Application manager for monitoring and recovery of software based application processes

• US 7,028,225 B2
• Filed: 09/25/2001
• Issued: 04/11/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 09/25/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: PATH Reliability, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Path Communications Incorporated
• Inventors: Noy, Oded, Maso, Brian
• Primary Examiner(s): Iqbal, Nadeem
• Assistant Examiner(s): Bonura, Timothy M.
• Application Number:
  US09/964,265
• Publication Number:
  US 20030061265A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,659 Days
• Field of Search: 714/47, 702/186
• US Class Current: 714/47.2
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1438 Restarting or rejuvenating
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3433 for load management allocation of a server based on load conditions G06F9/505; load rebalancing G06F9/5083; redistributing the load in a network by a load balancer H04L67/1029
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3438 monitoring of user actions tracking the activity of the user H04L67/535
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3495 for systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/865 Monitoring of software
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/87 Monitoring of transactions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1001 for accessing one among a plurality of replicated servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10015 Access to distributed or replicated servers, e.g. using brokers

Abstract

A constant monitoring and recovery system that enables the measurement of task usage/metrics and performance of software-based business applications. These metrics can then be evaluated by logic, in combination with each other and/or a timer, in a distributed environment. This is accomplished with the introduction of an extremely low overhead to the application host. The results of the logic evaluation can cause real-time and real-world responses such as application restart, interaction with load balancing equipment, or notification (via email, pager, etc.). Data can also be persisted to a database for later archival or evaluation, with the ability to reduce granularity over time. Specifically, an application manager monitors business application processes, notifies failure and automatically recovers software based business applications based on the logic of the underlying applications. The application manager comprises three main components that work together: Instrumentation API for setting up monitoring parameters; Event Notification and Automatic Recovery Evaluation Engine; Monitoring Console Server.

Claims

1. A constant monitoring and recovery system in a distributed information exchange network environment, comprising:

a measurement system interactine with a software-based application process to measure information otherwise not available to the information exchange network relating to task usage, metrics or performance of the software-based application process; and

an evaluation system evaluating measured information based on underlying logic of the process at an application level.

2. A constant monitoring and recovery system as in claim 1, wherein the evaluation system is configured to evaluate the information by logic in combination with each other.

3. A constant monitoring and recovery system as in claim 1, wherein the evaluation system is configured dynamically from outside the application, and may be altered in real time.

4. A constant monitoring and recovery system, as in claim 1, wherein the measurement system and evaluation system are implemented in an application host.

5. A constant monitoring and recovery system as in claim 4, wherein the measurement system and evaluation system introduce relatively low overhead to the application host.

6. A constant monitoring and recovery system as in claim 1, further comprising an initiating system initiating real-world responses based on the results of the evaluation system.

7. A constant monitoring and recovery system as in claim 6, wherein the real-world responses comprise at least one of application restart, interaction with load balancing equipment, or failure notification.

8. A constant monitoring and recovery system as in claim 7, wherein the initiating system is configured to complete an existing process before restarting the application.

9. A constant monitoring and recovery system as in claim 1, further comprising a database that allows measured information to persist for later archival and/or evaluation.

10. A constant monitoring and recovery system as in claim 9, further comprising a system for retaining measured information at specified levels of granularity for specified periods of time.

11. An application manager for a software based application process, comprising:

a monitoring module interfacing with the process via a network, interacting with the process to monitor information otherwise not available to the network, and monitoring metrics or performance of the process;

an evaluation module evaluating monitored information based on logic of the process; and

a recovery module automatically recovering the application based on evaluated monitored information.

12. An application manager as in claim 11, wherein the recovery module is configured to recover the application after the existing process has been completed.

13. An application manager as in claim 11, wherein the recovery module comprises a notification module notifying an administrator of failure of the process.

14. An application manager as in claim 11, wherein the monitoring module is configured to provide access into the performance of various components of the software-based application to determine various levels of functionality of the application.

