Windows remote debugger service

• US 7,748,033 B2
• Filed: 02/25/2005
• Issued: 06/29/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 02/25/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Herrboldt, Scott T, Nita, Marius D, Johnson, Scott M
• Primary Examiner(s): Zand; Kambiz
• Assistant Examiner(s): Powers; William S
• Application Number:
  US11/066,524
• Publication Number:
  US 20060195894A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,950 Days
• Field of Search: 726/11, 717/101, 717/124, 714/25
• US Class Current: 726/11
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3664 Environments for testing or debugging software

Abstract

Systems and methodologies for a scalable remote debugging system that can debug machines positioned behind a firewall and thru the Internet, via employing an Internet Friendly Relay Service (IFRS). The IFRS can be positioned in a common reach location and provide a secure method of exchanging communication traffic over HTTP using SSL and security tokens in real time. Web server(s) of the IFRS can further employ an authorization and/or tracking system to verify connection of a client thereto, for debugging purposes.

Claims

1. A system that facilitates a remote debugging operation comprising:

at least one tester machine located behind a first firewall;

at least one developer machine located behind a second firewall;

an Internet Friendly Relay Service (IFRS) that implements a seamless connection over Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP) between the at least one tester machine and the at one least developer machine, to facilitate a scalable debugging procedure there between,

wherein;

the IFRS is positioned in a common reach area;

the IFRS caches commands and answers to be exchanged between the at least one tester machine and the at least one developer machine;

the at least one tester machine and the at least one developer machine poll the IFRS to access the commands and answers.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the IFRS comprises at least one web server and at least one state server that receive commands and provide responses to the at least one tester machine and the at least one developer machine in response to polling by the at least one tester machine and the at least one developer machine.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein:

the at least one tester machine comprises a plurality of tester machines; and

the IFRS facilitates formation of an adaptive poll on the at least one web server by employing a Poisson statistical distribution for determining times for each of the plurality of tester machines to poll the IFRS.

4. The system of claim 1, the IFRS includes an Internet Information Services (IIS) web server.

5. The system of claim 1, the IFRS includes an IFRS manager that tracks an authorization for a client connected thereto.

6. The system of claim 5, the IFRS manager tracks an identity of a machine of the at least one tester machine and the at least one developer machine connected to the IFRS.

7. The system of claim 1, the IFRS includes an artificial intelligence component to regulate or balance a load level.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the IFRS balances load level by at least one of a commence, pause, resume and halt of data exchange.

9. The system of claim 1, further comprising an intelligent proxy to aggregate communication with the IFRS.

10. A method of debugging a machine comprising:

operating a tester machine to register with an Internet Friendly Relay Service (IFRS);

operating a Developer machine to register with the IFRS;

caching, with the IFRS, commands and answers to be exchanged between the at least one tester machine and the at least one developer machine; and

polling the IFRS by the Tester machine and Developer machine such that the Tester machine and Developer machine are seamlessly connected for communication through a plurality of firewalls using Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP).

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising receiving a return ticket by the Tester from the IFRS.

12. The method of claim 10 further comprising notifying the Developer via e-mail upon registering the Tester with the IFRS.

13. The method of claim 10 further comprising obtaining debugging parameters by the Developer.

14. The method of claim 10 further comprising launching a debugger tool on a machine to be debugged.

15. The method of claim 10 further comprising employing an artificial intelligence scheme to regulate a load on the IFRS.

16. The method of claim 15 further comprising employing a classifier that is at least one of implicitly trained and explicitly trained.

17. The method of claim 15, regulating the load act comprises at least one of commencing, pausing, resuming and halting of data exchange.

18. The method of claim 10 further comprising tracking an authorization for a client connected to the IFRS.

19. The method of claim 10 further comprising adapting a polling on the IFRS via a mathematical algorithm.

20. A system that facilitates a remote debugging operation comprising:

intercepting means for seamlessly connecting a plurality of client machines with a Developer machine over Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP), the client machines being located behind at least a first firewall and the Developer machine being located behind a second firewall, the means for intercepting caching commands and answers to be exchanged between the at least one tester machine and the at least one developer machine; and

means for regulating a load on the intercepting means, the means for regulating load indicating times at which one or more of the plurality of client machines and the Developer machine poll the intercepting means.