Method and apparatus for estimating a local performance index to measure the performance contribution of a single server in a multi-tiered environment

• US 7,747,726 B2
• Filed: 09/20/2006
• Issued: 06/29/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/20/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: X Corp. (f/k/a Twitter, Inc.) (X Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Thoennes, Mathew S., Yocom, Peter B.
• Primary Examiner(s): Backer; Firmin
• Assistant Examiner(s): ALGIBHAH, HAMZA N
• Application Number:
  US11/533,574
• Publication Number:
  US 20080071906A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,378 Days
• Field of Search: 709/223
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3419 by assessing time
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/87 Monitoring of transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5083 Techniques for rebalancing the load in a distributed system
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0864 Round trip delays

Abstract

A method and apparatus for obtaining a local performance measure for a particular server in a particular tier in a transaction environment in which transactions pass through multiple tiers with multiple servers at each tier. The contribution from the particular server to the total end-to-end response time for a set of transactions is scaled by the ratio of transactions passing through the particular tier to transactions passing through the particular server to obtain a scaled contribution from the particular tier. This is added to the contribution from outside the particular tier to obtain a modified total end-to-end response time from the perspective of the particular server. The modified total end-to-end response time is divided by the number of transactions in the set to obtain a modified average end-to-end response time from the perspective of the particular server, which is used to control allocation of resources to the server.

Claims

1. A method for obtaining a local performance measure for a particular server in a particular tier in a transaction environment in which transactions pass through multiple tiers with multiple servers at each tier, comprising the steps of:

obtaining a total end-to-end response time for a set of transactions;

obtaining a contribution from the particular server, a contribution from the particular tier, and a contribution from outside the particular tier to the total end-to-end response time;

scaling the contribution from the particular server by a ratio of transactions passing through the particular tier to transactions passing through the particular server to obtain a scaled contribution from the particular tier;

adding the scaled contribution from the particular tier to the contribution from outside the particular tier to obtain a modified total end-to-end response time from the perspective of the particular server.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

dividing the modified total end-to-end response time by the number of transactions in the set to obtain as the local performance measure a modified average end-to-end response time from the perspective of the particular server.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising the step of:

using the obtained local performance measure to control allocation of resources to the particular server.

4. The method of claim 3, the step of using the obtained local performance measure to control allocation of resources to the particular server comprising the step of:

determining a net change in the local performance measure resulting from an allocation of resources to or from the particular server.

5. A computer program product comprising a computer-readable program of instructions on a computer-usable storage medium for implementing a method comprising the steps of claim 1.

6. The computer program product of claim 5, the method further comprising the step of:

dividing the modified total end-to-end response time by the number of transactions in the set to obtain as the local performance measure a modified average end-to-end response time from the perspective of the particular server.

7. The computer program product of claim 6, the method further comprising the step of:

using the obtained local performance measure to control allocation of resources to the particular server.

8. The computer program product of claim 7, the step of using the obtained local performance measure to control allocation of resources to the particular server comprising the step of:

determining a net change in the local performance measure resulting from an allocation of resources to or from the particular server.

9. Apparatus for obtaining a local performance measure for a particular server in a particular tier in a transaction environment in which transactions pass through multiple tiers with multiple servers at each tier, comprising:

means for obtaining a total end-to-end response time for a set of transactions, said total having a contribution from the particular server and a contribution from outside the particular tier;

means for obtaining a contribution from the particular server, a contribution from the particular tier, and a contribution from outside the particular tier to the total end-to-end response time;

means for scaling the contribution from the particular server by a ratio of transactions passing through the particular tier to transactions passing through the particular server to obtain a scaled contribution from the particular tier;

means for adding the scaled contribution from the particular tier to the contribution from outside the particular tier to obtain a modified total end-to-end response time from the perspective of the particular server.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, further comprising:

means for dividing the modified total end-to-end response time by the number of transactions in the set to obtain as the local performance measure a modified average end-to-end response time from the perspective of the particular server.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, further comprising:

means for using the obtained local performance measure to control allocation of resources to the particular server.

12. The apparatus of claim 9, the means for using the obtained local performance measure to control allocation of resources to the particular server comprising:

means for determining a net change in the local performance measure resulting from an allocation of resources to or from the particular server.