METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR BROWSER BASED, NON-INTRUSIVE MEASURING OF END-USER PERCEIVED PERFORMANCE OF INDIVIDUAL THIRD PARTY RESOURCE REQUESTS

• US 20140136693A1
• Filed: 10/17/2013
• Published: 05/15/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/09/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dynatrace LLC (Dynatrace, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Compuware Corporation (KKR & Co., Inc.)
• Inventors: Greifeneder, Bernd, Spiegl, Helmut, Lackner, Bernhard
• Granted Patent: US 9,356,842 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5067 Customer-centric QoS measurements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4505 using standardised directories; using standardised directory access protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/53 using third party service providers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34

Abstract

A performance management system is provided that measures end user performance in a distributed computing environment. The system detects DOM updates caused by browser side activities, and identifies resource load requests introduced by a DOM update that request resource from third party sources. For such resource load requests, resource sensors are installed which detect the point in time when loading the resource was finished. This allows to measure load time for individual resource load requests requesting third party resources, and to assign the tracing and performance monitoring data describing those resource load requests to the tracing and performance monitoring data describing the browser side transaction execution that caused the third party resource loads.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for monitoring performance of an application being executed by a web browser residing on a computing device and rendering content received from a web server, comprising:

receiving, by a browser agent, an update notification pertaining to a document object model which represents content displayed by the web browser, where the browser agent is executed by a processor of the computing device;

identifying, by the browser agent, elements in the document object model that contain resource load directives; and

instrumenting, by the browser agent, an identified element with a resource sensor, where the resource sensor generates an event message regarding a resource load event associated with the identified element.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprises identifying elements in the document object model that contain resource load directives which are serviced by data sources other than the web server.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein identifying elements in the document object model further comprises searching for elements having tags indicative of an image or a script;

parsing the tags to identify a resource location;

comparing the resource location to an address for the web server; and

instrumenting the elements having tags indicative of an image or a script, where the corresponding resource location differs from the address for the web server.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprises

capturing, by a browser agent, a first action event indicative of a user interaction with the web browser;

capturing, by the browser agent, a second action event indicative of a resource load request from a data source other than the web server;

associating, by the browser agent, the second action event with the first action event; and

creating, by the browser agent, an action monitor request for the user interaction, where the action monitor request includes an identifier for the user interaction and at least one performance metric pertaining to the resource load request.

5. The method of claim 4 further comprises

determining, by the browser agent, whether the resource load request is caused by the user interaction;

and

associating, by the browser agent, the second action event with the first action event only when the resource load request is caused by the user interaction.

6. The method of claim 4 further comprises determining, by the browser agent, a load time for the resource load request using data contained in the second action event.

7. The method of claim 4 further comprises retrieving, by the browser agent, a load time for the resource load request from a data repository of timing information related to HTML elements.

8. The method of claim 4 further comprises maintaining, by the browser agent, a list of on-premise web servers which should not be considered as third party resources and determining, by the browser agent, whether the second action event is indicative of a third party request using the list of on-premise web servers.

9. The method of claim 4 wherein the action monitor request includes a start timestamp indicating an occurrence of the user interaction and an end timestamp indicating an end time of the resource load caused by the user interaction.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprises

capturing, by the browser agent, a third action event indicative of a second resource load request from a data source other than the web server;

and

updating the end timestamp in the action monitor request with a timestamp from either the second action event or the third action event, where the timestamp indicates an end time for the resource load and is the later of the timestamps provided in the second action event and the third action event.

11. The method of claim 4 further comprises

creating, by the browser agent, a third party record for each identified element instrumented with a resource sensor;

determining the performance metric pertaining to the resource load request from the second action event; and

sending, by the browser agent, the action monitor request over a data network to a monitor computing device located remotely from the computing device.

12. The method of claim 11 further comprises

grouping, by the browser agent, the third party records by domain servicing the corresponding resource load request;

and

calculating, by the browser agent, statistical data for resource load request performance for a given domain from the group of third party records corresponding to the given domain.

13. The method of claim 4 further comprises

creating, by the browser agent, a third party record for each identified element instrumented with a resource sensor;

determining the performance metric pertaining to the resource load request from the second action event;

selecting, by the browser agent, a subset of the third party records for inclusion in the action monitor request; and

sending, by the browser agent, the action monitor request over a data network to a monitor computing device located remotely from the computing device.

14. The method of claim 4 further comprises

receiving, by a monitor computing device, the action monitor request, the monitor computing device located remotely from the computing device running the web browser;

calculating, by the monitor computing device, statistical data for browser side activities from data contained in the action monitor request;

calculating, by the monitor computing device, statistical data for resource load requests from data contained in the action monitor request; and

presenting, by the monitor computing device, the statistical data for the browser side activities and the resource load requests for comparison.

15. The method of claim 4 further comprises

capturing, by the browser agent, an indicator of geographic location for the computing device running the web browser;

sending, by the browser agent, the action monitor request over a data network to a monitor computing device located remotely from the computing device, where the action monitor request includes the indicator of geographic location; and

reporting, by the monitor computing device, on resource load requests using the indicator of geographic location retrieved from the action monitor request.

16. A computer-implemented method for monitoring performance of an application executed by a web browser residing on a computing device and rendering content received from a web server, comprising:

capturing, by a browser agent, a first action event indicative of a user interaction with the web browser, where the browser agent is executed by a processor of the computing device;

capturing, by the browser agent, a second action event indicative of a resource load request from a data source other than the web server;

associating, by the browser agent, the second action event with the first action event; and

creating, by the browser agent, an action monitor request for the user interaction, where the action monitor request includes an identifier for the user interaction and at least one performance metric pertaining to the resource load request.

