Determining relationship data associated with application programs

• US 8,799,923 B2
• Filed: 11/26/2013
• Issued: 08/05/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/16/2009
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Hickford, Matthew, Mathias, Nicholas, Potter, Gavin, Warrillow, Edward, Whitehead, Matthew, Wilkinson, Stuart
• Primary Examiner(s): Ho, Andy
• Application Number:
  US14/090,196
• Publication Number:
  US 20140082634A1
• Time in Patent Office: 252 Days
• Field of Search: 719/313, 719/314
• US Class Current: 719/313
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/546 Message passing systems or structures, e.g. queues
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 29/00 Maps; Plans; Charts; Diagrams, e.g. route diagram star maps G09B27/04; devices for holding or supporting maps A47B97/02; for computing purposes G06G1/14, G09B1/16; display boards G09F

Abstract

A method for determining relationship data associated with application programs in a messaging system, comprising the steps of: responsive to at least one first message event sending a message from a first application to a first destination and at least one second message event retrieving, by a second application, the message from a second destination, intercepting message data associated with the message; analysing the intercepted message data in accordance with one or more rules in order to find one or more message parameters; and in response to finding the one or more message parameters, identifying the first message event and identifying the second message event, determining a relationship associated with the first application and the second application. An apparatus and computer program element for determining such relationship data are also provided.

Claims

1. A method performed by a data processing system for determining relationship data associated with application programs in a messaging system, comprising steps of:

responsive to a first message event sending a message from a first application to a first destination, the data processing system intercepting first message data associated with the message;

responsive to a second message event retrieving, by a second application, the message from a second destination, the data processing system intercepting second message data associated with the message;

the data processing system analyzing the intercepted first message data and the intercepted second message data in accordance with at least one rule in order to find at least one message parameter that is common to both the intercepted first message data and the intercepted second message data; and

in response to finding the at least one message parameter, the data processing system determining a relationship associated with the first application and the second application.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising the step of:

using the determined relationship in order to generate a descriptor that describes the determined relationship in accordance with a pre-configurable template, wherein the descriptor identifies the first application, the second application, the first destination and the second destination.

3. A method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the descriptor is generated using WSDL.

4. A method as claimed in claim 2, further comprising a step of:

using the generated descriptor for at least one of;

further relationship analysis associated with the first application and the second application;

impact analysis and visualization of the relationship.

5. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the at least one message parameter comprises a message identifier and a destination identifier.

6. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first destination comprises messages received from at least one other application that is different from the first application and the second application.

7. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein data associated with the first application, the second application, the intercepted first message data and the intercepted second message data are logged in a storage component.

8. A method as in claim 7, wherein the analyzing step comprises determining whether, for a particular entry in put message data, there is an associated entry in get message data.

9. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the messaging system comprises an asynchronous messaging system where the first application sends messages to the first destination, and a queue manager moves the messages sent by the first application and other messages sent by another sending application that is different from the first application and the second application to the second destination for retrieval by the second application and another retrieving application that is different from the first application, the second application and the another sending application.

10. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first destination is a first queue, the second destination is a second queue, and the first queue and the second queue are located within a same storage component.

11. A method as in claim 1, wherein the at least one rule is a plurality of rules, and wherein a first rule of the plurality of rules is used to analyze the intercepted message data to find the at least one message parameter, and then a second rule of the plurality of rules that is different from the first rule is used to analyze the intercepted message data to find the at least one message parameter.

12. A method as claimed in claim 11, wherein the first destination comprises messages received from at least one other application that is different from the first application and the second application.

13. A method as in claim 1, wherein the at least one rule includes a first rule whereby the intercepted message is analyzed by searching put message data and get message data for matching message identifiers.

14. A method as in claim 13, wherein the relationship associated with the first application and the second application is a send-receive relationship between a putting application and a getting application.

15. A method as in claim 13, wherein the at least one rule includes a second rule whereby the intercepted message is analyzed by searching the put message data for a message identifier which equals a correlation identifier.

16. A method as in claim 15, wherein the relationship associated with the first application and the second application is a request-response relationship between the first application and the second application.

17. A method as in claim 13, wherein the at least one rule includes a third rule whereby the intercepted message is analyzed by searching the put message data for a header parameter.

18. A method as in claim 13, wherein the at least one rule includes a fourth rule whereby the intercepted message is analyzed by searching the put message data and the get message data for timestamps.

19. An apparatus for determining relationship data associated with application programs in a messaging system, comprising:

a central processor unit (CPU), a computer readable memory and a computer readable storage media;

first program instructions, responsive to a first message event sending a message from a first application to a first destination, to intercept first message data associated with the message;

second program instructions, responsive to a second message event retrieving, by a second application, the message from a second destination, to intercept second message data associated with the message;

third program instructions to analyze the intercepted first message data and the intercepted second message data in accordance with at least one rule in order to find at least one message parameter that is common to both the intercepted first message data and the intercepted second message data; and

fourth program instructions, responsive to finding the at least one message parameter, to determine a relationship associated with the first application and the second application; and

wherein

the first, second, third and fourth program instructions are stored on the computer readable storage media for execution by the CPU via the computer readable memory.

20. A computer program product comprising a tangible non-transitory computer usable storage medium having program code stored thereon that is operable when executed by a data processing system to perform steps of:

responsive to a first message event sending a message from a first application to a first destination intercepting first message data associated with the message;

responsive to a second message event retrieving, by a second application, the message from a second destination, the data processing system intercepting second message data associated with the message;

analyzing the intercepted first message data and the intercepted second message data in accordance with at least one rule in order to find at least one message parameter that is common to both the intercepted first message data and the intercepted second message data; and

responsive to finding the at least one message parameter, determining a relationship associated with the first application and the second application.