Detecting queue problems using messages entering and leaving a queue during a time period

• US 8,196,151 B1
• Filed: 06/03/2008
• Issued: 06/05/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 06/03/2008
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sprint Communications Company LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: Sprint Communications Company LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Leonard, Mark
• Primary Examiner(s): Ho, Andy
• Assistant Examiner(s): Kim, Paul M
• Application Number:
  US12/132,416
• Time in Patent Office: 1,463 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 719/314
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0709 in a distributed system consisting of a plurality of standalone computer nodes, e.g. clusters, client-server systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0745 in an input/output transactions management context input/output processing in general G06F13/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0754 by exceeding limits
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0766 Error or fault reporting or storing

Abstract

A method, system and a computer-readable media for automatically detecting that a malfunction affecting message withdrawal from a queue is present is described. In one embodiment, the malfunction is detected by evaluating the number of messages that enter and leave a queue during a period of time. For example, if the messages entering the queue do not equal the messages leaving the queue a malfunction may be present. In one embodiment, queue-performance indicator is calculated based on the number of messages leaving and entering the queue. If the queue-performance indicator is outside of the normal-operating range an alarm is generated and sent to a designated responder who can fix malfunctions associated with the queue.

Claims

1. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon that, when executed by a computing device, perform a method of automatically detecting a malfunction affecting withdrawal of messages from a queue, the method comprising;

receiving an incoming value that indicates how much data has entered the queue during a period of time, wherein the queue is associated with a messaging-middleware application;

receiving an outgoing value that indicates how much data has exited the queue during the period of time, wherein the period of time is an interval of time since the incoming value and outgoing value were set to zero;

storing the incoming value and the outgoing value in a data store, wherein the incoming value and the outgoing value are stored in association with information that identifies the queue;

calculating a queue-performance indicator using the incoming value and the outgoing value by dividing the outgoing value by the incoming value when neither the incoming value nor the outgoing value is zero;

determining that the malfunction affecting withdrawal of messages from the queue exists when the queue-performance indicator is outside of a normal-performance range, wherein the queue-performance indicator is outside of the normal-performance range when the queue-performance indicator is less than a normal performance threshold value; and

in response to said determining, generating an alarm event that indicates one or more components associated with the queue are malfunctioning.

2. The media of claim 1, further comprising transmitting the alarm event to an application that contacts a designated responder.

3. The media of claim 1, further comprising setting the queue-performance indicator to 1 if the incoming value is equal to zero or when the incoming value and the outgoing value are both zero.

4. The media of claim 1, further comprising setting the queue-performance indicator to zero when the outgoing value is zero.

5. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon that, when executed by a computing device, perform a method of automatically generating an alarm indicating that a malfunction affecting message withdrawal from a queue is present, the method comprising:

receiving a queue-performance indicator based on an incoming value indicating how many messages have entered the queue during a period of time and an outgoing value indicating how many messages have exited the queue during the period of time, wherein, when neither the outgoing value nor the incoming value is zero, the queue is associated with a messaging-middleware application, and wherein the queue-performance indicator is the outgoing value divided by the incoming value, and wherein the period of time is an interval of time since the incoming value and outgoing value were set to zero;

receiving the incoming value and the outgoing value, wherein the incoming value and the outgoing value are generated by a messaging-middleware application;

comparing the queue-performance indicator with a normal-performance range; and

when the queue-performance indicator is outside the normal-performance range, transmitting an alarm message indicting that the malfunction affecting message withdrawal from the queue is present, wherein the queue-performance indicator is outside of the normal-performance range when the queue-performance indicator is below a threshold number.

6. The media of claim 5, wherein the alarm is transmitted to a component that contacts a designated responder who is responsible for components associated with the queue.

7. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon that, when executed by a computing device, perform a method of automatically generating an alarm indicating that a malfunction affecting message withdrawal from a queue is present, the method comprising:

receiving an incoming value indicating how many messages have entered the queue during a period of time, wherein the queue is associated with a messaging-middleware application, and wherein the period of time is an interval of time since the incoming value and outgoing value were set to zero;

receiving an outgoing value indicating how many messages have exited the queue during the period of time;

generating a queue-performance indicator for the queue using the incoming value and the outgoing value by dividing the outgoing value by the incoming value when neither the incoming value nor the outgoing value is zero;

storing the incoming value, the outgoing value, and the queue-performance indicator all in association with the queue in a data store;

determining whether the queue-performance indicator is outside of a normal-performance range, wherein the queue-performance indicator is outside of the normal-performance range when the queue-performance indicator is less than a normal performance threshold value; and

when the queue-performance indicator is outside of the normal-performance range, generating the alarm indicating that the malfunction affecting message withdrawal from the queue is present.

8. The media of claim 7, further comprising transmitting the alarm to a designated responder.

9. The media of claim 7, wherein the method further comprises, when the incoming value is zero, setting the queue-performance indicator to a value within the normal-performance range.

10. The media of claim 9, wherein the method further comprises, when only the outgoing value is zero, setting the queue-performance indicator to the value within the normal-performance range.

11. The media of claim 7, wherein the period of time is greater than zero and less than five minutes.