Non-intrusive monitoring of services in a service-oriented architecture

• US 8,141,151 B2
• Filed: 08/30/2007
• Issued: 03/20/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 08/30/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Hunt, Christian Lee, Meli, Roger Michael, Nastacio, Denilson, Subramanian, Balan
• Primary Examiner(s): Gergiso, Techane
• Application Number:
  US11/847,846
• Publication Number:
  US 20090064324A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,664 Days
• Field of Search: 726/22, 709/223
• US Class Current: 726/22
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3495 for systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/875 Monitoring of systems including the internet
• 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 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]

Abstract

A method for monitoring a service provided in a service-oriented architecture may include submitting a subscription request to a plurality of intermediaries in the service-oriented architecture from which to receive monitored data related to the service and determining which ones of the plurality of intermediaries to rely upon for monitoring the service. The method may also include receiving the monitored data from the determined ones of the plurality of intermediaries and presenting the monitored data for monitoring the service.

Claims

1. A method for monitoring a service provided in a service-oriented architecture, comprising:

submitting, by a computing device, a subscription request to a plurality of intermediaries in the service-oriented architecture from which to receive monitored data related to the service;

determining, by the computing device, which ones of the plurality of intermediaries to rely upon for monitoring the service based at least in part on a probability value associated with each of the plurality of intermediaries in response to the subscription request, wherein the probability value is a function of at least a frequency of messages associated with the service processed by the intermediary associated with the probability value and a time period since a last message associated with the service was processed by the intermediary associated with the probability value;

receiving, by the computing device, the monitored data from the determined ones of the plurality of intermediaries; and

presenting, by the computing device, the monitored data for monitoring the service.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining which ones of the plurality of intermediaries to rely upon for monitoring the service comprises:

receiving the probability value from those intermediaries that return the probability value in response to the subscription request; and

selecting from those intermediaries returning the probability value based on the probability value.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising adding each intermediary being relied upon for monitoring the service to a registry.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising designating a particular intermediary as declining the subscription request in response to receiving a notice from the particular intermediary that the particular intermediary is declining the subscription request.

5. The method of claim 1, obtaining an end point reference of each of the plurality of intermediaries in the system.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein obtaining the end point reference of each of the plurality of intermediaries in the system comprises obtaining the end point reference of a particular intermediary from a consumer of the service that has had one of direct or indirect contact with the particular intermediary, wherein the intermediary stamps each message introspected with an identity provided as one of a public accessing point and a proxied reference.

7. A method for monitoring a service provided in a service-oriented architecture, comprising:

receiving, by an intermediary, a subscription request to monitor and provide monitored data related to the service, wherein the intermediary comprises a hardware appliance embedded within the service-oriented architecture;

determining, by the intermediary, whether any messages related to the service have been previously processed;

declining, by the intermediary, the subscription request in response to not having previously processed any messages related to the service;

accepting, by the intermediary, the subscription request in response to having previously processed a predetermined number of messages related to the service;

returning, by the intermediary, a probability to a subscriber in response to accepting the subscription request, wherein the probability is a function of at least a frequency of messages associated with the service having been previously processed and a time period since a last message associated with the service was processed; and

publishing, by the intermediary, any monitored data to any subscriber for which the subscription request has been accepted.

8. he method of claim 7, further comprising:

tentatively accepting the subscription request in response to receiving the subscription request; and

confirming acceptance of the subscription request in a first response including monitored data corresponding to the subscription request.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising consolidating a plurality of subscriptions into different groups, wherein each group corresponds to similar data being monitored corresponding to each subscription request.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

creating a topic for each group, wherein each topic corresponds to common data or metrics to be monitored and published; and

automatically subscribing group members according to the topic.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

receiving messages corresponding to different services, each message including manageability related information in a header;

comparing manageability related information to a list of subscribers;

filtering the manageability related information for each group; and

publishing a relevant notification to each group according to the topic.

12. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

inspecting each message header for any data corresponding to the subscription request; and

identifying each message header in response to the message header including any data to satisfy the subscription request.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

inspecting all message headers that have not been identified;

removing all message headers that have not been identified before passing the messages to a consumer of the service.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

adding all identified message headers in a last intermediary in a network before sending to the consumer of the service; and

requesting that all identified message headers be preserved in any further invocations by the consumer.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising adding all identified message headers to a header of any request from the consumer on a next invocation of the service.

16. A method for monitoring a service in a service-oriented architecture, comprising:

inspecting, by an intermediary, each message header for any performance and management data corresponding to a subscription request to monitor performance and management data related to the service, wherein the intermediary comprises a hardware appliance embedded within the service-oriented architecture;

identifying, by the intermediary, each message header that includes performance and management data corresponding to the subscription request; and

adding, by the intermediary, all identified message headers to a response corresponding to the subscription request before sending to a consumer of the service.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

adding all identified message headers in a last intermediary in a system before sending to the consumer of the service; and

requesting that all identified message headers be preserved in invocations of the service.

18. The method of claim 16, further comprising adding all identified message headers to a header of the request from the consumer on a next invocation of the service.

19. The method of claim 16, further comprising removing all message headers that have not been identified before sending the response to the consumer.

20. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

sending all performance and management related data in an initial invocation of the service; and

sending only updated performance and management data for elements in a request header after sending the initial invocation.