Method and apparatus for measuring web site performance

• US 7,519,702 B1
• Filed: 08/10/2000
• Issued: 04/14/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 08/10/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Allan, Ron C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen; Tammy
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nguyen; Thanh Tammy
• Application Number:
  US09/637,330
• Time in Patent Office: 3,169 Days
• Field of Search: 709/224, 709/202, 709/201, 709/203, 709/217, 713/400, 345/735, 345/743
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 15/173 using an interconnection network, e.g. matrix, shuffle, pyramid, star, snowflake

Abstract

A web site is provisioned with a proxy that receives a page request intended for the server and records a first time. The page request is then forwarded to the server for response. The response stream generated by the server is intercepted at the proxy at a second time. As the stream is forwarded to the requesting client, the proxy inserts a page script that, upon execution at the client, calculates a page render time. This time is determined by calculating the difference between a third time (the time at which the page script begins execution at the client) and a fourth time (a time at which the page rendering is complete). Upon completion of the page rendering, the script opens a connection back to the server and returns a packet that includes the page render time. This packet is received at a fifth time. A transaction record is then built by the proxy using the timestamp data.

Claims

1. A method of monitoring a transaction between a client and a server in a computer network, comprising:

at a first server time, receiving a client request directed to the server and forwarding the client request for service;

at a second server time, inserting a script into a server response stream;

returning the server response stream including the script in response to the client request;

and at a third server time, receiving a packet from the client that includes a page render time generated by execution of the script at the client; and

generating a transaction record that includes a performance metric data;

wherein the performance metric data includes an approximate time spent on the computer network; and

wherein the approximate time spent on the computer network is calculated by subtracting the page render time from a value generated by subtracting the second server time from the third server time.

2. The method as described in claim 1 wherein the performance metric data includes a server response time calculated by subtracting the first server time from the second server time.

3. The method as described in claim 1 wherein the performance metric data includes the page render time.

4. The method as described in claim 1 further including the step of storing in the transaction record information about the page requested.

5. The method as described in claim 1 further including the step of storing in the transaction record information about a protocol method used in the page request.

6. The method as described in claim 1 further including the step of issuing to the client a status response upon receipt of the packet.

7. A method operative within a firewall at a web server, comprising:

upon receipt of a page request from a client, recording a first time T1 and forwarding the page request to the server;

upon receipt of a response stream from the server, recording a second time T2;

inserting a script into the response stream;

forwarding the response stream together with the script back to the client;

using the script to calculate a page render time at the client by determining a difference between a fourth time T4 and a third time T3, wherein T3 is a start time when the script is interpreted at the client and T4 is a time when the page is completely rendered and upon receipt of a packet, recording a fifth time T5, wherein the packet contains performance metrics calculated using times T1 through T5 and wherein the packet is sent from the client to the server; and

saving in a transaction record the performance metrics;

wherein the performance metrics include a network time calculated as ((T5−

T2)−

(T4−

T3)).

8. The method as described in claim 7 wherein the performance metrics include a request service time calculated as T2−

T1.

9. The method as described in claim 7 wherein the performance metrics include a client page render time calculated as T4−

T3.

10. The method as described in claim 7 wherein the performance metrics include a total round trip time calculated as T5−

T1.