Performance reporting in a network environment

• US 8,086,720 B2
• Filed: 01/31/2002
• Issued: 12/27/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 01/31/2002
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Breese, Stephen S., Olsson, Stig Arne, Vijayan, Geetha
• Primary Examiner(s): Caldwell, Andrew
• Assistant Examiner(s): Pollack, Melvin H
• Application Number:
  US10/062,369
• Publication Number:
  US 20030145080A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,617 Days
• Field of Search: 709/202, 709/203, 709223-226, 709/228, 707/10, 714/48, 714/49, 714/25, 714/37, 714/47, 714/50, 370/252, 370/350, 719/317, 719/318
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• 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 41/5032 Generating service level reports
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0811 by checking connectivity
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0852 Delays
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0876 Network utilisation, e.g. volume of load or congestion level
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/10 Active monitoring, e.g. heartbeat, ping or trace-route
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/12 Network monitoring probes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/16 Threshold monitoring

Abstract

An example of a solution provided here comprises: collecting data from a plurality of probes, including at least one local probe and at least one remote probe; and reporting the data. For example, the reporting may comprise: reporting a first subset of the data that originated from a local probe; reporting a second subset of the data that originated from remote probes; and employing a similar reporting format for said first subset and said second subset. Thus comparison of data from a local probe and data from remote probes may be facilitated. Another example comprises: receiving data from at least one probe; comparing said data with at least one threshold value derived from a service level agreement; and outputting in a special mode any measured response time value that is greater than the corresponding threshold value. The following are provided: methods for performance reporting in a network environment, systems for executing such methods, and instructions on a computer-usable medium, for executing such methods.

Claims

1. A method for communicating performance information, said method comprising:

configuring a plurality of probes to execute a script for performing a transaction between a client computing device and a server computing device, wherein the script comprises a plurality of transaction steps for performing the transaction, and wherein the transaction is a sequence of the plurality of transaction steps;

collecting data, for the plurality of transaction steps, from the plurality of probes, including at least one local probe deployed at the server computing device and at least one remote probe deployed at the client computing device, wherein the collected data for each transaction step is data that is a measurement of a performance of the transaction step of the script executed by at least one probe of the plurality of probes; and

reporting said data, wherein reporting said data comprises;

generating a first report that comprises a plurality of transaction step entries, one entry for each transaction step of the script, and wherein each entry has associated performance data collected, for a corresponding transaction step, by the at least one local probe; and

generating a second report that comprises a plurality of transaction step Entries, one entry for each transaction step of the script, and wherein each entry has associated performance data collected, for a corresponding transaction step, by the at least one remote probe;

comparing data reported in the first report to data reported in the second report, wherein the first report and the second report are of same report format to facilitate the comparing; and

identifying a contribution of at least one network to performance of the transaction steps of the script based on the comparing.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said reporting further comprises outputting a plurality of items chosen from two or more of:

response time data;

availability data;

probe location;

Internet service provider information;

time of script execution;

threshold values;

service level agreement violations; and

error messages.

3. The method of claim 1:

further comprising comparing said data with at least one threshold value derived from a service level agreement; and

wherein said reporting further comprises reporting results of said comparing.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing an alert in response to said data indicating an error.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein said error is a measured response time value greater than a corresponding threshold value.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein said alert is provided via a system management computer.

7. The method of claim 4, further comprising providing a clearing message in response to said error no longer being detected.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein said reporting further comprises outputting in a special mode any measured response time value that is greater than the corresponding threshold value.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein said outputting in a special mode further comprises outputting in a special color.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein said reporting further comprises outputting in a special mode an indication of an application'"'"'s lack of availability.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein said outputting in a special mode further comprises outputting in a special color.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein said reporting further comprises reporting results of each execution of the script by said plurality of probes.

46. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

formatting the first report and the second report to comprise a table having at least one row for each execution of the script and columns ordered according to an order of the transaction steps in the script; and

outputting the first report and second report to a user.

