Automatic incremental application dependency discovery through code instrumentation

• US 9,104,794 B2
• Filed: 07/15/2009
• Issued: 08/11/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 07/15/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Zakonov, Alex, Mushkatin, Victor
• Primary Examiner(s): Tsai, Henry
• Assistant Examiner(s): BORROMEO, JUANITO C
• Application Number:
  US12/503,321
• Publication Number:
  US 20100037211A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,218 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3604 Software analysis for verifying properties of programs byte-code verification G06F9/44589

Abstract

Disclosed is a method allowing the automatic discovery of application component dependencies by tracing application calls to dependant resources. The call tracing is embedded dynamically in an application at runtime using Common Intermediate Language (“CIL”) code instrumentation at compile time or runtime. Such a method reads an instrumentation configuration file to determine an address extraction code portion that is to be instrumented to an application method code, locates the CIL method body for the application method that is to be instrumented, instruments the application method by inserting the address extraction code portion into the appropriate .NET Application or .NET library at either compile time or at run time, extracts the address of one or more external service providers from the designated .NET library methods responsible for communication during execution of the application method that was instrumented, publishes any newly discovered dependencies to a management system in the form of the discovery event, and causes the management system to build an application dependency map based on the resource address information obtained.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for automatically mapping application dependencies in a distributed application, comprising:

loading an instrumentation configuration file which identifies one or more computer programs which implement methods requiring code instrumentation in order to provide automatic mapping of application dependencies, the configuration file comprising an extraction rule defining how to access an address from an instrumented method;

locating an intermediate language method body from which address information can be extracted from the one or more computer programs, the address information comprising an electronic address of external service providers to the one or more computer programs;

determining an instruction from the extraction rule in the configuration file, the instruction to be inserted into the one or more computer programs for extracting the address information from the one or more computer programs;

inserting the instruction into the one or more computer programs;

extracting the address information from the one or more computer programs by executing the inserted instruction;

inserting analysis code into the one or more computer programs, wherein the analysis code comprises executable computer instructions for comparing an address value extracted by the instruction with a list of address for previously discovered application dependencies;

comparing extracted address information with a list of previously discovered dependencies to determine whether a dependency already exists; and

using the extracted address information to build an application dependency map.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said reading step further comprises:

identifying at least one of an application class and an application method that is to be instrumented; and

determining an address extraction code that is to be inserted into the method being instrumented.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said inserting step further comprises inserting a call to said intermediate language method body.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said inserting step further comprises inserting said intermediate language method body into said one or more computer programs.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said reading step and said locating step are carried out at a time of compiling said one or more computer programs.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising the step of reading metadata for an assembly file for said one or more computer programs to determine a location of method body code within the assembly that is to be instrumented.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said reading step and said locating step are carried out at a time of running said one or more computer programs.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of discarding newly obtained address information if said comparing step determines that a dependency already exists.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of adding newly obtained address information to a list of discovered dependencies if said comparing step determines that a dependency does not already exist.

10. A computer program product for implementing a computer implemented method for automatically mapping application dependencies in a distributed application, the computer program product comprising one or more computer hardware data storage devices having encoded thereon computer-executable instructions which, when executed on one or more computer processors, performs the method comprising:

loading an instrumentation configuration file which identifies one or more computer programs which implement methods requiring code instrumentation in order to provide automatic mapping of application dependencies, the configuration file comprising an extraction rule defining how to access an address from an instrumented method;

locating an intermediate language method body from which address information can be extracted from the one or more computer programs, the address information comprising an electronic address of external service providers to the one or more computer programs;

determining an instruction from the extraction rule in the configuration file, the instruction to be inserted into the one or more computer programs for extracting the address information from the one or more computer programs;

inserting the instruction into the one or more computer programs;

extracting the address information from the one or more computer programs by executing the inserted instruction;

inserting analysis code into the one or more computer programs, wherein the analysis code comprises executable computer instructions for comparing an address value extracted by the instruction with a list of address for previously discovered application dependencies;

comparing extracted address information with a list of previously discovered dependencies to determine whether a dependency already exists; and

using the extracted address information to build an application dependency map.

11. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein said reading step further comprises:

identifying at least one of an application class and an application method that is to be instrumented; and

determining an address extraction code that is to be inserted into the method being instrumented.

12. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein said inserting step further comprises inserting a call to said intermediate language method body.

13. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein said inserting step further comprises inserting said intermediate language method body into said one or more computer programs.

14. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein said reading step and said locating step are carried out at a time of compiling said one or more computer programs.

15. The computer program product of claim 14, further comprising the step of reading metadata for an assembly file for said one or more computer programs to determine a location of method body code within the assembly that is to be instrumented.

16. A system for implementing a computer implemented method for automatically mapping application dependencies in a distributed application, the system comprising one or more computer processors and one or more computer storage devices having encoded thereon computer-executable instructions which, when executed on the one or more computer processors, performs the method comprising:

loading an instrumentation configuration file which identifies one or more computer programs which implement methods requiring code instrumentation in order to provide automatic mapping of application dependencies, the configuration file comprising an extraction rule defining how to access an address from an instrumented method;

locating an intermediate language method body from which address information can be extracted from the one or more computer programs, the address information comprising an electronic address of external service providers to the one or more computer programs;

determining an instruction from the extraction rule in the configuration file, the instruction to be inserted into the one or more computer programs for extracting the address information from the one or more computer programs;

inserting the instruction into the one or more computer programs;

extracting the address information from the one or more computer programs by executing the inserted instruction;

inserting analysis code into the one or more computer programs, wherein the analysis code comprises executable computer instructions for comparing an address value extracted by the instruction with a list of address for previously discovered application dependencies;

comparing extracted address information with a list of previously discovered dependencies to determine whether a dependency already exists; and

using the extracted address information to build an application dependency map.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein said reading step further comprises:

identifying at least one of an application class and an application method that is to be instrumented; and

determining an address extraction code that is to be inserted into the method being instrumented.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein said inserting step further comprises inserting a call to said intermediate language method body.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein said inserting step further comprises inserting said intermediate language method body into said one or more computer programs.

20. The system of claim 16, wherein said reading step and said locating step are carried out at a time of compiling said one or more computer programs.