DYNAMIC INSTRUMENTATION OF WSGI APPLICATIONS

• US 20160321163A1
• Filed: 04/29/2015
• Published: 11/03/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 04/29/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AppDynamics, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Koepke, Dan, Nagaraj, Sanjay
• Granted Patent: US 9,959,195 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3644 by instrumenting at runtime
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/04 specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
• 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 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/561 Adding application-functional data or data for application control, e.g. adding metadata

Abstract

An agent installed on application server having a WSGI web application dynamically instruments that web application. The agent may modify the application via instrumentation such that it can be monitored without specific details of the WSGI application framework. A configuration file may be modified upon detecting a call to the application configuration file through a gateway interface that receives the call. After modifying the configuration file, the modified configuration file is executed in response to the call. Additionally, for subsequent calls to that particular web application, the WSGI gateway will call the modified WSGI configuration file for execution instead of the original WSGI file.

Claims

1. A method for monitoring an application, comprising:

detecting a call to an application file on a server from a gateway interface that receives the call;

accessing the application file by an agent executing on the server;

modifying the application file by the agent; and

executing the modified application file in response to the call to the application file.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein modifying the application file includes instrumenting the application file.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising configuring the gateway to call the modified application in response to detecting subsequent calls for the application file.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the call originates from a remote machine and received by the gateway interface

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the application file is a Python application file.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the gateway interface is a web server gateway interface.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the agent includes gateway interface script code, the script code detecting the call to the application file.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the modified application file includes a new application file that includes the existing application file and additional code for monitoring the execution of the existing application.

9. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having embodied thereon a program, the program being executable by a processor to perform a method for monitoring an application, the method comprising:

detecting a call to an application file on a server from a gateway interface that receives the call;

accessing the application file by an agent executing on the server;

modifying the application file by the agent; and

executing the modified application file in response to the call to the application file.

10. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein modifying the application file includes instrumenting the application file.

11. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 9, further comprising configuring the gateway to call the modified application in response to detecting subsequent calls for the application file.

12. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the call originates from a remote machine and received by the gateway interface

13. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the application file is a Python application file.

14. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the gateway interface is a web server gateway interface.

15. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the agent includes gateway interface script code, the script code detecting the call to the application file.

16. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the modified application file includes a new application file that includes the existing application file and additional code for monitoring the execution of the existing application.

17. A system for monitoring applications, comprising:

an application server including one or more processors and memory; and

one or more modules stored in memory and executable by at least one of the one or more processors to detect a call to an application file on a server from a gateway interface that receives the call, access the application file by an agent executing on the server, modify the application file by the agent, and execute the modified application file in response to the call to the application file.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein modifying the application file includes instrumenting the application file.

19. The system of claim 17, the one or more modules further executable to configure the gateway to call the modified application in response to detecting subsequent calls for the application file.

20. The system of claim 17, wherein the call originates from a remote machine and received by the gateway interface

21. The system of claim 17, wherein the application file is a Python application file.

22. The system of claim 17, wherein the gateway interface is a web server gateway interface.

23. The system of claim 17, wherein the agent includes gateway interface script code, the script code detecting the call to the application file.

24. The system of claim 17, wherein the modified application file includes a new application file that includes the existing application file and additional code for monitoring the execution of the existing application.