Method and appliance for using a dynamic response time to determine responsiveness of network services

• US 8,230,055 B2
• Filed: 04/02/2010
• Issued: 07/24/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 08/03/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Citrix Systems, Inc. (Cloud Software Group)
• Original Assignee: Citrix Systems, Inc. (Cloud Software Group)
• Inventors: Kondamuru, Ravi, Suganthi, Josephine, Raja, Murali, Kamath, Sandeep, Verzunov, Sergey, Shetty, Anil
• Primary Examiner(s): Coulter, Kenneth R
• Application Number:
  US12/753,516
• Publication Number:
  US 20100191851A1
• Time in Patent Office: 844 Days
• Field of Search: 709/224, 709/223, 709/229
• US Class Current: 709/223
• 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 43/0852 Delays
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/16 Threshold monitoring

Abstract

In a method and appliance for determining responsiveness of a service via a particular protocol, a device intermediary to a plurality of clients and a plurality of services determines response times from each of a plurality of services to respond to requests via a first type of protocol of a plurality of protocols. The device calculates an average response time for the first type of protocol from each of the response times of the plurality of services. The device establishes a predetermined threshold for which a response time of a service for the first type of protocol may deviate from the average response time. The device identifies a service as available responsive to determining that a deviation of the response time of the service from the average response falls within the predetermined threshold.

Claims

1. A method for determining responsiveness of a service via a particular protocol, the method comprising:

(a) determining, by a device intermediary to a plurality of clients and a plurality of services, response times from each of a plurality of services to respond to requests via a first type of protocol of a plurality of protocols;

(b) calculating, by the device, an average response time for the first type of protocol from each of the response times of the plurality of services;

(c) establishing, by the device, a predetermined threshold for which a response time of a service for the first type of protocol may deviate from the average response time; and

(d) identifying, by the device, a service as available responsive to determining that a deviation of the response time of the service from the average response falls within the predetermined threshold.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein step (a) further comprises determining response times using a protocol-specific probe.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein step (a) further comprises determining, by a protocol-specific probe, response times from an HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) service to an HTTP command.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising determining that a response includes expected content from the HTTP command.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein step (b) further comprises determining, by the device, the average response time over a predetermined learning period.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein step (b) further comprises updating, by the device, the average response time at predetermined intervals.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein step (b) further comprises generating a first response time average for a first plurality of response times and a second response time average for a second plurality of response times and determining the average response time by averaging the first response time average and the second response time average.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising identifying, by the device, a second service as unavailable responsive to determining that a deviation of the response time of the second service from the average response exceeds the predetermined threshold.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising excluding, by the device, the response time of the second service from the average response time while the second service is unavailable.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising specifying the predetermined threshold as a percentage of deviation.

11. A system for determining responsiveness of a service via a particular protocol, the system comprising:

one or more monitors of a device intermediary to a plurality of clients and a plurality of services determining response times from each of a plurality of services to respond to requests via a first type of protocol of a plurality of protocols, and calculating an average response time for the first type of protocol from each of the response times of the plurality of services; and

wherein the device establishes a predetermined threshold for which a response time of a service for the first type of protocol may deviate from the average response time; and

identifying a service as available responsive to determining that a deviation of the response time of the service from the average response falls within the predetermined threshold.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the one or more monitors determines the response times using a protocol-specific probe.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein a protocol-specific probe determines response times from an HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) service to an HTTP command.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the protocol-specific probe determines that a response includes expected content from the HTTP command.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the device determines the average response time over a predetermined learning period.

16. The system of claim 11, wherein the device updates the average response time at predetermined intervals.

17. The system of claim 11, wherein the device generates a first response time average for a first plurality of response times and a second response time average for a second plurality of response times and determining the average response time by averaging the first response time average and the second response time average.

18. The system of claim 11, wherein the device identifies a second service as unavailable responsive to determining that a deviation of the response time of the second service from the average response exceeds the predetermined threshold.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the device excludes the response time of the second service from the average response time while the second service is unavailable.

20. The system of claim 11, wherein the predetermined threshold is specified as a percentage of deviation.