Application Execution Path Tracing With Configurable Origin Definition

• US 20160283345A1
• Filed: 03/27/2014
• Published: 09/29/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 11/13/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Concurix Corporation
• Inventors: Gounares, Alexander G., Baril, Bryce B., Garrett, Charles D.
• Granted Patent: US 9,772,927 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 11/079 Root cause analysis, i.e. error or fault diagnosis in a hardware test environment G06F11/22; in a software test environment G06F11/36
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/302 where the computing system component is a software system
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3065 Monitoring arrangements determined by the means or processing involved in reporting the monitored data error or fault reporting or logging G06F11/0766
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/34 Recording or statistical evaluation of computer activity, e.g. of down time, of input/output operation ; Recording or statistical evaluation of user activity, e.g. usability assessment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3476 Data logging G06F11/14, G06F11/2205 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3495 for systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3636 by tracing the execution of the program
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 17/00 Digital computing or data processing equipment or methods, specially adapted for specific functions information retrieval, database structures or file system structures therefor G06F16/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0484 for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/206 Drawing of charts or graphs

Abstract

A tracing system may define an origin for consolidating and comparing trace paths within a traced application. A tracer may define an identifier that may be passed through a tracing route, and the identifier may be defined to capture specific instances or groups of instances of traces. The traces may be consolidated into a graphical representation of the program flow. The identifier may be passed across various boundaries, including function boundaries, library boundaries, application boundaries, device boundaries. An analysis system may consolidate or aggregate trace results having the same identifier, and may render such data graphically or provide statistics using the identified datasets.

Claims

1. A method performed on at least one computer processor, said method comprising:

executing an application in a first execution path to a first function, said first function being part of said application;

identifying said first execution path as meeting conditions for tracing and assigning a first identifier for said first execution path;

collecting first trace data while executing said first function and associating said first identifier to said first trace data;

executing said application to a first instance of a second function and determining that said first instance of said second function is part of said first execution path and collecting second trace data while executing said first instance of said second function and associating said first identifier to said second trace data; and

transmitting said first trace data and said second trace data.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

executing said application to a second instance of said second function and determining that said second instance of said second function is not part of said first execution path and not collecting trace data while executing said second instance of said second function.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

wrapping said first function with a wrapped tracer function and storing said first identifier in said wrapped tracer function.

4. The method of claim 3 further comprising:

determining that said first instance of said second function is part of said first execution path by presence of said wrapped tracer function.

5. The method of claim 4 further comprising:

evaluating a rule defining said conditions prior to executing said first function.

6. The method of claim 5, said rule containing at least one reference to an input value to said first function.

7. The method of claim 6, said first identifier comprising at least a part of said input value.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving said first trace data and said second trace data;

determining that said first trace data and said second trace data comprising said first identifier and generating at least one statistic from said first trace data and said second trace data.

9. A system comprising:

at least one processor;

an execution environment executing on said at least one processor, said execution environment executing a first application;

a tracer that collects observations while said first application executes, said tracer that further;

determines that execution has progressed to a first function;

identifies said first execution path as meeting conditions for tracing and assigns a first identifier for said first execution path;

collects first trace data while executing said first function and associates said first identifier to said first trace data;

executes said application to a first instance of a second function and determines that said first instance of said second function is part of said first execution path and collects second trace data while executing said first instance of said second function and associates said first identifier to said second trace data; and

transmits said first trace data and said second trace data.

10. The system of claim 9 further comprising:

a rule definition containing said conditions.

11. The system of claim 10, said rule definition comprising at least one reference to an input to said first function.

12. The system of claim 11, said rule definition comprising a first condition identifying said first execution path and a second condition identifying a second execution path.

13. The system of claim 12, said second execution path being identified within said rule definition with a second identifier.

14. The system of claim 13, said tracer that further:

identifies said second execution path when executing said first function and collect third trace data while executing said first function and associates said second identifier with said third trace data.

15. The system of claim 14 further comprising:

an analysis engine that;

receives said first trace data and said second trace data;

determines that said first trace data and said second trace data comprising said first identifier and generates at least one statistic from said first trace data and said second trace data.

16. The system of claim 15 further comprising:

a visualization engine that;

receives said first trace data and said second trace data;

generates a visualization showing said at least one statistic.

User Interface for Selecting Tracing Origins for Aggregating Classes of Trace Data

17. A method performed on at least one processor, said method comprising:

displaying a topology graph of an application, said application comprising a plurality of components, said topology graph comprising representations of said plurality of components;

receiving a first selection from a user input device, said first selection comprising a first component within said topology graph;

receiving a second selection comprising a first condition for tracing execution paths passing through said first component; and

storing said first condition for said first component as a tracer rule associated with said first component.

18. The method of claim 17, said topology graph being generated from trace data gathered by monitoring said application and identifying said plurality of components within said trace data.

19. The method of claim 18 further comprising:

displaying a second topology graph of said application, said second topology graph comprising trace data organized at least in part by said tracer rule.

20. The method of claim 19, said tracer rule being consumed by a tracer to classify at least one execution path of said application.

21. The method of claim 20, said tracer rule being consumed by a tracer to classify execution paths into a plurality of classifications.

