Modeling and testing of interactions between components of a software system

• US 8,966,454 B1
• Filed: 06/07/2011
• Issued: 02/24/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/26/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CA, Inc. (d/b/a CA Technologies) (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Interactive TKO, Inc. (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Michelsen, John J., Dahan, Jean-David
• Primary Examiner(s): Bullock, Jr., Lewis A
• Assistant Examiner(s): Gooray, Mark
• Application Number:
  US13/155,363
• Time in Patent Office: 1,358 Days
• Field of Search: 709/224, 717/104, 717/124, 717/155, 717/171, 717/120, 717/127, 717/128, 717/131
• US Class Current: 717/133
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/26 Functional testing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/261 by simulating additional hardware, e.g. fault simulation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/30 Monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3003 Monitoring arrangements specially adapted to the computing system or computing system component being monitored
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3006 where the computing system is distributed, e.g. networked systems, clusters, multiprocessor systems multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46; allocation of resources G06F9/50
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3466 Performance evaluation by tracing or monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3612 by runtime analysis performance monitoring G06F11/3466
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3636 by tracing the execution of the program
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3664 Environments for testing or debugging software
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/00 Arrangements for detecting or preventing errors in the information received correcting synchronisation H04L7/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/00 Arrangements for monitoring or testing data switching networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/50 Testing arrangements

Abstract

A first set of information is identified, collected by a first agent during monitoring of a first software component. A second set of information is identified, that was collected by a second agent during monitoring of a second software component. It can be determined that the first and second sets of information each include characteristics of a particular transaction involving the first and second software components. A model is generated of the particular transaction based at least in part on the first and second sets of information. The model includes a representation of the involvement of the first and second software components within the particular transaction. In some aspects, characteristics included in the first and second set of information can include timing information for use, for example, in generating a model representing ordering of software components'"'"' involvement in one or more transactions.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

identifying, using at least one processing device, a first frame from a first agent describing characteristics of a particular portion of a transaction detected by the first agent during monitoring of a first software component;

identifying, using at least one processing device, a second frame from a second agent describing characteristics of the particular portion detected by the second agent during monitoring of a second software component, wherein the transaction includes a plurality of portions comprising the particular portion and each portion comprises a respective request and a respective response;

identifying, using at least one processing device, a third frame from the first agent describing characteristics of another portion of the transaction, wherein the other portion involves a communication between the first software component and a third software component;

generating, using at least one processing device, a synthetic frame corresponding to an unknown portion of the other transaction, wherein the unknown portion corresponds to characteristics at the third software component;

determining, using at least one processing device, that both the first and second frames correspond to the particular portion of the transaction involving the first and second software components based on each of the first and second frames describing corresponding characteristics of the particular portion; and

generating, using at least one processing device, a model of the transaction based at least in part on the first frame, the second frame, the third frame, and the synthetic frame, wherein the model includes a representation of a flow of the transaction describing an ordering of the portions of the transaction, the representation including a representation of the involvement of the first and second software components within the particular portion of the transaction, and the involvement of the first and third software components with the other portion of the transaction, and the ordering is determined based at least in part on a particular characteristic in at least one of the first and second frames.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first and second frames identify characteristics including timing information of the particular transaction.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the first frame includes first timing information identifying timing of the involvement of the first software component in the particular portion of the transaction and the second frame includes second timing information identifying timing of the involvement of the second software component in the particular portion of the transaction.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein determining that the first and second frames each identify characteristics of the particular portion of the transaction includes identifying a correlation between timing information included in the first frame and timing information included in the second frame.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the first and second frames identify characteristics including amounts of data involved in the particular portion of the transaction, and determining that the first and second frames each identify characteristics of the particular portion of the transaction includes identifying a correlation between an amount of data identified in the first frame and an amount of data identified in the second frame.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein the model includes a representation of timing of the particular portion of the transaction.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein generating the model includes determining that involvement of the first software component precedes, in time, involvement of the second software component within the particular portion of the transaction.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein

the third software component does not have an active, corresponding agent.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising determining an ordering of the respective involvement of the first and third software components within the second portion of the transaction based at least in part on the third frame.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising determining an ordering of the second portion of the transaction relative to the particular portion of the transaction based at least in part on the first, second, and third frames.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the model includes representations of at least one other transaction in the plurality of transactions in addition to the particular portion of the transaction based on a plurality of frames, including the first and second frames and at least one other frame.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising sorting the plurality of frames into respective transaction portions in the plurality of transaction portions.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein generating the model includes determining ordering of the plurality of transaction portions.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the first and second frames are collected, using the first and second agents respectively, during execution of a test of a software system including the first and second software components.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the first and second frames identify characteristics including amounts of data involved in the particular portion of a transaction, and determining that the first and second frames each identify characteristics of the particular portion of a transaction includes identifying a correlation between an amount of data identified in the first frame and an amount of data identified in the frame.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the first and second software components are sub-components of a common software component and generating the model includes generating a representation of the common software component based at least in part on the first and second frames.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the model is a graphical model graphically representing each of the first and second software components and involvement of the first and second software components within the particular portion of a transaction.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the model graphically represents the plurality of transaction portions involving at least the first and second software components.

