Method and system to monitor parameters of a data flow path in a communication system

• US 20080126534A1
• Filed: 11/28/2006
• Published: 05/29/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 11/28/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP SE
• Inventors: Mueller, Wolfgang, Uckermann, Michael, Traore, Oumar
• Granted Patent: US 8,769,120 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3409 for performance assessment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3495 for systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/87 Monitoring of transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/88 Monitoring involving counting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/045 for graphical visualisation of monitoring data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/08 Monitoring or testing based on specific metrics, e.g. QoS, energy consumption or environmental parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/12 Network monitoring probes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/16 Threshold monitoring

Abstract

A system and method of monitoring a dataflow path in a multilevel client server environment. A proxy is introduced into the dataflow path between a communication process on the client and the server. The proxy acts as a conduit in the data path and monitors the performance parameters of the dataflow. These parameters may then be visualized or used to adjust backend resources.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

introducing a proxy into a dataflow path between a client and a server;

passing data from the client to the server through the proxy;

determining a set of performance parameters of the flow path; and

displaying the set of performance parameters in a graphical user interface (GUI).

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

automatically adjusting a configuration of a backend resource in response to a member of the set exceeding a threshold.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

storing the performance parameter in a database coupled to the server.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

persisting the configuration of the proxy to the database.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

accepting a definition of the set through the GUI.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

querying a performance counter from a downstream resource; and

updating the set of performance parameters responsive to the query.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein introducing comprises:

starting the proxy with an associated port number;

starting a client process; and

providing the associated port number to the client process.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

accepting an input to the GUI without bringing an associated window into focus.

9. A system comprising:

a client including a communication process, a proxy to reside in a data flow path between the communication process and a server, the proxy to monitor performance parameters from the data flow path, and a controller to instantiate the proxy and obtain the performance parameters;

at least one server to conduct transactions with the communication process; and

a database coupled to the server to persistently store data from the controller.

10. The system of claim 9 further comprising:

a graphical user interface to display a subset of the performance parameters.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein the GUI comprises:

a selection pane to permit a user to select the subset of parameters.

12. The system of claim 9 wherein the client further comprises:

an operating system including at least on performance counter, and wherein the controller is to query the performance counter for an additional performance parameter.

13. The system of claim 9 wherein the database persistently retains a configuration of the proxy.

14. The system of claim 9 wherein the communication process comprises:

a browser process.

15. The system of claim 13 wherein the server comprises:

a recovery process to reinitiate the proxy and the controller in the event of client restart.

16. A machine readable medium having instructions therein that, when executed by the machine, cause the machine to:

introduce a proxy into a data flow path between a client and a server;

pass data from the client to the server through the proxy;

determine a set of performance parameters for the flow path; and

automatically adjust a configuration of a backend resource based on the performance parameters.

17. The machine readable media of claim 16 having instructions further causing the machine to:

display a the set of configuration parameters.

18. The machine readable medium of claim 16 wherein the instructions causing the machine comprise instructions to cause the machine to:

instantiate the proxy on the client;

instantiate a browser process on the client; and

pass a port number of the proxy to the browser.

19. The machine readable medium of claim 16 wherein the instructions causing the machine to determine comprise instruction causing the machine to:

measure the amount of data flowing in the data flow path during an interval;

monitor the number of round trips during the interval; and

calculate an end to end latency.

20. The machine readable medium of claim 19 where in the instructions causing the machine to determine further comprise instruction causing the machine to:

access a operating system performance counter to retrieve processor usage for a flow on the flow path.

21. The machine readable medium of claim 16 further including instructions causing the machine to:

simulate a low bandwidth data channel.

22. The machine readable medium of claim 21 wherein the instructions causing the machine to simulate comprise instruction causing the machine to:

delay data in the proxy.