Method and system for monitoring performance of a client-server architecture

• US 7,933,988 B2
• Filed: 10/20/2004
• Issued: 04/26/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/20/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Telecom Italia S.p.A.
• Original Assignee: Telecom Italia S.p.A.
• Inventors: Gotta, Danilo, Cassone, Giuseppe, Nasuto, Antonio
• Primary Examiner(s): LIN, WEN TAI
• Application Number:
  US11/665,798
• Publication Number:
  US 20080104230A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,379 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3419 by assessing time
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3476 Data logging G06F11/14, G06F11/2205 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/87 Monitoring of transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/875 Monitoring of systems including the internet
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5003 Managing SLA; Interaction between SLA and QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5009 Determining service level performance parameters or violations of service level contracts, e.g. violations of agreed response time or mean time between failures [MTBF]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0858 One way delays
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/16 Threshold monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/025 for remote control or remote monitoring of applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/125 involving control of end-device applications over a network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416

Abstract

An arrangement which jointly exploits an agent component installed in a server-side portion of client-server architecture for emulating requests of actual clients of the client-server architecture and measuring a server execution time indicative of a time elapsed between reception of an emulated end-user request at a server component and generation of a result of said emulated end-user request at said server component; information stored in a server log file about a hit end to end response time, i.e., the time elapsed between the instant in which the end-user sends a request to the server component and the instant in which result of the request reaches the end-user. From the server execution time and the hit response time, the delay due to the network connecting the server-side portion of the client-server architecture to a client-side portion may be determined. The network delay and the server execution time are then used for monitoring performance of the client-server architecture by distinguishing network related problems from server-related problems or even from client-related problems.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for monitoring performance of client-server architecture comprising a client-side portion and a server-side portion connected together via a network, said client-side portion comprising at least one end-user terminal and said server-side portion comprising at least a server component, comprising:

accessing a log file maintained in said server component to identify a set of end-user terminal requests to be emulated in terms of at least one of the size, server execution time, and cache location of the result associated with each request;

emulating and sending to said server component at least one end-user terminal request by means of an agent component installed in said server-side portion;

processing at said server component said at least one emulated request and generating a corresponding result;

measuring a server execution time indicative of the time elapsed between reception of said emulated end-user request at said server component and generation of a result of said emulated end-user request at said server component;

extracting from the log file maintained in said server component an entry that includes a measurement representative of the time elapsed from when a request sent by said end-user terminal to said server component is received by said server component until an acknowledgment, indicating that a result of said request reaches said end-user terminal, is received by said server component, said measurement being an approximation of a hit response time, said hit response time being the time elapsed from when the end-user terminal sent a request to said server component until the result of said request reaches said end-user terminal; and

determining for said at least one emulated request a network delay introduced by the network from said server execution time and said measurement.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein determining for each emulated request a network delay comprises using said network delay and said server execution time for monitoring performance of said client-server architecture by distinguishing network-related problems from server-related problems.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein said server execution time measured by said agent component is the time elapsed between the instant in which the agent component sends the emulated request to said server component and the instant in which said agent component receives the result of said emulated request.

4. The method according to claim 2, wherein using said network delay and said server execution time for monitoring performance of said client-server architecture comprises:

providing a first threshold value;

comparing said network delay with said first threshold value; and

giving information on network-related problems if said network delay is above said first threshold value.

5. The method according to claim 2, wherein using said network delay and said server execution time for monitoring performance of said client-server architecture comprises:

providing a second threshold value;

comparing said server execution time with said second threshold value; and

giving information on server-related problems if said server execution time is above said second threshold value.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein emulating end-user terminal requests comprises installing said agent component in a host computer located near said server component.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein emulating end-user terminal requests comprises installing said agent component on said server component.

11. A non-transitory computer-readable medium, the computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a processor of at least one computer configure the at least one computer to perform the method of claim 1.