13. A method for communicating performance information, said method comprising:

configuring at least one probe to execute a script for performing a transaction between a client computing device and a server computing device, wherein the script comprises a plurality of transaction steps for performing the transaction, and wherein the transaction is a sequence of the plurality of transaction steps;

receiving data, for the plurality of transaction steps, from the at least one probe, wherein the received data for each transaction step is data that is a measurement of a performance of the transaction step of the script executed by the at least one probe;

comparing said data with at least one threshold value derived from a service level agreement; and

reporting results of said comparing, wherein the reported results comprise a plurality of transaction step entries, one entry for each transaction step of the script, and wherein each entry has associated performance data collected, for a corresponding transaction step, from the at least one probe, wherein said receiving, said comparing, and said reporting are performed for a plurality of probes, including at least one local probe deployed at the server computing device and at least one remote probe deployed at the client computing device, and wherein the method further comprises;

generating a first report that comprises a plurality of transaction step entries, one entry for each transaction step of the script, and wherein each entry has associated performance data collected, for a corresponding transaction step, by the at least one local probe; and

generating a second report that comprises a plurality of transaction step entries, one entry for each transaction step of the script, and wherein each entry has associated performance data collected, for a corresponding transaction step, by the at least one remote probe;

comparing data reported in the first report to data reported in the second report, wherein the first report and the second report are of a same report format to facilitate the comparing; and

identifying a contribution of at least one network to performance of the transaction steps of the script based on the comparing.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising providing an alert in response to said data indicating an error.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein said error is a measured response time value greater than the corresponding threshold value.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein said alert is provided via a system management computer.

17. The method of claim 14, further comprising providing a clearing message in response to said error no longer being detected.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein said reporting further comprises outputting in a special mode any measured response time value that is greater than the corresponding threshold value.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein said outputting in a special mode further comprises outputting in a special color.

47. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

formatting the first report and the second report to comprise a table having at least one row for each execution of the script and columns ordered according to an order of the transaction steps in the script; and

outputting the first report and second report to a user.

20. A method for communicating performance information, said method comprising:

configuring a plurality of probes to execute a script for performing a transaction between a client computing device and a server computing device, wherein the script comprises a plurality of transaction steps for performing the transaction, and wherein the transaction is a sequence of the plurality of transaction steps;

receiving data, for the plurality of transaction steps, from at least one probe, wherein the received data for each data transaction step is data that is a measurement of a performance of the transaction step of the script executed by the plurality of probes;

comparing said received data with at least one threshold value derived from a service level agreement;

reporting said received data, wherein reporting said received data comprises generating a report that comprises a plurality of transaction step entries, one entry for each transaction step of the script, and wherein each entry has associated performance data collected, for a corresponding transaction step, from one or more of the at least one local probe or the at least one remote probe; and

outputting in a special mode any measured response time value that is greater than the corresponding threshold value, wherein said receiving, said comparing, said reporting, and said outputting are performed for a plurality of probes, including at least one local probe deployed at the server computing device and at least one remote probe deployed at the client computing device, and wherein the method further comprises;

generating a first report that comprises a plurality of transaction step entries, one entry for each transaction step of the script, and wherein each entry has associated performance data collected, for a corresponding transaction step, by the at least one local probe; and

generating a second report that comprises a plurality of transaction step entries, one entry for each transaction step of the script, and wherein each entry has associated performance data collected, for a corresponding transaction step, by the at least one remote probe;

comparing data reported in he first report to data reported in the second report, wherein the first report and the second report are of a same report format to facilitate the comparing; and

identifying a contribution of at least one network to performance of the transaction steps of the script based on the comparing.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein said outputting in a special mode further comprises outputting in a special color.

48. The method of claim 20, further comprising:

formatting the first report and the second report to comprise a table having at least one row for each execution of the script and columns ordered according to an order of the transaction steps in the script; and

outputting the first report and the second report to a user.

22. A system for communicating performance information, said system comprising:

a plurality of probe computers configured to execute a script for performing a transaction between a client computing device and a server computing device, wherein the script comprises a plurality of transaction steps for performing the transaction, and wherein the transaction is a sequence of the plurality of transaction steps;

one or more database storage devices that collect data, for the plurality of transaction steps, from the plurality of probes, including at least one local probe deployed at the server computing device and at least one remote probe deployed at the client computing device, and wherein the data collected for each transaction step is a measurement of a performance of the transaction step of the script executed by the plurality of probes; and

a report generator that reports said data, wherein reporting said data comprises;

generating a first report that comprises a plurality of transaction step entries, one entry for each transaction step of the script, and wherein each entry has associated performance data collected, for a corresponding transaction step, from the at least one local probe; and

generating a second report that comprises a plurality of transaction step entries, one entry for each transaction step of the script, and wherein each entry has associated performance data collected, for a corresponding transaction step, by the at least one remote probe;

comparing data reported in the first report to data reported in the second report, wherein the first report and the second report are of a same report format to facilitate the comparing; and

identifying a contribution of at least one network to performance of the transaction steps of the script based on the comparing.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the report generator outputs a plurality of items chosen from two or more of:

response time data;

availability data;

probe location;

Internet service provider information;

time of script execution;

threshold values;

service level agreement violations; and

error messages.

