Method and system for monitoring messages passed over a network

• US 8,396,959 B2
• Filed: 03/21/2007
• Issued: 03/12/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/21/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: INETCO Systems Ltd.
• Original Assignee: INETCO Systems Ltd.
• Inventors: Telfer, Angus Richard, Pang, Alfred Yu-Han, Childs, Martin Robert, Hunt, Christopher Charles
• Primary Examiner(s): KIM, TAE K
• Application Number:
  US11/689,099
• Publication Number:
  US 20080235366A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,183 Days
• Field of Search: 709/224, 709/229, 709/230, 707100-1041, 713/153, 713/154
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0659 Command handling arrangements, e.g. command buffers, queues, command scheduling
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 7/00 Methods or arrangements for processing data by operating upon the order or content of the data handled logic circuits H03K19/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/427 Parsing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/00 Arrangements for monitoring or testing data switching networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0876 Network utilisation, e.g. volume of load or congestion level
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/50 Testing arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/10 Flow control; Congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/61 taking into account QoS or priority requirements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/63 Routing a service request depending on the request content or context

Abstract

A method for performing a monitoring function for an application that passes messages between two or more endpoints, comprising: receiving a message including transaction data, the transaction data including data relating to transport of the transaction data; storing the message and transaction data in respective message data and transaction data buffers in a data store; storing status and semantic information associated with the message in the data store; receiving a signal selecting one or more module instances to define the monitoring function, each module instance for independently performing a respective aspect of the monitoring function, each module instance having related module instance data stored in a respective module instance data buffer in the data store, each module instance having a respective service access point for accessing the data store, each service access point having related service access point data stored in a respective service access point data buffer in the data store, each module instance independently accessing one or more of the message, transaction, module instance, and service access point data buffers to process data contained therein to perform its aspect of the monitoring function; and, initiating operation of the one or more module instances in accordance with a schedule defined by one or more routing rules, the one or more routing rules for routing a pointer to the message, as stored in the message data buffer, between the one or more module instances to thereby perform the monitoring function.

Claims

1. A method for performing a monitoring function that monitors an application that passes messages between two or more endpoints, comprising:

receiving by a processor a message including transaction data, the transaction data including data relating to handling of the message;

storing the message in a message data buffer in a data store and the transaction data in a transaction data buffer in the data store;

receiving by the processor a signal selecting one or more module instances to define the monitoring function, each module instance for independently performing a respective aspect of the monitoring function, each module instance having related module instance data stored in a respective module instance data buffer in the data store, each module instance having a respective service access point for accessing the data store, each service access point having related service access point data stored in a respective service access point data buffer in the data store, each module instance independently accessing one or more of each of the message, transaction, module instance, and service access point data buffers directly from the data store to process data contained therein to perform its aspect of the monitoring function; and

,

initiating by the processor operation of the one or more module instances in accordance with a schedule defined by one or more routing rules, the one or more routing rules for routing a pointer to the message, as stored in the message data buffer, between the one or more module instances to thereby perform the monitoring function without passing the message itself between the one or more module instances.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the schedule is further defined by a priority of the message and a priority of each of the one or more module instances.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the one or more routing rules act on one or more attributes of one or more of the message, transaction data, module instance data, and service access point data to define the schedule.

4. The method of claim 3 and further comprising receiving a signal defining the one or more routing rules, the signal providing a selection of the one or more attributes and one or more operators for acting on the one or more attributes.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the one or more routing rules are stored in a database.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the message includes a message generated by one or more of the one or more module instances.

7. The method of claim 4 wherein the one or more operators are one or more Boolean operators.

8. The method of claim 1 and further comprising receiving a signal configuring one or more respective properties of the one or more module instances.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the application is one or more of a business application and a real-time application.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the signal for selecting the one or more module instances to define the monitoring function is received through a user interface.

11. The method of claim 1 and further comprising storing status and semantic information associated with the message in the data store.

12. A system for performing a monitoring function that monitors an application that passes messages between two or more endpoints, comprising:

a processor coupled to memory and an interface for receiving a message including transaction data, the transaction data including data relating to handling of the message;

a data store for storing the message in a message data buffer in the data store and the transaction data in a transaction data buffer in the data store;

a user interface for receiving a signal selecting one or more module instances to define the monitoring function, each module instance for independently performing a respective aspect of the monitoring function, each module instance having related module instance data stored in a respective module instance data buffer in the data store, each module instance having a respective service access point for accessing the data store, each service access point having related service access point data stored in a respective service access point data buffer in the data store, each module instance independently accessing one or more of each of the message, transaction, module instance, and service access point data buffers directly from the data store to process data contained therein to perform its aspect of the monitoring function; and

,

a scheduler for initiating operation of the one or more module instances in accordance with a schedule defined by one or more routing rules, the one or more routing rules for routing a pointer to the message, as stored in the message data buffer, between the one or more module instances to thereby perform the monitoring function without passing the message itself between the one or more module instances.

13. The system of claim 12 wherein the schedule is further defined by a priority of the message and a priority of each of the one or more module instances.

14. The system of claim 13 wherein the one or more routing rules act on one or more attributes of one or more of the message, transaction data, module instance data, and service access point data to define the schedule.

15. The system of claim 14 wherein the user interface receives a signal defining the one or more routing rules, the signal providing a selection of the one or more attributes and one or more operators for acting on the one or more attributes.

16. The system of claim 15 wherein the one or more routing rules are stored in a database in the memory.

17. The system of claim 12 wherein the message includes a message generated by one or more of the one or more module instances.

18. The system of claim 15 wherein the one or more operators are one or more Boolean operators.

19. The system of claim 12 wherein the user interface receives a signal configuring one or more respective properties of the one or more module instances.

20. The system of claim 12 wherein the application is one or more of a business application and a real-time application.

21. The system of claim 12 wherein status and semantic information associated with the message are stored in the data store.