8. A system for monitoring performance of client-server architecture comprising a client-side portion and a server-side portion connected together via a network, said client-side portion comprising at least one end-user terminal and said server-side portion comprising at least a server component, comprising:

at least an agent component installed in said server-side portion, said agent component being configured for;

accessing a log file maintained in said server component to identify a set of end-user terminal requests to be emulated in terms of at least one of the size, server execution time, and cache location of the result associated with each request;

emulating and sending to said server component at least one end-user terminal request, said at least one emulated request comprising processing at said server component for generating a corresponding result; and

measuring a server execution time indicative of the time elapsed between reception of said emulated end-user request at said server component and generation of a result of said emulated end-user request at said server component;

at least a log extractor configured to produce with said server component the log file comprising an entry that includes a measurement representative of the time elapsed from when a request sent by said end-user terminal to said server component is received by said server component until an acknowledgment, indicating that a result of said request reaches said end-user terminal, is received by said server component, said measurement being an approximation of a hit response time, said hit response time being the time elapsed from when the end-user terminal sent a request to said server component until the result of said request reaches said end-user terminal; and

at least a controller configured for;

determining for said at least one emulated request a network delay introduced by the network from said server execution time and said measurement.

9. The system according to claim 8, wherein said controller is configured for using said network delay and said server execution time for monitoring performance of said client-server architecture by distinguishing network-related problems from server related problems.

10. A client-server architecture comprising a client-side configuration and a server-side configuration connected together via a network, said client-side configuration comprising a plurality of end-user terminals and said server-side configuration comprising a server component, said client-server architecture being associated with a system according to claim 8.

12. A computer-implemented method for monitoring performance of client-server architecture comprising a client-side portion and a server-side portion connected together via a network, said client-side portion comprising at least one end-user terminal and said server-side portion comprising at least a server component, comprising:

accessing a log file maintained in said server component to identify a set of end-user terminal requests to be emulated in terms of at least one of the size, server execution time, and cache location of the result associated with each request;

sending to said server component at least one end-user terminal request;

processing at said server component said at least one request and generating a corresponding result;

measuring by means of an agent component installed in said server-side portion a server execution time indicative of the time elapsed between reception of said end-user request at said server component and generation of a result of said end-user request at said server component;

extracting from the log file maintained in said server component, an entry that includes a measurement representative of the time elapsed from when a request sent by said end-user terminal to said server component is received by said server component until an acknowledgment, indicating that a result of said request reaches said end-user terminal, is received by said server component, said measurement being an approximation of a hit response time, said hit response time being the time elapsed from when the end-user terminal sent a request to said server component until the result of said request reaches said end-user terminal; and

determining for said at least one request a network delay introduced by the network from said server execution time and said measurement.

13. A system for monitoring performance of client-server architecture comprising a client-side portion and a server-side portion connected together via a network, said client-side portion comprising at least one end-user terminal and said server-side portion comprising at least a server component, comprising:

at least an agent component installed in said server-side portion, said agent component being configured for;

accessing a log file maintained in said server component to identify a set of end-user terminal requests to be emulated in terms of at least one of the size, server execution time, and cache location of the result associated with each request;

sending to said server component at least one end-user terminal request, and said least one end-user terminal request comprising processing at said server component for generating a corresponding result; and

measuring a server execution time indicative of the time elapsed between reception of said end-user request at said server component and generation of a result of said end-user request at said server component;

at least a log extractor configured to produce with said server component the log file comprising an entry that includes a measurement representative of the time elapsed from when a request sent by said end-user terminal to said server component is received by said server component until an acknowledgment, indicating that a result of said request reaches said end-user terminal, is received by said server component, said measurement being an approximation of a hit response time, said hit response time being the time elapsed from when the end-user terminal sent a request to said server component until the result of said request reaches said end-user terminal; and

at least a controller configured for;

determining for said at least one request a network delay introduced by the network from said server execution time and said measurement.