24. The system of claim 22, wherein the report generator compares said data with at least one threshold value derived from a service level agreement and reports results of said comparing.

25. The system of claim 22, wherein the report generator provides an alert when in response to said data indicating an error.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein said error is a measured response time value greater than a corresponding threshold value.

27. The system of claim 25, wherein said alert is provided via a system management computer.

28. The system of claim 25, wherein the probes provide a clearing message in response to said error no longer being detected.

29. The system of claim 22, wherein the report generator outputs, in a special mode, any measured response time value that is greater than a corresponding threshold value.

30. The system of claim 29, wherein the report generator outputs in a special mode by outputting in a special color.

31. The system of claim 22, wherein the report generator outputs in a special mode an indication of an application'"'"'s lack of availability.

32. The system of claim 31, wherein the report generator outputs in a special mode by outputting in a special color.

33. The system of claim 22, wherein the report generator reports results of each execution of the script by said plurality of probes.

49. The system of claim 33, further comprising:

means for formatting the first report and the second report to comprise a table having at least one row for each execution of the script and columns ordered according to an order of the transaction steps in the script; and

means for outputting the first report and second report to a user.

34. An apparatus for communicating performance information, the apparatus comprising:

a computer usable medium;

first program instructions to configure a plurality of probes to execute a script for performing a transaction between a client computing device and a server computing device. wherein the script comprises a plurality of transaction steps for performing the transaction, and wherein the transaction is a sequence of the plurality of transaction steps;

second program instructions to collect data, for the plurality of transaction steps, from the plurality of probes, including at least one local probe deployed at the server computing device and at least one remote probe deployed at the client computing device, wherein the data collected for each transaction step is a measurement of a performance of the transaction step of the script executed by at least one probe of the plurality of probes; and

third program instructions to report said data, wherein reporting said data comprises;

generating a first report that comprises a plurality of transaction step entries, one entry for each transaction step of the script, and wherein each entry has associated performance data collected, for a corresponding transaction step, by the at least one local probe; and

generating a second report that comprises a plurality of transaction step entries, one entry for each transaction step of the script, and wherein each entry has associated performance data collected, for a corresponding transaction step, by the at least one remote probe;

comparing data reported in the first report to data reported in the second report, wherein the first report and the second report are of a same report format to facilitate the comparing; and

identifying a contribution of at least one network to performance of the transaction steps of the script based on the comparing, wherein the first, second, and third program instructions are stored on the computer usable medium.

35. The apparatus of claim 34, further comprising fourth program instructions to output a plurality of items chosen from:

response time data;

availability data;

probe location;

Internet service provider information;

time of script execution;

threshold values;

service level agreement violations; and

error messages, wherein the fourth program instructions are stored on the computer usable medium.

36. The apparatus of claim 34, further comprising:

fourth program instructions to compare said data with at least one threshold value derived from a service level agreement and fifth program instructions to report results of comparing said data with said at least one threshold value, wherein the fourth and fifth program instructions are stored on the computer usable medium.

37. The apparatus of claim 34, further comprising fourth program instructions to provide an alert in response to said data indicating an error, wherein the fourth program instructions are stored on the computer usable medium.

38. The apparatus of claim 37, wherein said error is a measured response time value greater than a corresponding threshold value.

39. The apparatus of claim 37, wherein said alert is provided via a system management computer.

40. The apparatus of claim 37, further comprising fifth program instructions to provide a clearing message in response to said error no longer is being detected, wherein the fifth program instructions are stored on the computer usable medium.

41. The apparatus of claim 34, further comprising fourth program instructions to output in a special mode any measured response time value that is greater than a corresponding threshold value, wherein the fourth program instructions are stored on the computer usable medium.

42. The apparatus of claim 41, further comprising fifth program instructions to output in a special mode by outputting in a special color, wherein the fifth program instructions are stored on the computer usable medium.

43. The apparatus of claim 34, further comprising fourth program instructions to output in a special mode an indication of an application'"'"'s lack of availability, wherein the fourth program instructions are stored on the computer usable medium.

44. The apparatus of claim 43, further comprising fifth program instructions to output in a special mode by outputting in a special color, wherein the fifth program instructions are stored on the computer usable medium.

45. The apparatus of claim 34, further comprising fourth program instructions to report results of each execution of the script by said plurality of probes, wherein the fourth program instructions are stored on the computer usable medium.

50. The apparatus of claim 45, further comprising fifth program instructions to format the first report and the second report to comprise a table having at least one row for each execution of the script and columns ordered according to an order of the transaction steps in the script;

and

sixth program instructions output the first report and the second report to a user, and wherein the fifth and sixth program instructions are stored on the computer medium.