Apparatus and methods for visualizing operation of a system of processes
First Claim
1. Apparatus for visualizing operation of a system implemented by means of processes running in at least one computer system, the apparatus comprising:
- monitoring means for causing at least one of the processes to send a message when the process performs an operating system call, the message indicating at least the process and the operating system call; and
means for receiving the message and responding thereto by making an alteration in a graphical display of the system which includes at least an entity representing the one process, the alteration reflecting an effect on the system of the operating system call which resulted in the message being sent.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Techniques for analyzing and controlling operation of a system of cooperating processes. A library of system calls used by the processes is replaced by a dynamically-linked library which performs the system calls and also sends messages indicating that the system calls have been performed. The messages are received by a display system which responds to the messages by making a graphical display showing the current state of the system of processes. The graphical display displays the system of processes as a tree. Nodes in the tree represent the processes in the system and resources such as files used by the processes; edges in the tree represent relationships between processes and other processes or resources. Users may control which system calls result in messages, may control the rate at which the display system responds to the messages, and may also control execution of the processes.
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Citations
33 Claims
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1. Apparatus for visualizing operation of a system implemented by means of processes running in at least one computer system, the apparatus comprising:
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monitoring means for causing at least one of the processes to send a message when the process performs an operating system call, the message indicating at least the process and the operating system call; and means for receiving the message and responding thereto by making an alteration in a graphical display of the system which includes at least an entity representing the one process, the alteration reflecting an effect on the system of the operating system call which resulted in the message being sent. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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19. Apparatus for visualizing operation of a system implemented by means of processes running in at least one computer system, the apparatus comprising:
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means for causing at least one of the processes to send a message when performing an operation of creating a child process or an operation of accessing a resource, the message indicating at least the operation and the one process; and means for receiving the message and responding thereto by making an alteration in a graphical display which displays the system as a directed acyclic graph wherein the processes and resources used by the processes are nodes in the graph, the alteration reflecting an effect on the system of the operation which resulted in the message being sent. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21)
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28. Apparatus for providing information about operation of a system which is implemented in a computer, the operation of the system including executing routines from a first library thereof and the apparatus comprising:
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a second library including second routines, each of which when executed performs the same function as one of the first routines and additionally generates a message indicating a change in the system resulting from execution of the routine; means for dynamically replacing the executable code for the first library with the executable code for the second library when the system is executed in the computer; masking means settable when the system is executed in the computer and accessible to the second routines, the masking means indicating how the second routines generate the messages and the second routines responding to the masking means by generating the messages as indicated therein; and means responsive to the messages for outputting indications of the effects on the system of the executions of the second routines. - View Dependent Claims (29, 30, 31)
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32. A method of obtaining information about a system implemented by means of processes running in a computer system, the method comprising the steps of:
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on initializing a monitor process, dynamically linking the monitor process to a first library of routines which has the same interfaces as a second library of routines, the routines in the first library performing the same functions as the routines in the second library and additionally sending messages to the monitor process, the dynamic linking being done in an environment such that processes which are descendants of the monitor process are also linked to the first library; creating the processes which implement the system as descendants of the monitor process; and in the monitor process, receiving the messages from the descendant processes and outputting information contained therein. - View Dependent Claims (33)
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Specification