DYNAMIC MANAGEMENT OF INTEGRATION PROTOCOLS

• US 20160127212A1
• Filed: 05/15/2015
• Published: 05/05/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/21/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Guminy, Scott M., Nigul, Leho, Yu, Kevin
• Granted Patent: US 10,348,588 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3433 for load management allocation of a server based on load conditions G06F9/505; load rebalancing G06F9/5083; redistributing the load in a network by a load balancer H04L67/1029
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3495 for systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5009 Determining service level performance parameters or violations of service level contracts, e.g. violations of agreed response time or mean time between failures [MTBF]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5025 by proactively reacting to service quality change, e.g. by reconfiguration after service quality degradation or upgrade
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5096 wherein the managed service relates to distributed or central networked applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/08 Monitoring or testing based on specific metrics, e.g. QoS, energy consumption or environmental parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/70 Routing based on monitoring results

Abstract

An illustrative embodiment of a computer-implemented process for dynamic management of integration protocols connects a set of applications to a communication fabric to form a set of connections, which are monitored to collect a set of performance metrics. In response to a determination the predetermined performance metric is not within the predetermined tolerance associated with the particular application in the set of applications an integration path in the set of connections for the particular application in the set of applications is adjusted by programmatically using a set of rules wherein each rule in the set of rules is a performance driven rule.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented process for dynamic management of integration protocols, the computer-implemented process comprising:

connecting, by one or more processors executing computer executable program code stored within a memory connected to the one or more processors, a set of applications to a communication fabric to form a set of connections;

monitoring the set of connections, by the one or more processors, to collect a set of performance metrics associated with the set of connections;

determining, by the one or more processors, whether a predetermined performance metric is within a predetermined tolerance associated with a particular application in the set of applications; and

in response to a determination the predetermined performance metric is not within the predetermined tolerance associated with the particular application in the set of applications, by the one or more processors, adjusting an integration path in the set of connections for the particular application in the set of applications by programmatically using a set of rules wherein each rule in the set of rules is a performance driven rule.

2. The computer-implemented process of claim 1 wherein the adjusting an integration path in the set of connections for the particular application in the set of applications by programmatically using a set of rules wherein each rule in the set of rules is a performance driven rule further comprises:

determining whether an adjust action includes altering a selection of one or more paths;

in response to determining the adjust action includes altering a selection of one or more paths, determining whether the altering action includes activation of the one or more paths; and

in response to determining the altering action includes activation of the one or more paths, activating the one or more paths.

3. The computer-implemented process of claim 2 wherein determining whether the altering action includes adjusting a traffic mix on the one or more paths further comprises:

in response to determining the altering action includes adjusting a traffic mix on the one or more paths, adjusting the traffic mix on the one or more paths.

4. The computer-implemented process of claim 1 wherein the communication fabric comprises an integration bus and wherein the integration bus further comprises a set of communication protocols used by applications in the set of applications.

5. The computer-implemented process of claim 1 wherein determining, by the one or more processors, whether a predetermined performance metric is within a predetermined tolerance associated with a particular application in the set of applications further comprises:

using a set of rules wherein each rule in the set of rules is a performance driven rule, wherein an integration controller maintains the set of rules, used in combination with one or more of the performance metrics obtained for the particular application in the set of applications.

6. The computer-implemented process of claim 1 wherein monitoring the set of connections, by the one or more processors, to collect a set of performance metrics associated with the set of connections further comprises:

caching the set of performance metrics for subsequent use with the set of rules.

7. The computer-implemented process of claim 1 wherein connecting, by one or more processors executing computer executable program code stored within a memory connected to the one or more processors, a set of applications to a communication fabric to form a set of connections further comprises:

linking performance metrics in the set of performance metrics, including service definitions and quality of service for requests associated with an application in the set of applications, to specific protocols and integration channels used to integrate the application with other components of a system wherein each of the applications and application components are interconnected and each connection has a set of integration paths defined including a default path.

8. A computer program product for dynamic management of integration protocols, the computer program product comprising:

one or more computer-readable storage devices and computer executable program code stored on at least one of the one or more computer-readable storage devices, the computer executable program code comprising;

computer executable program code for connecting a set of applications to a communication fabric to form a set of connections;

computer executable program code for monitoring the set of connections to collect a set of performance metrics associated with the set of connections;

computer executable program code for determining, by the one or more processors, whether a predetermined performance metric is within a predetermined tolerance associated with a particular application in the set of applications; and

computer executable program code in response to a determination the predetermined performance metric is not within the predetermined tolerance associated with the particular application in the set of applications for adjusting an integration path in the set of connections for the particular application in the set of applications by programmatically using a set of rules wherein each rule in the set of rules is a performance driven rule.

