Service level management system

• US 7,693,996 B2
• Filed: 03/06/2007
• Issued: 04/06/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/06/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Vmware LLC (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: VMware, Inc. (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Wexler, Asaf, Dembak, Yoav
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen; Tammy T
• Application Number:
  US11/682,426
• Publication Number:
  US 20070208843A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,127 Days
• Field of Search: 709/226, 709/246, 709/228, 709/217, 709/223
• US Class Current: 709/226
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5083 Techniques for rebalancing the load in a distributed system
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1001 for accessing one among a plurality of replicated servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1008 based on parameters of servers, e.g. available memory or workload monitoring of computer activity G06F11/30
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1029 using data related to the state of servers by a load balancer
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1034 Reaction to server failures by a load balancer

Abstract

A service level management (SLM) system where the system learns the structure of a web application, monitors the operation of the application, and controls the processing of incoming requests to achieve optimal performance as defined in a service level agreement (SLA). The system is operative for example in enterprise web applications and in enterprise data centers that deploy web applications and optimally is capable of controlling and maintaining a level of service of web applications.

Claims

1. A method for controlling and maintaining a level of service of web applications, comprising:

generating a context for each request sent from a client to a web server and for each reply sent from a web server to a client;

determining whether the context belongs to an identified transaction;

determining if the context belongs to an identified transaction, comprising;

matching the context against a classify data structure (CDC) and a plurality of application filters;

wherein the CDC including;

a list of identified sites, for each site a list of its web applications, and for each web application a list of transactions and modules that construct the web application;

gathering statistics respective of the identified transaction;

wherein the gathered statistics include measures on at least one of;

throughput, response time, number of errors, hits per second, and latency;

wherein the step of gathering statistics further comprising;

producing a plurality of reports based on the gather statistics;

determining whether at least one policy predefined for the identified application is violated; and

performing a plurality of corrective actions if at least one policy is determined to be violated.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

saving the context in a database if it is the context does not belong to an identified transaction; and

learning new applications using data stored in the database.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the learning of the new applications is performed using at least one of:

an application definer, and a correlation process.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein learning new applications further comprising:

discovering transactions and modules that construct each of the web applications; and

generating a site tree.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the request is at least a hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) request.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein generating the context includes parsing the HTTP request.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one policy is checked against the gathered statistics.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the at least one policy defines at least one corrective action to be performed.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein a policy is determined for a web server, a web application, a module, and a transaction.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the corrective actions include at least one of:

scheduling requests to reduce response time, shaping traffic to balance the load, and recovery actions on web servers.

11. The method of claim 1 is configured to operate in the line of traffic.

12. A computer program product including a computer-readable storage medium comprising software instructions operable to enable a computer to perform a method for controlling and maintaining a level of service of web applications, comprising:

generating a context for each request sent from a client to a web server and for each reply sent from a web server to a client;

determining whether the context belongs to an identified web application;

determining if the context belongs to an identified transaction, comprising;

matching the context against a classify data structure (CDC) and a plurality of application filters;

wherein the CDC including;

a list of identified sites, for each site a list of its web applications, and for each web application a list of transactions and modules that construct the web application;

gathering statistics respective of the identified transaction;

wherein the gathered statistics include measures on at least one of;

throughput, response time, number of errors, hits per second, and latency;

wherein the step of gathering statistics further comprising;

producing a plurality of reports based on the gather statistics;

determining whether at least one policy predefined for the transaction is violated; and

performing a plurality of corrective actions if at least one policy is determined to be violated.

13. The computer program product of claim 12, further comprising:

saving the context in a database if it is determined that the context does not belong to an transaction application;

learning new applications using data stored in the database.

14. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein learning of the new applications is performed using at least one of:

an application definer, and a correlation process.

15. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein learning new applications further comprising:

discovering transactions and modules that construct each of the web applications; and

generating a site tree.

16. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the request is at least a hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) request.

17. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein generating the context includes parsing the HTTP request.

18. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the at least one policy is checked against the gathered statistics.

19. The computer program product of claim 18, wherein the at least one policy defines at least one corrective action to be performed.

20. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein a policy is determined for a web server, a web application, a module, and a transaction.

21. The computer program product of claim 20, wherein the corrective actions include at least one oh scheduling requests to reduce response time, shaping traffic to balance the load, and recovery actions on web servers.

22. The computer program product of claim 12 is configured for execution on a controller operating in series with data traffic.