Query-Triggered Processing of Performance Data and Log Data from an Information Technology Environment

• US 20170286499A1
• Filed: 01/31/2017
• Published: 10/05/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 04/30/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Splunk Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Splunk Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: BINGHAM, Brian, FLETCHER, Tristan, BHIDE, Alok Anant
• Granted Patent: US 10,997,191 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/301 where the computing system is a virtual computing platform, e.g. logically partitioned systems virtual machines G06F9/45533; logical partitioning of resources G06F9/5077
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/323 Visualisation of programs or trace data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3409 for performance assessment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3495 for systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2455 Query execution
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24575 using context
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/248 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/26 Visual data mining; Browsing structured data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/815 Virtual
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45533 Hypervisors; Virtual machine monitors

Abstract

The disclosed system and method acquire and store performance measurements relating to performance of a component in an information technology (IT) environment and log data produced by the IT environment, in association with corresponding time stamps. The disclosed system and method correlate at least one of the performance measurements with at least one of the portions of log data.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

acquiring, by a computer system, a plurality of performance measurements for a performance metric associated with at least one hardware or software component of an information technology (IT) environment;

acquiring, by the computer system, a plurality of portions of log data representing activity of at least one hardware or software component of the IT environment;

storing, by the computer system, the acquired performance measurements and the acquired portions of log data, wherein the performance measurements are stored in a first time-series data store and the portions of log data are stored in a second time-series data store separate from the first time-series data store, and wherein the performance measurements and portions of log data are stored in the first and second time-series data stores, respectively, in different formats;

inputting, by the computer system, a search query specified by a user in a text-based search query language, the search query including a search criterion, the search criterion including a user-specified value or range of values for a user-specified field; and

correlating, by the computer system, at least one of the stored performance measurements with at least one of the stored portions of log data, based on the search criterion, wherein said correlating includes

in response to the user-specified search query, applying the search query in the text-based search query language to the stored performance measurements and stored portions of log data by searching the first time-series data store for performance data that satisfy the search criterion and searching the second time-series data store for log data that satisfy the search criterion,

causing display of an indication of a performance measurement that satisfies the search criterion, and

causing display of an indication of a portion of log data, from the at least one log file, that satisfies the search criterion.

2. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the search criterion is a time-based criterion.

3. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the search criterion is not a time-based criterion.

5. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein said storing comprises:

storing the acquired performance measurements as time-stamped performance events and storing the acquired portions of log data as time-stamped log events, such that each performance event and each log event is stored in association with a respective time stamp.

6. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein:

said storing comprises storing the acquired performance measurements as time-stamped performance events and storing the acquired portions of log data as time-stamped log events, such that each performance event and each log event is stored in association with a respective time stamp; and

said correlating further comprises identifying at least one of the stored performance events and at least one of the stored log events whose time stamps each satisfy a user-specified time criterion.

7. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein said method comprises acquiring, by the computer system, a plurality of performance measurements for each of a plurality of performance metrics, the plurality of performance metrics associated with a plurality of components of the IT environment.

8. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein said correlating comprises causing concurrent display of the performance measurements that satisfy the search criterion and a listing of raw log data that satisfy the search criterion.

9. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the user-specified search criterion relates to a machine in the IT environment.

10. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

obtaining a second search criterion by a user input to a drop-down list in a graphical user interface;

wherein said correlating further comprises identifying a performance measurement and a portion of log data that both satisfy the second search criterion.

11. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

obtaining a second search criterion by a user input to a drop-down list in a graphical user interface, wherein the second search criterion relates to a machine in the IT environment;

wherein said correlating further comprises identifying a performance measurement and a portion of log data that both satisfy the second search criterion.

12. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein

said correlating comprises identifying at least one of the stored performance measurements and at least one of the stored portions of log data that have time stamps that satisfy a user-specified time criterion.

13. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the performance measurements have been determined by direct measurement of a hardware or software component in the IT environment.

14. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the plurality of portions of log data are from a text-based log file.

15. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the plurality of performance measurements are not derived from a log file and are acquired independently of the plurality of portions of log data.

16. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the plurality of performance measurements are acquired independently of the plurality of portions of log data, and wherein the performance measurements have been determined by direct measurement of a hardware or software component in the IT environment and the plurality of portions of log data are from a text-based log file.

17. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the plurality of performance measurements are acquired independently of the plurality of portions of log data by direct measurement of a hardware or software component in the IT environment, and the plurality of portions of log data are acquired independently of the performance measurements.

18. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein acquiring the plurality of performance measurements comprises acquiring, via an application programming interface (API), the plurality of performance measurements from a third-party software application that collects the performance measurements.

24. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

acquiring structure data indicative of structure characteristics of the IT environment;

storing the acquired structure data indicative of structure characteristics of the IT environment; and

correlating a performance characteristic of the IT environment with a structure characteristic of the IT environment, based on the stored performance measurements and stored structure data.

25. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

acquiring structure data indicative of structure characteristics of the IT environment, wherein the structure data is derived from log data from the IT environment;

storing the acquired structure data indicative of structure characteristics of the IT environment; and

correlating a performance characteristic of the IT environment with a structure characteristic of the IT environment, based on the stored performance measurements and stored structure data.

26. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the performance metric comprises a performance metric for at least one hardware or software resource of a computer system.

27. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the performance metric comprises a performance metric for at least one virtual machine or virtual machine host.

28. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the performance metric comprises a performance metric for a virtual machine cluster.

4. (canceled)

19-23. -23. (canceled)

29. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium for use in a processing system of a data intake and query system, the non-transitory machine-readable storage medium storing instructions, an execution of which in the processing system causes the processing system to perform operations comprising:

acquiring a plurality of performance measurements for a performance metric associated with at least one hardware or software component of an information technology (IT) environment;

acquiring a plurality of portions of log data, the portions of log data representing activity of at least one hardware or software component of the IT environment;

storing the acquired performance measurements and the acquired portions of log data, wherein the performance measurements are stored in a first time-series data store and the portions of log data are stored in a second time-series data store separate from the first time-series data store, and wherein the performance measurements and portions of log data are stored in the first and second time-series data stores, respectively, in different formats;

inputting a search query specified by a user in a text-based search query language, the search query including a search criterion, the search criterion including a user-specified value or range of values for a user-specified field; and

correlating at least one of the stored performance measurements with at least one of the stored portions of log data, based on the search criterion, wherein said correlating includes

in response to the user-specified search query, applying the search query in the text-based search query language to the stored performance measurements and stored portions of log data by searching the first time-series data store for performance data that satisfy the search criterion and searching the second time-series data store for log data that satisfy the search criterion,

causing display of an indication of a performance measurement that satisfies the search criterion, and

causing display of an indication of a portion of log data, from the at least one log file, that satisfies the search criterion.

30. A system comprising:

a communication device through which to communicate on a computer network; and

at least one processor operatively coupled to the communication device and configured to perform operations including

acquiring a plurality of performance measurements for a performance metric associated with at least one hardware or software component of an information technology (IT) environment;

acquiring a plurality of portions of log data, the portions of log data representing activity of at least one hardware or software component of the IT environment;

storing the acquired performance measurements and the acquired portions of log data, wherein the performance measurements are stored in a first time-series data store and the portions of log data are stored in a second time-series data store separate from the first time-series data store, and wherein the performance measurements and portions of log data are stored in the first and second time-series data stores, respectively, in different formats;

inputting a search query specified by a user in a text-based search query language, the search query including a search criterion, the search criterion including a user-specified value or range of values for a user-specified field; and

correlating at least one of the stored performance measurements with at least one of the stored portions of log data, based on the search criterion, wherein said correlating includes

in response to the user-specified search query, applying the search query in the text-based search query language to the stored performance measurements and stored portions of log data by searching the first time-series data store for performance data that satisfy the search criterion and searching the second time-series data store for log data that satisfy the search criterion,

causing display of an indication of a performance measurement that satisfies the search criterion, and

causing display of an indication of a portion of log data, from the at least one log file, that satisfies the search criterion.