System and method of collecting and reporting system performance metrics

• US 7,509,343 B1
• Filed: 06/09/2004
• Issued: 03/24/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/09/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: T-Mobile Innovations LLC (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: Sprint Communications Company LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Farrell, Brian Paul, Mcmahon, Margaret M., Washburn, Brian John
• Primary Examiner(s): Wong; Don
• Assistant Examiner(s): DANG, THANH HA T
• Application Number:
  US10/863,940
• Time in Patent Office: 1,749 Days
• Field of Search: 707/1, 707/3, 707/10, 707/100, 707/104.1, 707/205
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3409 for performance assessment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3433 for load management allocation of a server based on load conditions G06F9/505; load rebalancing G06F9/5083; redistributing the load in a network by a load balancer H04L67/1029
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3476 Data logging G06F11/14, G06F11/2205 take precedence

Abstract

The present invention provides a method of collecting system performance metrics from a plurality of monitored systems and reporting system performance metrics to a requesting client system. In accordance with the present invention, the system performance metrics are collected to a database so that requesting client systems requiring the metrics need not have access to each monitored system. The monitored systems may limit user access and maintain system security while still providing the metrics required to address system availability and load problems.

Claims

1. A method for collecting system performance metrics from a plurality of monitored systems and reporting the collected metrics to a requesting client system comprising:

collecting the system performance metrics from the plurality of monitored systems;

storing the collected system performance metrics to a database;

receiving query parameters from the requesting client system;

querying the database for the collected system performance metrics, using the received query parameters;

composing resulting system performance metrics into a file that is configured with a format specific to a type of operating system software utilized by a modeling software external to the plurality of monitored systems that receives the file as an input;

determining whether to validate the file based on requirements of the external modeling software;

when validation is required, validating whether the format of the file is accurate according to an operating system installed on the plurality of monitored systems; and

when no validation is required, proceeding without validation and delivering the file to the requesting client system.

2. The method for collecting system performance metrics from a plurality of monitored systems and reporting the collected metrics to a requesting client system of claim 1 where composing data into the file comprises determining the operating system software installed on the plurality of monitored systems by performing a real-time query of the plurality of monitored systems.

3. The method for collecting system performance metrics from a plurality of monitored systems and reporting the collected metrics to a requesting client system of claim 1 where collecting system performance metrics from a plurality of monitored systems occurs on a periodic basis.

4. The method for collecting system performance metrics from a plurality of monitored systems and reporting the collected metrics to a requesting client system of claim 3 where the periodic basis is once per twenty-four hour period.

5. The method for collecting system performance metrics from a plurality of monitored systems and reporting the collected metrics to a requesting client system of claim 1 where the received query parameters include the name of a specific monitored system of the plurality of monitored systems and a range of dates.

6. The method for collecting system performance metrics from a plurality of monitored systems and reporting the collected metrics to a requesting client system of claim 1 where collecting system performance metrics from the plurality of monitored systems on a periodic basis comprises collecting the system performance metrics from log files created by system monitoring software present on each of the plurality of monitored systems.

7. The method for collecting system performance metrics from a plurality of monitored systems and reporting the collected metrics to a requesting client system of claim 1 where composing resulting system performance metrics into the file further comprises determining input requirements of the modeling software external to the plurality of monitored systems.

8. The method for collecting system performance metrics from a plurality of monitored systems and reporting the collected metrics to a requesting client system of claim 7 where delivering the file further comprises transferring the file to an external computing device having the modeling software embedded thereon, the modeling software adapted to utilize the file for modeling the plurality of monitored systems.

9. A computer system for collecting system performance metrics from a plurality of monitored systems and reporting a subset of the collected system performance metrics to a requesting client system, the computer system comprising:

a processor coupled to a computer storage medium, the computer storage medium having stored thereon a plurality of computer software components executable by the processor, the computer software components comprising;

a collection component interfacing with the plurality of monitored systems to collect the system performance metrics;

a database containing the collected system performance metrics;

a query engine to form a database query from a plurality of query parameters provided by the requesting client system and executing the database query on the collected system performance metrics stored in the database;

a file builder component to build a file containing results of the database query, wherein building a file comprises composing metrics within the results of the database query into a format specific to a type of operating system software utilized by a modeling software external to the plurality of monitored systems that receives the file as an input;

a file validator to determine whether the format of the file is accurate according to an operating system installed on the plurality of monitored systems; and

a delivery component to deliver the file to the requesting client system.

10. The computer system of claim 9 where the file builder further comprises a component to determine the operating system software installed on the plurality of monitored systems by performing a real-time query of the plurality of monitored systems.

11. The computer system of claim 9 wherein the collection component collects the system performance metrics on a periodic basis.

12. The computer system of claim 11 where the periodic basis is once per twenty-four hour period.

13. The computer system of claim 9 where the plurality of query parameters include a system name of a specific monitored system of the plurality of monitored systems and a range of dates.

14. The computer system of claim 9 where the collection component interfacing with the plurality of monitored systems to collect the system performance metrics on a periodic basis collects the system performance metrics from log files created by system monitoring software present on each of the plurality of monitored systems.

15. The computer system of claim 9 where the file builder component is further configured to determine input requirements of the modeling software external to the plurality of monitored systems.

16. The computer system of claim 15 where the delivery component is further configured to transfer the file to an external computing device having the modeling software embedded thereon, the modeling software adapted to utilize the file for modeling the plurality of monitored systems.