service time duration to the client device; and

a processor coupled to the timer of the server and the network interface of the server for determining a service time threshold at least according to the type of the request, and transmitting one or more alert messages to the network operation center (NOC) via the network when the service time duration is greater than the service time threshold.

11. A method of detecting performance problems in a distributed computing system, the method comprising:

timing by a client device a request time duration substantially including a period of time that the client device is waiting for results to be received via the network from a server in response to a request sent by the client device;

receiving at the client device a value of a service time duration from the server;

subtracting by the client device the service time duration from the request time duration to thereby calculate a difference time duration; and

automatically issuing by the client device one or more alert messages to a network operation center (NOC) when the difference time duration is greater than a difference time threshold.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising determining by the client device the difference time threshold at least according to a type of the request.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

storing in a log at the client device at least data sufficient for determining the difference time duration for a plurality of previous requests of different types; and

determining the difference time threshold for a request of a particular type further according to the difference time duration for previous requests of the particular type as stored in the log.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising determining the difference time threshold for each of a plurality of types of requests according to one or more threshold configuration messages received via the network.

15. The method of claim 12, further comprising including at least a request type identifier corresponding to the type of the request, and values of the difference time duration and the difference time threshold in the one or more alert messages.

16. The method of claim 15, comprising including a case identifier corresponding to a particular case in the one or more alert messages;

wherein each client device is utilized by at least one user for operating on a plurality of cases; and

the request is made by the client device as a result of the user operating on the particular case.

17. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

timing an operation time duration substantially corresponding to a period of time that the client device is performing an operation that causes the client device to make the request;

determining a client processing time threshold at least according to a type of the operation;

subtracting the request time duration from the operation time duration to thereby calculate a client processing time duration; and

transmitting the one or more alert messages to the network operation center (NOC) via the network when the client processing time duration is greater than the client processing time threshold.

18. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

determining a service time threshold at least according to the type of the request; and

transmitting the one or more alert messages to the network operation center (NOC) via the network when the service time duration is greater than the service time threshold.

19. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

determining a request time threshold at least according to the type of the request; and

retrying the request and transmitting the one or more alert messages to the network operation center (NOC) via the network when the request time duration is greater than the request time threshold.

20. A client device in a distributed computing system, the client device comprising:

means for timing a request time duration substantially including a period of time that the client device is waiting for results to be received via the network from a server in response to a request sent by the client device;

means for receiving a value of a service time duration from the server;

means for subtracting the service time duration from the request time duration to thereby calculate a difference time duration; and

means for automatically issuing one or more alert messages to a network operation center (NOC) when the difference time duration is greater than a difference time threshold.