Method of recording and measuring e-business sessions on the world wide web

• US 6,286,046 B1
• Filed: 12/22/1997
• Issued: 09/04/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Bryant, Raymond Morris
• Primary Examiner(s): Rinehart, Mark H.
• Assistant Examiner(s): YUAN, ALMARI ROMERO
• Application Number:
  US08/996,225
• Time in Patent Office: 1,352 Days
• Field of Search: 709/204, 709/224, 709/227, 709/228, 709/223, 709/245, 709/246, 714/39, 714/45, 714/46, 370/252
• US Class Current: 709/224
• 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 11/3438 monitoring of user actions tracking the activity of the user H04L67/535
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3466 Performance evaluation by tracing or monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/87 Monitoring of transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/875 Monitoring of systems including the internet

Abstract

A monitor located between a Web browser and a server upon which a server application is running. The monitor is useful for recording a set of URLs (sometimes referred to as a “request list”) that issue from the Web browser during a sample interactive session between the user of the client machine and the server application. The URL request list trace or session “workload” may then be used to benchmark the server application by supplying the information as an input to a set of HTTP submitter routines. Each HTTP submitter routine simulates a particular user of a client machine connected to the server application. Each routine then “replays” the interactive session recorded by the monitor so that the overall performance of the server application against “multiple” simulated users may be evaluated.

Claims

1. A method of generating a trace of requests to a given server application in a computer network during a transaction session initiated from a client having a Web browser, comprising:

connecting the Web browser to a monitoring process for generating the trace;

during the transaction session, intercepting each HTTP request intended for the given server application and redirecting the HTTP request to the monitoring process;

recording the HTTP request in the trace;

issuing a given request from the monitoring process to the application server;

delivering a response to the given request from the application server to the monitoring process;

if the response to the given request includes an absolute URL that that has not been encountered by the monitoring process, translating the absolute URL into a modified URL; and

returning the response with the modified URL back to the Web browser such that, when the Web browser attempts to retrieve the modified URL, a new HTTP request is passed through the monitoring process and recorded in the trace instead of being used to fetch a resource from the application server directly.

2. The method as described in claim 1 wherein the monitoring process runs on the client machine.

3. The method as described in claim 1 wherein a connection between the Web browser and the monitoring process is not secure.

4. The method as described in claim 3 wherein a connection between the monitoring process and the application server is secure.

5. The method as described in claim 1 wherein the server application is an e-business application.

6. The method as described in claim 1 wherein the computer network is a network selected from the group of networks consisting of an intranet, an extranet and the Internet'"'"'s World Wide Web.

7. A method of evaluating performance of a given server application in a computer network environment, comprising the steps of:

connecting a Web browser of a client machine to a monitoring process for generating a trace;

during a simulated transaction session, forcing any HTTP request intended for the given server application to be redirected to the monitoring process;

recording each HTTP request in the trace; and

replaying the trace to gather information to evaluate the performance of the given server application.

8. The method as described in claim 7 wherein the monitoring process runs on the client machine.

9. The method as described in claim 8 wherein a connection between the Web browser and the monitoring process is unencrypted.

10. The method as described in claim 9 wherein a connection between the monitoring process and the application server is secure.

11. The method as described in claim 7 wherein the server application is an e-business application.

12. The method as described in claim 11 wherein the computer network is a network selected from the group of computer networks consisting of an intranet, an extranet and the Internet'"'"'s World Wide Web.

13. The method as described in claim 7 wherein the step of replaying the trace comprises:

having each of a set of HTTP submitter routines execute the trace against the server application.

14. The method as described in claim 13 wherein each of the set of HTTP submitter routines simulates a user of a client machine.

15. A computer program product in a computer-readable medium for generating a trace of requests to a given server application in a computer network during a transaction session initiated from a client machine having a Web browser, the program product comprising:

means supported on the client machine for intercepting any HTTP request issued from the Web browser and intended for the given server application;

means responsive to the intercepting means for recording information associated with the HTTP request to generate the trace; and

a set of HTTP processes each of which simulate a live user, wherein each HTTP process replays the trace against the given server application; and

means for evaluating data generated by the HTTP processes to determine a performance of the given server application against the simulated live users.

16. The computer program product as described in claim 15 wherein the information associated with the HTTP request includes a URL.

17. The computer program product as described in claim 16 wherein the trace comprises a set of URLs and a set of associated responses.

18. The computer program product as described in claim 17 wherein the server application is an e-business application.

19. The computer program product as described in claim 18 wherein the forcing means includes means for forcing the Web browser to issue the HTTP requests to a given port associated with the client machine.

20. A computer program product in a computer-readable medium for performance evaluation of a given server application in a computer network environment, comprising:

means supported on the client machine for intercepting any HTTP request issued from the Web browser and intended for the given server application;

means responsive to the intercepting means for recording information associated with the HTTP request to generate a session trace;

a set of HTTP submitter routines each of which execute the trace against the server application; and

means for measuring performance of the server application as the trace is executed by the HTTP submitter routines.

21. The computer program product as described in claim 20 wherein the information associated with the HTTP request includes a URL.

22. A computer connectable to a given server application in a computer network environment, comprising:

a processor;

an operating system;

a Web browser;

means for intercepting any HTTP request issued from the Web browser and intended for the given server application;

means responsive to the intercepting means for recording information associated with the HTTP request to generate a session trace;

a set of HTTP submitter routines each of which execute the trace against the server application; and

means for measuring performance of the server application as the trace is executed by the HTTP submitter routines.

23. An e-business transaction session monitor for generating a trace of URL requests to a given e-business server application in a computer network during an e-business transaction session initiated from a client having a Web browser, comprising:

code for forcing an HTTP request issued from the Web browser and intended for the given e-business server application to be redirected through the monitor, wherein the code includes code for rewriting absolute URLs into modified URLs to ensure that the Web browser does not escape from the monitor during the transaction session; and

code responsive to the forcing code for recording URLs associated with the HTTP requests to generate a trace.

24. The e-business transaction monitor as described in claim 23 further including means for replaying the trace.

25. The e-business transaction monitor as described in claim 24 wherein the means for replaying comprises:

a set of HTTP submitter routines each of which execute the trace concurrently against the server application; and

means for measuring performance of the server application as the trace is executed concurrently by the HTTP submitter routines.

26. The e-business transaction monitor as described in claim 23 wherein the e-business server application is an Internet banking transaction.

27. The e-business transaction monitor as described in claim 23 wherein the e-business server application is an Internet sales transaction.

28. The e-business transaction monitor as described in claim 23 wherein the e-business server application is an Internet supply transaction.

29. The e-business transaction monitor as described in claim 23 wherein the e-business server application is an Internet service transaction.