22. The method of claim 17 further comprising:

presenting a user selection interface comprising a plurality of classification suggestions, said second selection being selected from said plurality of classification suggestions.

23. The method of claim 22 further comprising:

analyzing tracer data for said application to determine a plurality of input values for said first component; and

presenting at least a subset of said plurality of input values as said plurality of classification suggestions.

24. The method of claim 22 further comprising:

analyzing tracer data for said application to determine a plurality of execution paths organized by frequency of use; and

presenting at least a subset of said plurality of execution paths as said plurality of classification suggestions.

25. The method of claim 22 further comprising:

analyzing tracer data for said application to determine a plurality of execution paths organized by errors detected; and

presenting at least a subset of said plurality of execution paths as said plurality of classification suggestions.

26. The method of claim 22 further comprising:

analyzing tracer data for said application to determine a plurality of execution paths organized by a performance metric; and

presenting at least a subset of said plurality of execution paths as said plurality of classification suggestions.

27. A system comprising:

at least one processor;

a trace database comprising trace data gathered from tracing an application;

an interactive user interface presented on a device comprising said at least one processor, said interactive user interface that;

displays a topology graph of an application, said application comprising a plurality of components, said topology graph comprising representations of said plurality of components;

receives a first selection from a user input device, said first selection comprising a first component within said topology graph;

receives a second selection comprising a first condition for tracing execution paths passing through said first component; and

stores said first condition for said first component as a tracer rule associated with said first component.

28. The system of claim 27, said interactive user interface that further:

presents a user selection interface comprising a plurality of classification suggestions, said second selection being selected from said plurality of classification suggestions.

29. The system of claim 28 further comprising:

an analysis engine that analyzes tracer data for said application to determine a plurality of input values for said first component;

said interactive user interface that further;

presents at least a subset of said plurality of input values as said plurality of classification suggestions.

30. The system of claim 28, said analysis engine that determines said plurality of input values from a plurality of execution paths classified by frequency of use.

31. The system of claim 28, said analysis engine that determines said plurality of input values from a plurality of execution paths classified by errors detected.

32. The system of claim 28, said analysis engine that determines said plurality of input values from a plurality of execution paths classified by a performance metric.

Tracing Origin Rules for Minimizing Trace Data Collection by Sampling

33. A method performed on at least one computer processor, said method comprising:

tracing an application;

receiving a first rule for a first classification of execution paths through said first function, said first rule defining a first tracing sampling frequency;

when executing said application;

detecting said first function while executing a plurality of said execution paths;

tracing said plurality of execution paths by selecting a first subset of said execution paths according to said first tracing sampling frequency, and causing each of said first subset of said execution paths to be traced.

34. The method of claim 33, said tracing comprising creating an identity designator for each of said first subset of said execution paths, said identity designator being passed to subsequent functions in each of said execution paths.

35. The method of claim 34, said identity designator identifying each instance of said execution paths uniquely.

36. The method of claim 34, said identity designator identifying each of said execution paths with a common identifier.

37. The method of claim 34 further comprising:

evaluating each of said execution paths against said first classification to create said first subset of execution paths, said first subset of execution paths matching said first classification.

38. The method of claim 37, said first classification being defined by at least one input passed to said first function.

39. The method of claim 37 further comprising:

receiving a second rule for a second classification of execution paths through said first function, said second rule defining a second tracing sampling frequency;

when executing said application, evaluating each of said execution paths against said second classification to create a second subset of execution paths, said second busted of execution paths matching said first classification; and

causing said second subset of said execution paths to be traced according to said second sampling frequency.

40. The method of claim 39, said first subset of execution paths not overlapping with said second subset of execution paths.

41. The method of claim 39, said first subset of execution paths having at least a first execution path in common with said second subset of execution paths.

42. A system comprising:

at least one processor;

an execution environment executing on said at least one processor, said execution environment executing an application;

a tracer that;

receives a first rule for a first classification of execution paths through said first function, said first rule defining a first tracing sampling frequency;

detecting said first function while executing a plurality of said execution paths;

tracing said plurality of execution paths by selecting a first subset of said execution paths according to said first tracing sampling frequency, and causing each of said first subset of said execution paths to be traced.

43. The system of claim 42, said tracer that further:

creates an identity designator for each of said first subset of said execution paths, said identity designator being passed to subsequent functions in each of said execution paths.

44. The system of claim 43, said identity designator identifying each instance of said execution paths uniquely.

45. The system of claim 43, said identity designator identifying each of said execution paths with a common identifier.

46. The system of claim 43, said tracer that further:

evaluates each of said execution paths against said first classification to create said first subset of execution paths, said first subset of execution paths matching said first classification.

47. The system of claim 46, said first classification being defined by at least one input passed to said first function.

48. The system of claim 46, said tracer that further:

receives a second rule for a second classification of execution paths through said first function, said second rule defining a second tracing sampling frequency;

when executing said application, evaluates each of said execution paths against said second classification to create a second subset of execution paths, said second busted of execution paths matching said first classification; and

causes said second subset of said execution paths to be traced according to said second sampling frequency.

49. The system of claim 48, said first subset of execution paths not overlapping with said second subset of execution paths.

50. The system of claim 48, said first subset of execution paths having at least a first execution path in common with said second subset of execution paths.