Modeling and testing of interactions between components of a software system

• US 9,454,450 B2
• Filed: 03/14/2015
• Issued: 09/27/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/26/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CA, Inc. (d/b/a CA Technologies) (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: CA, Inc. (d/b/a CA Technologies) (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Dahan, Jean-David
• Primary Examiner(s): Bullock, Jr., Lewis A
• Assistant Examiner(s): Gooray, Mark
• Application Number:
  US14/658,161
• Publication Number:
  US 20150199249A1
• Time in Patent Office: 563 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 11/3414 Workload generation, e.g. scripts, playback
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3466 Performance evaluation by tracing or monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3608 using formal methods, e.g. model checking, abstract interpretation theorem proving G06N5/013
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/656 while running
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/00 Arrangements for detecting or preventing errors in the information received correcting synchronisation H04L7/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/50 Testing arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416

Abstract

A first network connection is identified between a first software component and a second software component. First data is received from the first software component identifying an amount of data sent over the first network connection. Second data is also received, from the second software component, that identifies the amount of data sent over the first network connection. Further, a particular transaction fragment involving the first and second software components over the first network connection is determined from the received first and second data. In some aspects, the particular transaction fragment can be used in the analysis of a transaction including the particular transaction fragment.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

identifying first data describing a first request sent by a first software component, wherein the first request is one of a plurality of requests sent by the first component, and the first data identifies an amount of data sent in association with the first request;

identifying second data describing a second request received by a second software component, wherein the second request is one of a plurality of requests received by the second component, and the second data identifies an amount of data received in association with the second request;

determining that the amount of data sent in association with the first request is substantially equal to the amount of data received in association with the second request; and

determining that the first data and the second data each reference a same particular request sent from the first software component to the second software component based on the amount of data associated with each of the first and second requests being substantially the same.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating transaction fragment data for the particular request based on the first and second data, wherein the transaction fragment data is for use in modeling a flow of a transaction comprising the particular request.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of requests sent by the first component correspond to a plurality of transactions involving the first component.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the first component interacts with a plurality of other software components in the plurality of transactions, and the plurality of software components comprise the second software component.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying third data describing a first response sent by the second component to the first component, wherein the third data indicates characteristics of the first response; and

identifying fourth data describing a second response received by the first component from the second component, wherein the fourth data indicates characteristics of the second response.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising determining that the first response and second response are different responses based on the characteristics indicated in the third and fourth data.

7. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

determining that the first response and second response are a same particular response based on the characteristics indicated in the third and fourth data; and

determining that the particular response is a response to the particular request.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the third data indicates an amount of data sent by the second software component in association with the first response, the fourth data indicates an amount of data received by the first software component in association with the second response, and the first and second responses are determined to be the same particular response based on a determination that the amount of data sent by the second software component in association with the first response is equal to the amount of data received by the first software component in association with the second response.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the first data describes an additional characteristic of the first request, the second data describes an additional characteristic of the second response, and determining that the first and the second data each reference the same particular request is further based on a determination of a commonality between the additional characteristic of the first request and the additional characteristic of the second response.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the first and second data include an identification of a common network connection of the first and second components.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying third data describing a third request sent from the second software component to a third software component, wherein the third data identifies an amount of data sent by the second component in association with the third request;

identifying fourth data describing a fourth request received by the third component from a second software component, wherein the fourth data identifies an amount of data received by the third component in association with the fourth request;

determining that the amount of data sent in association with the third request is equal to the amount of data received in association with the fourth request; and

determining, that the third data and the fourth data each reference a same particular request sent from the second software component to the third software component based on the amount of data associated with each of the third and fourth requests being the same.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

identifying an association between the second data and the third data; and

determining from the association that the particular request from the first component to the second component and the particular request from the second component to the third component are transaction fragments in a common transaction.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the second and third data are received together from the second software component.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising using the second and third data to determine an order of the first and second transaction fragments within the common transaction.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the particular request comprises a first fragment in a transaction involving the first and second software components, the method further comprising generating at least a portion of a transaction tree identifying the first fragment as included within the transaction.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving sub-tree data from the first software component describing an additional transaction fragment identified by an agent corresponding to the first software component.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the first fragment corresponds to a first thread executed at the first software component, and the additional transaction fragment corresponds to another thread initiated based on execution of the first thread.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the first data is generated by a first agent interfacing with the first software component and the second data is generated by a second agent interfacing with the second software component.

19. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising computer readable program code embodied therewith, the computer readable program code comprising:

computer readable program code configured to identify first data describing a first request sent by a first software component, wherein the first request is one of a plurality of requests sent by the first component, and the first data identifies an amount of data sent in association with the first request;

computer readable program code configured to identify second data describing a second request received by a second software component, wherein the second request is one of a plurality of requests received by the second component, and the second data identifies an amount of data received in association with the second request;

computer readable program code configured to determine that the amount of data sent in association with the first request is substantially equal to the amount of data received in association with the second request; and

computer readable program code configured to determine, that the first data and the second data each reference a same particular request sent from the first software component to the second software component based on the amount of data associated with each of the first and second requests being substantially the same.

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 first data describing a first request sent by a first software component, wherein the first request is one of a plurality of requests sent by the first component, and the first data identifies an amount of data sent in association with the first request;

identify second data describing a second request received by a second software component, wherein the second request is one of a plurality of requests received by the second component, and the second data identifies an amount of data received in association with the second request;

determine that the amount of data sent in association with the first request is substantially equal to the amount of data received in association with the second request; and

determining, that the first data and the second data each reference a same particular request sent from the first software component to the second software component based on the amount of data associated with each of the first and second requests being substantially the same.

21. The system of claim 20, further comprising:

a model generator configured to generate a model of a particular transaction including the particular request, wherein the particular request comprises a fragment of the particular transaction, and the model is configured to be displayed on a computing device and is to comprise a graphical representation of the particular request sent from the first component to the second component.

22. The system of claim 20, further comprising:

a first agent monitoring the first component to generate the first data; and

a second agent monitoring the second component to generate the second data.