Method and Apparatus for Measuring Web Site Performance

• US 20090204669A1
• Filed: 03/26/2009
• Published: 08/13/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 08/10/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Allan, Ron C.
• Granted Patent: US 7,870,254 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 15/173 using an interconnection network, e.g. matrix, shuffle, pyramid, star, snowflake

Abstract

A web site is provisioned with a proxy that receives a page request intended for the server and records a first time. The page request is then forwarded to the server for response. The response stream generated by the server is intercepted at the proxy at a second time. As the stream is forwarded to the requesting client, the proxy inserts a page script that, upon execution at the client, calculates a page render time. This time is determined by calculating the difference between a third time (the time at which the page script begins execution at the client) and a fourth time (a time at which the page rendering is complete). Upon completion of the page rendering, the script opens a connection back to the server and returns a packet that includes the page render time. This packet is received at a fifth time. A transaction record is then built by the proxy using the timestamp data.

Claims

1. A method of monitoring a transaction between a client and a server in a computer network, comprising:

at a first server time, receiving a client request directed to the server and forwarding the client request for service;

at a second server time, inserting a script into a server response stream;

returning the server response stream including the script in response to the client request; and

at a third server time, receiving a packet from the client that includes a page render time generated by execution of the script at the client.

2. The method as described in claim 1 further including the step of generating a transaction record that includes given performance metric data.

3. The method as described in claim 2 wherein the performance metric data includes a server response time calculated by subtracting the first server time from the second server time.

4. The method as described in claim 2 wherein the performance metric data includes the page render time.

5. The method as described in claim 2 wherein the performance metric data includes an approximate time spent on the computer network.

7. The method as described in claim 1 further including the step of storing in the transaction record information about the page requested.

8. The method as described in claim 1 further including the step of storing in the transaction record information about a protocol method used in the page request.

9. The method as described in claim 1 further including the step of issuing to the client a given status response upon receipt of the value.

6. (canceled)

10. A method of monitoring a transaction between a client and a server in a computer network, comprising:

at a proxy, receiving a page request intended for the server;

calculating a request service time;

as a response stream is passed through the proxy, inserting a page script into the response stream that, upon execution at the client, generates a page render time; and

calculating an estimated total round trip time using the request service time and the page render time.

11. A method of monitoring a transaction between a client and a server in a computer network, comprising:

upon receipt of a page from the server, executing a script to generate a value identifying a page render time; and

upon completion of the page download, and without user input, returning the valve to a proxy.

12. The method as described in claim 11 wherein the value is generated by:

at a first time, reading the page script;

determining when the page has been rendered;

when the page has been rendered, identifying a second time; and

subtracting the first time from the second time.

13. The method as described in claim 11 wherein the value is returned to the proxy by having the script open a connection to the proxy.

14. A method operative within a firewall at a web server, comprising:

upon receipt of a page request, recording a first time T1 and forwarding the page request to the server;

upon receipt of a response stream from the server, recording a second time T2;

inserting a script into a response stream;

forwarding the response stream together with the script back to the client;

using the script to calculate a page render time at the client by determining a difference between a fourth time T4 and a third time T3; and

upon receipt of a given packet, recording a fifth time T5; and

saving in a transaction record given performance metrics calculated from the times T1−

T5.

15. The method as described in claim 14 wherein the given performance metrics include request service time calculated as T2-T1.

16. The method as described in claim 14 wherein the given performance metrics include client page render time calculated as T4−

T3.

18. The method as described in claim 14 wherein the given performance metrics include total round trip time calculated as T5-T1.

17. (canceled)

19. A method of augmenting a response stream generated by a server in response to a client request, comprising:

inserting a script into the response stream that, upon execution at a client, (a) calculates a page render time, (b) opens a connection back to the server, and (c) returns the page render time to the server without user input.

20. A computer program product in a computer useable storage medium, comprising:

code for receiving a client request directed to a server, recording a first time, and forwarding the client request for service;

code for receiving a response stream from the server, recording a second time, and inserting a script into a server response stream as the stream is served back to the client; and

code for receiving a packet from the client, recording a third time, and generating a transaction record.

21. The computer program product as described in claim 20 further including code for generating a request service time as a difference between the first time and the second time.

22. The computer program product as described in claim 20 wherein the packet includes a page render time generated by executing the script on the client.

23. The computer program product as described in claim 22 further including code for generating an approximate network time by subtracting the page render time from a value generated by a difference between the second time and the third time.

24. In a web site having a server data processing system comprising a data processor, and a data store operably coupled to the server data processing system, the improvement comprising:

a proxy comprising;

code for receiving a client request directed to the server data processing system, recording a first time, and forwarding the client request to the server data processing system for service;

code for receiving a response stream from the server data processing system, recording a second time, and inserting a script into a server response stream as the stream is served back to the client; and

code for receiving a packet from the client, recording a third time, and generating a transaction record.

25. In the web site as described in claim 24 wherein the script generates a page render time value and returns the value to the proxy.

26. In the web site as described in claim 24 further including a log file for storing the transaction record.