SOURCE DIFFERENTIATION OF MACHINE DATA

• US 20170139968A1
• Filed: 01/31/2017
• Published: 05/18/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 10/05/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Splunk Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Splunk Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: BAUM, Michael Joseph, CARASSO, R. David, DAS, Robin Kumar, GREENE, Rory, HALL, Bradley, MEALY, Nicholas Christian, MURPHY, Brian Philip, SORKIN, Stephen Phillip, STECHERT, Andre David, SWAN, Erik M.
• Granted Patent: US 10,242,039 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2228 Indexing structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2272 Management thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2291 User-Defined Types; Storage management thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2322 using timestamps
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24568 Data stream processing; Continuous queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24575 using context
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24578 using ranking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2477 Temporal data queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/248 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques

Abstract

Methods and apparatus consistent with the invention provide the ability to organize, index, search, and present time series data based on searches. Time series data are sequences of time stamped records occurring in one or more usually continuous streams, representing some type of activity. In one embodiment, time series data is organized into discrete events with normalized time stamps and the events are indexed by time and keyword. A search is received and relevant event information is retrieved based in whole or in part on the time indexing mechanism, keyword indexing mechanism, or statistical indices calculated at the time of the search.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

creating a sample signature for a set of machine data by analyzing one or more punctuation character patterns in a portion of the set of machine data;

determining a source of the set of machine data based on a comparison of the sample signature with signatures in a set of signatures from known sources;

segmenting the machine data into a plurality of events based on the determined source;

wherein the method is performed by one or more computing devices.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

creating a signature for a known source by creating a source signature from machine data collected from the known source;

storing the signature in the set of signatures.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the sample signature is based on a mapping of punctuation characters to a frequency of occurrence in the portion of the set of machine data.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the sample signature is based on a function of punctuation characters and tokens appearing in the portion of the set of machine data.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein each event in the plurality of events includes a portion of the set of machine data.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein each event in the plurality of events includes a portion of the set of machine data, and wherein each event is field-searchable.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

creating a time stamp for each event in the plurality of events by extracting time stamp information from machine data included in each event;

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining a source of the set of machine data further comprises:

matching the sample signature to signatures in the set of signatures from known sources using a nearest neighbor search.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

based on a determination that the source of the machine data is not known;

defining a new source for the set of machine data;

creating a new signature for the new source using the sample signature for the machine data.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

based on a determination that the source of the machine data is not known;

setting the determined source for the set of machine data to a default source.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that the machine data is binary machine data;

converting the binary machine data into textual machine data using a process defined for the determined source.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that the machine data is binary machine data by comparing a number of machine data lines in the machine data that appear to be binary and a number of machine data lines in the machine data that appear to be textual;

converting the binary machine data into textual machine data using a process defined for the determined source.

13. One or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media, storing one or more sequences of instructions, which when executed by one or more processors cause performance of:

creating a sample signature for a set of machine data by analyzing one or more punctuation character patterns in a portion of the set of machine data;

determining a source of the set of machine data based on a comparison of the sample signature with signatures in a set of signatures from known sources;

segmenting the machine data into a plurality of events based on the determined source.

14. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media as recited in claim 13, wherein the one or more sequences of instructions, when executed by the one or more processors cause further performance of:

creating a signature for a known source by creating a source signature from machine data collected from the known source;

storing the signature in the set of signatures.

15. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media as recited in claim 13, wherein the sample signature is based on a mapping of punctuation characters to a frequency of occurrence in the portion of the set of machine data.

16. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media as recited in claim 13, wherein the sample signature is based on a function of punctuation characters and tokens appearing in the portion of the set of machine data.

17. An apparatus, comprising:

a signature creation device, implemented at least partially in hardware, that creates a sample signature for a set of machine data by analyzing one or more punctuation character patterns in a portion of the set of machine data;

a signature comparison device, implemented at least partially in hardware, that determines a source of the set of machine data based on a comparison of the sample signature with signatures in a set of signatures from known sources;

an event creation device, implemented at least partially in hardware, that segments the machine data into a plurality of events based on the determined source.

18. The apparatus as recited in claim 17, further comprising:

wherein the signature creation device creates a signature for a known source by creating a source signature from machine data collected from the known source;

a signature storage device, implemented at least partially in hardware, that stores the signature in the set of signatures.

19. The apparatus as recited in claim 17, wherein the sample signature is based on a mapping of punctuation characters to a frequency of occurrence in the portion of the set of machine data.

20. The apparatus as recited in claim 17, wherein the sample signature is based on a function of punctuation characters and tokens appearing in the portion of the set of machine data.