17. The method of claim 16 further comprises

detecting, by the browser agent, an update to a document object model which represents content displayed by the web browser;

identifying, by the browser agent, elements in the document object model that contain resource load directives, where the resource load directives are serviced by data sources other than the web server; and

instrumenting, by the browser agent, an identified element with a resource sensor, where the resource sensor generates an event message regarding a resource load event associated with the identified element.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein detecting an update further comprises receiving, by the browser agent, an update notification pertaining to the document object model from the web browser.

19. The method of claim 17 wherein detecting an update further comprises

identifying, by the browser agent, requests that potentially update the document object model;

and

periodically determining, by the browser agent, whether an update of the document object model has occurred, the determination being performed in response to the identification of one or more requests that potentially update the document object model.

20. The method of claim 16 further comprises

determining, by the browser agent, whether the resource load request is caused by the user interaction;

and

associating, by the browser agent, the second action event with the first action event only when the resource load request is caused by the user interaction.

21. The method of claim 16 further comprises determining, by the browser agent, a load time for the resource load request using data contained in the second action event.

22. The method of claim 16 further comprises determining, by the browser agent, whether the requested resource was loaded successfully.

23. The method of claim 16 further comprises retrieving, by the browser agent, a load time for the resource load request from a data repository of timing information related to HTML elements.

24. The method of claim 16 further comprises maintaining, by the browser agent, a list of on-premise web servers which should not be considered as third party resources and determining, by the browser agent, whether the second action event is indicative of a third party request using the list of on-premise web servers.

25. The method of claim 16 wherein the action monitor request includes a start timestamp indicating an occurrence of the user interaction and an end timestamp indicating an end time for the resource load caused by the user interaction.

26. The method of claim 16 further comprises

creating, by the browser agent, a third party record for each identified element instrumented with a resource sensor;

determining the performance metric pertaining to the resource load request from the second action event; and

sending, by the browser agent, the action monitor request over a data network to a monitor computing device located remotely from the computing device.

27. The method of claim 26 further comprises

grouping, by the browser agent, the third party records by domain servicing the corresponding resource load request;

and

calculating, by the browser agent, statistical data for resource load requests for a given domain from the group of third party records corresponding to the given domain.

28. The method of claim 16 further comprises

creating, by the browser agent, a third party record for each identified element instrumented with a resource sensor;

determining the performance metric pertaining to the resource load request from the second action event;

selecting, by the browser agent, a subset of the third party records for inclusion in the action monitor request; and

sending, by the browser agent, the action monitor request over a data network to a monitor computing device located remotely from the computing device.

29. The method of claim 16 further comprises

receiving, by a monitor computing device, the action monitor request, the monitor computing device located remotely from the computing device;

calculating, by the monitor computing device, statistical data for browser side activities from data contained in the action monitor request;

calculating, by the monitor computing device, statistical data for resource load requests from data contained in the action monitor request; and

presenting, by the monitor computing device, the statistical data for the browser side activities and the resource load requests for comparison.

30. The method of claim 16 further comprises

capturing, by the browser agent, an indicator of geographic location for the computing device;

sending, by the browser agent, the action monitor request over a data network to a monitor computing device located remotely from the computing device, where the action monitor request includes the indicator of geographic location; and

reporting, by the monitor computing device, on resource load requests using the indicator of geographic location retrieved from the action monitor request.

39. The method of claim 16 wherein the action monitor request includes an identifier for a resource load associated with the resource load request.

31. A performance management system that measures end user performance in a distributed computing environment, comprising:

a web browser that renders content received from a web server and resides on a client computing device; and

a browser agent executing on the client computing device, the browser agent includes;

an instrumentation manager configured to detect an update to a document object model which represents content displayed by the web browser and operates, in response to the update notification, to identify elements in the document object model that contain resource load directives, where the resource load directives are serviced by data sources other than the web server,

the instrumentation manager further operates to create a third party record for each resource load directive and to instrument an identified element with a resource sensor, where the resource sensor generates an event message when resource loading is finished; and

a resource manager configured to receive event messages from the resource sensors and operable to identify a third party record corresponding to the received event messages and to update the identified third party record using data contained in the received event messages.

32. The performance management system of claim 31 wherein the event messages from the resource sensors include a timestamp that provides a time at which loading of the resource was finished and an indicator as to whether the loading of the resource was successful.

33. The performance management system of claim 31 wherein the instrumentation manager detects an update by receiving an update notification pertaining to the document object model from the web browser.

34. The performance management system of claim 31 wherein the instrumentation manager detects an update by identifying requests that potentially update the document object model;

and periodically determines, whether an update of the document object model has occurred, the determination being performed in response to the identification of one or more requests that potentially update the document object model.

35. The performance management system of claim 31 wherein the instrumentation manager reports the third party records caused by user interaction.

36. The performance management system of claim 31 wherein the instrumentation manager operates to create a third part record and instrument an identified element with a resource sensor when the update of the document object model is caused by user interaction.

37. The performance management system of claim 31 wherein the browser agent further includes

an action data manager configured to receive an action event indicative of a user interaction with the web browser and operates, in response to receiving the action event, to create an action record for the user interaction, where the action record includes an identifier for the user interaction;

an action monitor request sender operates to associate one or more third party records with the action record, create an action monitor request and send the action monitor request over a data network to a monitor computing device located remotely from the client computing device, where the action monitor request includes data from the action record and the third party records.

38. The performance management system of claim 37 further comprises

an update request handling method configured, at the web server, to receive content update requests from the web browser, create a request record for each content update request and send the request record over a data network to the monitor computing device;

and

an event correlator executing on the monitor computing device, the event correlator configured to receive the action monitor request and the request record and operate to associate the action monitor request with the corresponding request record.