15. An application manager as in claim 14, wherein the monitoring module measures, when the application is in use, at least one of the levels of performance of actual logic of the application, or details of interactions of the monitored application with other external applications.

16. An application manager as in claim 11, wherein the evaluation module is configured to collected, filter, aggregate, and or evaluate measured information against the logic, based on specified criteria.

17. An application manager as in claim 11, wherein the evaluation module is configured dynamically from outside the application, and may be altered in real time.

18. An application manager as in claim 11, further comprising archival module for persisting data to be available for historical as well as real-time reporting.

19. An application manager as in claim 11, further comprising a system for retaining measured information at specified levels of granularity for specified periods of time.

20. An application manager as in claim 11, wherein the recovery module is configured to perform failure notification and recovery based on logical evaluation of monitored data, and to initiate real-world events, including at least one of restarting the application process, performing a soft shutdown to further minimize service disruption and loss of information, or sending a notification to an administrator.

21. An application manager for constant monitoring and recovery of a software based application process via a network comprising:

a program interface providing set up of monitoring parameters and interacting with the software-based application process to permit monitoring information otherwise not available to the network;

an event notification and automatic recovery evaluation engine processing information from, the program interface; and

a monitoring console server providing a monitoring operations of the application manager.

22. An application manager as in claim 21, wherein the program interface comprises an instrumentation API that is customizable, allowing one to instrument and monitor tasks within standard or custom code in existing programs within the software-based application process.

23. An application manager as in claim 21, wherein the event notification and automatic recovery evaluation engine comprises at least one of:

a forwarding module forwarding information to the monitoring console server for archiving and data mining;

an alerting module alerting system administrator when performance thresholds are reached or when a compete restart of a failed application is necessary; and

a shut down module performing a soft shutdown whereby an application is stopped in stages, keeping transactions from getting lost and ensuring enterprise reliability and availability.

24. An application manager as in claim 21, wherein the monitoring console server comprises at least one of:

a determination module providing determination of the functionality of immediate activity and historical data;

a personalization module creating personalized views according to individual administrative roles and security access levels;

a remote access module selecting what information and performance data can be accessed remotely; and

a viewing module facilitating viewing data securely in real time via a web browser.

25. An application manager as in claim 21, further comprising a data module logging and mining data, which is configured to record system metrics including alerts, restart time, performance and reliability data to a database, and forwarding data to a central logging server for event logging and data mining.

26. A constant monitoring and recovery system in a distributed information exchange network environment, comprising:

a measurement system that measures information relating to task usage, metrics or performance of a software-based application process; and

an evaluation system evaluating measured information based on underlying logic of the process,

wherein the measurement system and evaluation system are implemented in an application host, and wherein the measurement system and evaluation system introduce relatively low overhead to the application host.

27. A constant monitoring and recovery system in a distributed information exchange network environment, comprising:

a measurement system that measures information relating to task usage, metrics or performance of a software-based application process; and

an evaluation system evaluating measured information based on underlying logic of the process,

an initiating system initiating real-world responses based on the results of the evaluation system,

wherein the real-world responses comprise at least one of application restart, interaction with load balancing equipment, or failure notification, and wherein the initiating system is configured to complete an existing process before restarting the application.

28. An application manager for a software based application process, comprising:

a monitoring module monitoring metrics or performance of the process;

an evaluation module evaluating monitored information based on logic of the process; and

a recovery module automatically recovering the application based on evaluated monitored information,

wherein the recovery module is configured to recover the application after the existing process has been completed.

29. An application manager for constant monitoring and recovery of a software based application process, comprising:

an program interface providing set up of monitoring parameters;

an event notification and automatic recovery evaluation engine processing information from the program; and

a monitoring console server providing a monitoring operations of the application manager,

wherein the program interface is customizable, allowing one to instrument and monitor tasks within standard or custom code in existing programs.