AUTOMATIC CONFIGURATION OF ROBOTIC TRANSACTION PLAYBACK THROUGH ANALYSIS OF PREVIOUSLY COLLECTED TRAFFIC PATTERNS

• US 20090037914A1
• Filed: 07/31/2007
• Published: 02/05/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 07/31/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Gehman, Byron Christian, Lavery, Andrew Jason, Chagoly, Bryan Christopher, Tipton, Sandra Lee
• Granted Patent: US 7,809,525 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 718/101
• 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 11/302 where the computing system component is a software system
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3051 Monitoring arrangements for monitoring the configuration of the computing system or of the computing system component, e.g. monitoring the presence of processing resources, peripherals, I/O links, software programs verification or detection of system hardware configuration G06F11/2247
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3414 Workload generation, e.g. scripts, playback
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3419 by assessing time
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3495 for systems

Abstract

A system and method which accesses or otherwise received collected performance data for at least one server application, where the server application capable of performing a plurality of transactions with client devices and the client devices are geographically dispersed from the server in known geographical locales, which automatically determines from the performance data which of the transactions are utilized by users of the client devices, which selects utilized transactions according to at least one pre-determined selection criteria, which automatically generates a transaction playback script for each of the selected transactions substituting test information in place of user-supplied or user-unique information in the transactions, which designates each script for execution from a geographical locale corresponding to the locale of the clients which execute said utilized transactions, which deploys the playback scripts to robotic agents geographically co-located with client devices according to the locale designation, and which executes the playback scripts from the robotic agents in order to exercise the server application across similar network topologies and under realistic conditions.

Claims

1. An automated method comprising:

accessing or receiving collected performance data for at least one server application, said server application being capable of performing a plurality of transactions with client devices, said client devices being geographically dispersed from said server, each client being located in a known geographical locale;

automatically determining from said performance data which of said plurality of transactions are being utilized by users of said client devices;

selecting one or more of said utilized transactions according to at least one pre-determined selection criteria;

automatically generating a transaction playback script for each of said selected utilized transactions in which each playback script utilizes pre-determined test information in place of user-supplied or user-unique information in said transactions, each script being designated for execution from a geographical locale corresponding to the locale of the clients which execute said utilized transactions;

deploying said playback scripts to one or more script robots to robotic agents geographically co-located with said client devices according to said locale designation; and

executing by said script robots said playback scripts thereby exercising said server application.

2. The method as set forth in claim 1 further comprising:

monitoring said server application for changes in configuration; and

responsive to detection of a change in said server application configuration, repeating said steps of accessing performance data, determining utilized transactions, selecting transactions, generating playback scripts, deploying scripts, and executing scripts.

3. The method as set forth in claim 1 further comprising a step of updating one or more application response monitors to collect detailed transaction information for said utilized and selected transactions, followed by performing said steps of generating playback scripts, deploying scripts, and executing scripts.

4. The method as set forth in claim 1 wherein said collected performance data comprises hyper text transfer protocol server log information.

5. The method as set forth in claim 1 wherein said collected performance data comprises application response monitor data.

6. The method as set forth in claim 1 wherein said collected performance data comprises composite application monitor response time tracking data.

7. The method as set forth in claim 1 wherein said selection criteria comprises a frequency of transaction usage criteria.

8. The method as set forth in claim 1 wherein said selection criteria comprises a business value of transaction usage criteria.

9. The method as set forth in claim 1 wherein said selection criteria comprises a designated Uniform Resource Locator.

10. The method as set forth in claim 1 wherein said selection criteria comprises a performance level governed by a Service Level Agreement.

11. The method as set forth in claim 1 wherein said step of automatically determining from said performance data which of said plurality of transactions are being utilized by users of said client devices further comprises determining a period of peak utilization of said transactions, and wherein said step of automatically generating a transaction playback script comprises enabling said script to be executed by said playback robots according to a schedule relative to said peak utilization period.

12. The method as set forth in claim 11 wherein said playback schedule is coincident with said peak utilization period.

13. The method as set forth in claim 11 wherein said playback schedule avoids playback during said peak utilization period.

14. An article of manufacture comprising:

a computer-readable medium suitable for encoding of software; and

one or more software programs encoded by said medium and configured to cause a processor to perform the steps of;

(a) accessing or receiving collected performance data for at least one server application, said server application being capable of performing a plurality of transactions with client devices, said client devices being geographically dispersed from said server, each client being located in a known geographical locale;

(b) automatically determining from said performance data which of said plurality of transactions are being utilized by users of said client devices;

(c) selecting one or more of said utilized transactions according to at least one pre-determined selection criteria;

(d) automatically generating a transaction playback script for each of said selected utilized transactions in which each playback script utilizes pre-determined test information in place of user-supplied or user-unique information in said transactions, each script being designated for execution from a geographical locale corresponding to the locale of the clients which execute said utilized transactions;

(e) deploying said playback scripts to one or more script robots to robotic agents geographically co-located with said client devices according to said locale designation; and

(f) executing by said script robots said playback scripts thereby exercising said server application.

15. The article as set forth in claim 14 further comprising software for:

(g) monitoring said server application for changes in configuration; and

(h) responsive to detection of a change in said server application configuration, repeating said steps of accessing performance data, determining utilized transactions, selecting transactions, generating playback scripts, deploying scripts, and executing scripts.

16. The article as set forth in claim 14 further comprising software for updating one or more application response monitors to collect detailed transaction information for said utilized and selected transactions, followed by performing said steps of generating playback scripts, deploying scripts, and executing scripts.

17. The article as set forth in claim 14 wherein said software for automatically determining from said performance data which of said plurality of transactions are being utilized by users of said client devices further comprises software for determining a period of peak utilization of said transactions, and wherein said software for automatically generating a transaction playback script comprises software for enabling said script to be executed by said playback robots according to a schedule relative to said peak utilization period.

18. A system comprising:

an input for accessing or receiving collected performance data for at least one server application, said server application being capable of performing a plurality of transactions with geographically-remote client devices, said client devices being geographically dispersed from said server and each having an identified geographic locale;

a data analyzer configured to automatically determine from said performance data which of said plurality of transactions are being utilized by users of said client devices, to select one or more of said utilized transactions according to at least one pre-determined selection criteria, and to automatically generate a transaction playback script for each of said selected utilized transactions in which each playback script utilizes pre-determined test information in place of user-supplied or user-unique information in said transactions;

one or more script execution robots co-located in said geographic locales with said client devices; and

a script transmitter configured to deploy said playback scripts to one or more script robots, each script being transmitted to a script robot co-located in a geographic locale with one or more client devices from which said selected transactions were executed thereby causing said robots to receive and execute said playback scripts, exercising said server application according to said selected utilized transactions from said geographic locales.

19. The system as set forth in claim 18 further comprising;

an application revision monitor configured to monitor said server application for changes in configuration; and

a script updater configured to, responsive to detection of a change in said server application configuration, trigger said input to access performance data, said data analyzer to determine utilized transactions, to select transactions, and to generate updated playback scripts, said transmitter to deploy said updated scripts, thereby updating scripts executed by said robots.

20. The system as set forth in claim 18 further comprising a monitor controller configured to update configurations of one or more application response monitors to collect detailed transaction information for said utilized and selected transactions, followed by performing said steps of generating playback scripts, deploying scripts, and executing scripts by said input, data analyzer, and transmitter.

21. The system as set forth in claim 18 wherein said data analyzer is further configured to determine a period of peak utilization of said transactions, and to generate playback scripts which are enabling to be executed by said playback robots according to a schedule relative to said peak utilization period.