SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PRESERVING CAUSALITY OF AUDITS

• US 20150269326A1
• Filed: 06/04/2015
• Published: 09/24/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/14/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Medidata Solutions Incorporated (Dassault Systemes SA)
• Original Assignee: Medidata Solutions Incorporated (Dassault Systemes SA)
• Inventors: Weiner, Aaron, Szenher, Matthew, Wong, Isaac, Carroll, Nolan
• Granted Patent: US 10,320,878 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/273 Asynchronous replication or reconciliation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6218 to a system of files or objects, e.g. local or distributed file system or database
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/20 for electronic clinical trials or questionnaires
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/08 for authentication of entities cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication H04L9/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]

Abstract

A system for preserving causality of audits may include an upstream service, a downstream service, and an audit service. The upstream service receives a first request including a trace ID and a first span ID, generates a first audit concerning a resource owned by the upstream service and having the trace ID and the first span ID as metadata, persists the first audit to a first database, and generates a second request including the trace ID, a parent span ID, and a second span ID. The downstream service receives the second request from the upstream service, generates a second audit concerning a resource owned by the downstream service and having the trace ID, second span ID, and parent span ID as metadata, and persists the second audit to a second database. The audit service receives and asynchronously centralizes the first and second audits. The metadata can be used to infer causality of the audits. A method for preserving causality of audits is also disclosed and claimed.

Claims

1. A method for preserving causality of audits, comprising:

receiving a first request including a trace ID and a first span ID;

generating, by an upstream service, a first audit concerning a resource owned by said upstream service and having the trace ID and first span ID as metadata;

persisting the first audit to a first database;

converting the first span ID to a parent span ID;

generating a second span ID;

generating a second request including the trace ID, the parent span ID, and the second span ID;

transmitting the second request to a downstream service;

generating, by the downstream service, a second audit concerning a resource owned by said downstream service and having the trace ID, second span ID, and parent span ID as metadata;

persisting the second audit to a second database; and

asynchronously centralizing the first and second audits to an audit service.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein a front-end process generates the trace ID and first span ID.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein a front-end process generates the first request.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the upstream service generates the trace ID and first span ID.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the upstream service generates the first request.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first and second requests are HTTP requests.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the resource owned by the upstream service is a study.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the resource owned by the downstream service is an authorization.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the trace ID, first and second span IDs, and parent span ID are used to infer causality.

10. A system for preserving causality of audits, comprising:

an upstream service that receives a first request including a trace ID and a first span ID, generates a first audit concerning a resource owned by said upstream service and having the trace ID and the first span ID as metadata, persists the first audit to a first database, and generates a second request including the trace ID, a parent span ID, and a second span ID;

a downstream service that receives the second request from the upstream service, generates a second audit concerning a resource owned by said downstream service and having the trace ID, second span ID, and parent span ID as metadata, and persists the second audit to a second database; and

an audit service for receiving and asynchronously centralizing the first and second audits.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the upstream service converts the first span ID to the parent span ID and generates the second span ID.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the trace ID, first and second span IDs, and parent span ID are used to infer causality.

13. The system of claim 10, further comprising a logging service for logging the first and second requests.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein the resource owned by the upstream service is a study.

15. The system of claim 10, wherein the resource owned by the downstream service is an authorization.

16. The system of claim 10, further comprising a front-end process that generates the trace ID, first span ID, and first request.

17. The system of claim 10, further comprising a second downstream service that receives a request from the downstream service, generates a third audit concerning a resource owned by said second downstream service and having the trace ID, a third span ID, and a second parent span ID as metadata, and persists the third audit to a third database.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the second downstream service is a study optimization service.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the audit service receives and asynchronously centralizes the third audit.

20. The system of claim 10, further comprising a second downstream service that receives a request from the upstream service, generates a third audit concerning a resource owned by said second downstream service and having the trace ID, a third span ID, and the parent span ID as metadata, and persists the third audit to a third database.