9. The computer program product of claim 8 wherein the computer executable program code for adjusting an integration path in the set of connections for the particular application in the set of applications by programmatically using a set of rules wherein each rule in the set of rules is a performance driven rule further comprises:

computer executable program code for determining whether an adjust action includes altering a selection of one or more paths;

computer executable program code in response to determining the adjust action includes altering a selection of one or more paths, for determining whether the altering action includes activation of the one or more paths; and

computer executable program code for in response to determining the altering action includes activation of the one or more paths, for activating the one or more paths.

10. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein determining whether the altering action includes adjusting a traffic mix on the one or more paths further comprises:

in response to determining the altering action includes adjusting a traffic mix on the one or more paths, adjusting the traffic mix on the one or more paths.

11. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the communication fabric comprises an integration bus and wherein the integration bus further comprises a set of communication protocols used by applications in the set of applications.

12. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein computer executable program code for determining, by the one or more processors, whether a predetermined performance metric is within a predetermined tolerance associated with a particular application in the set of applications further comprises:

computer executable program code for using a set of rules wherein each rule in the set of rules is a performance driven rule, wherein an integration controller maintains the set of rules, used in combination with one or more of the performance metrics obtained for the particular application in the set of applications.

13. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the computer executable program code for monitoring the set of connections, by the one or more processors, to collect a set of performance metrics associated with the set of connections further comprises:

computer executable program code for caching the set of performance metrics for subsequent use with the set of rules.

14. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the computer executable program code for connecting, by one or more processors executing computer executable instructions stored within a memory connected to the one or more processors, a set of applications to a communication fabric to form a set of connections further comprises:

linking performance metrics in the set of performance metrics, including service definitions and quality of service for requests associated with an application in the set of applications, to specific protocols and integration channels used to integrate the application with other components of a system wherein each of the applications and application components are interconnected and each connection has a set of integration paths defined including a default path.

15. An apparatus for dynamic management of integration protocols, the apparatus comprising:

a communications fabric;

a memory connected to the communications fabric, wherein the memory contains computer executable program code;

a communications unit connected to the communications fabric;

an input/output unit connected to the communications fabric;

a display connected to the communications fabric; and

a processor unit connected to the communications fabric, wherein the processor unit executes the computer executable program code to direct the apparatus to;

connect a set of applications to a communication fabric to form a set of connections;

monitor the set of connections to collect a set of performance metrics associated with the set of connections;

determine whether a predetermined performance metric is within a predetermined tolerance associated with a particular application in the set of applications; and

in response to a determination the predetermined performance metric is not within the predetermined tolerance associated with the particular application in the set of applications adjust an integration path in the set of connections for the particular application in the set of applications by programmatically using a set of rules wherein each rule in the set of rules is a performance driven rule.

16. The apparatus of claim 15 wherein the processor unit executes the computer executable program code to adjust an integration path in the set of connections for the particular application in the set of applications by programmatically using a set of rules wherein each rule in the set of rules is a performance driven rule further directs the apparatus to:

determine whether an adjust action includes altering a selection of one or more paths;

in response to determining the adjust action includes altering a selection of one or more paths, determine whether the altering action includes activation of the one or more paths; and

in response to determining the altering action includes activation of the one or more paths, activate the one or more paths.

17. The apparatus of claim 16 wherein the processor unit executes the computer executable program code in response to determining the altering action does not include activation of the one or more paths, further directs the apparatus to determine whether the altering action includes adjusting a traffic mix on the one or more paths;

and

in response to determining the altering action includes adjusting a traffic mix on the one or more paths, adjust the traffic mix on the one or more paths.

18. The apparatus of claim 15 wherein the communication fabric comprises an integration bus and wherein the integration bus further comprises a set of communication protocols used by applications in the set of applications.

19. The apparatus of claim 15 wherein the processor unit executes the computer executable program code to determine whether a predetermined performance metric is within a predetermined tolerance associated with a particular application in the set of applications further directs the apparatus to:

use a set of rules wherein each rule in the set of rules is a performance driven rule, wherein an integration controller maintains the set of rules, used in combination with one or more of the performance metrics obtained for the particular application in the set of applications.

20. The apparatus of claim 15 wherein the processor unit executes the computer executable program code to connect a set of applications to a communication fabric to form a set of connections further directs the apparatus to:

link performance metrics in the set of performance metrics, including service definitions and quality of service for requests associated with an application in the set of applications, to specific protocols and integration channels used to integrate the application with other components of a system wherein each of the applications and application components are interconnected and each connection has a set of integration paths defined including a default path.