19. An article comprising non-transitory, machine-readable media storing instructions operable to cause at least one processor to perform operations comprising:

identifying a first frame from a first agent describing characteristics of the particular portion of a transaction detected by the first agent during monitoring of a first software component;

identifying a second frame from a second agent describing characteristics of the particular portion detected by the second agent during monitoring of a second software component, wherein the transaction includes a plurality of portions comprising the particular portion and each portion comprises a respective request and a respective response;

identifying a third frame from the first agent describing characteristics of another portion of the transaction, wherein the other portion involves a communication between the first software component and a third software component;

generating a synthetic frame corresponding to an unknown portion of the other transaction, wherein the unknown portion corresponds to characteristics at the third software component;

determining that both the first and second frames correspond to the particular portion of the transaction involving the first and second software components based on each of the first and second frames describing corresponding characteristics of the particular; and

generating a model of the transaction based at least in part on the first frame, the second frame, the third frame, and the synthetic frame, wherein the model includes a representation of a flow of the transaction describing an ordering of the portions of the transaction, the representation including a representation of the involvement of the first and second software components within the particular portion of the transaction, and the involvement of the first and third software components with the other portion of the transaction, and the ordering is determined based at least in part on a particular characteristic in at least one of the first and second frames.

20. A system comprising:

a memory element storing data;

a processor operable to execute instructions associated with the stored data;

an instrumentation broker configured to;

identify a first frame from a first agent describing characteristics of a particular portion of a transaction detected by the first agent during monitoring of a first software component;

identify a second frame from a second agent describing characteristics of the particular portion detected by the second agent during monitoring of a second software component, wherein the transaction includes a plurality of portions comprising the particular portion and each portion comprises a respective request and a respective response;

identify a third frame from the first agent describing characteristics of another portion of the transaction, wherein the other portion involves a communication between the first software component and a third software component;

generate a synthetic frame corresponding to an unknown portion of the other transaction, wherein the unknown portion corresponds to characteristics at the third software component;

determine that both the first and second frame correspond to the particular portion of the transaction involving the first and second software components based on each of the first and second frames describing corresponding characteristics of the particular portion; and

a model generator configured to generate a model of the transaction based at least in part on the first frame, the second frame, the third frame, and the synthetic frame, wherein the model includes a representation of a flow of the transaction describing an ordering of the portions of the transaction, the representation including a representation of the involvement of the first and second software components within the particular portion of the transaction, and the involvement of the first and third software components with the other portion of the transaction, and the ordering is determined based at least in part on a particular characteristic in at least one of the first and second frames.

21. The system of claim 20, further comprising a plurality of agents each monitoring a respective software component in a software system, the plurality of agents including the first and second agents, each agent in the plurality of agents configured to:

monitor a respective software component included in the software system;

capture frames identifying characteristics of involvement of the respective software component within portions of the transaction corresponding to the respective frames; and

sending captured frames to the instrumentation broker.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein one or more agents in the plurality of agents are configured to automatically disable upon detecting a period wherein the software component monitored by the agent is not involved in a particular test.

23. An apparatus comprising:

means for identifying a first frame from a first agent describing characteristics of a particular portion of a transaction detected by the first agent during monitoring of a first software component;

means for identifying a second frame from a second agent describing characteristics of the particular portion detected by the second agent during monitoring of a second software component, wherein the transaction includes a plurality of portions comprising the particular portion and each portion comprises a respective request and a respective response;

means for identifying a third frame from the first agent describing characteristics of another portion of the transaction, wherein the other portion involves a communication between the first software component and the third software component;

means for generating a synthetic frame corresponding to an unknown portion of the other transaction, wherein the unknown portion corresponds to characteristics at the third software component;

means for determining that both the first and second frames correspond to the particular portion of the transaction involving the first and second software components based on each of the first and second frames describing corresponding characteristics of the particular portion, wherein the transaction includes a plurality of portions and each portion comprises a respective request and a respective response; and

means for generating a model of the particular transaction based at least in part on the first frame, the second frame, the third frame, and the synthetic frame, wherein the model includes a representation of a flow of the transaction describing an ordering of the portions of the transaction, the representation including a representation of the involvement of the first and second software components within the particular portion of the transaction, and the involvement of the first and third software component with the other portion of the transaction, and the ordering is determined based at least in part on a particular characteristic in at least one of the first and second frames.