Monitoring and mangement of distributing information systems

Abstract

A method of managing a computing system (300) includes generating (1702) transaction requests in accordance with a transaction profile of the system (300). The transaction requests are provided for processing by the system (300). Status data of a set of managed resources (102) of the system (300) is collected (1704) in accordance with a system model stored in a knowledge base (204). Performance indicators of the system (300) are determined (1706) from the status data in accordance with the system model. The transaction performance of the system (300) is monitored (1710) by comparing the performance of the system (300) in processing the transaction requests with an expected performance. When a degradation in transaction performance is detected, a signal (1712) is generated to indicate that a degradation in performance has occurred, to enable the status data and / or performance indicators to be analysed at the time at which the performance degradation occurs. The method improves over prior art management methods by providing for the simultaneous measurement of the transaction performance of the system (300), along with monitoring of defined status and performance metrics, thereby enabling correlation between changes in performance and changes in the status of the system. A corresponding computer implemented means for managing a computer system, and computer program products, are also provided.

Description

The following application claims priority from PCT Patent Application No. PCT / AU 2005 / 001207 which was filed on Aug. 11, 2005 which claims priority from Australian Patent Application No. 2004904606 which was filed on Aug. 13, 2004 which are both incorporated herein. FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to the management of distributed computer systems, and in particular to a system and apparatus for monitoring and managing the performance of such systems. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Distributed computer systems are widely used to deliver computing and information services to users who access the system over computer networks. The services provided by such systems include, for example, web services, remote terminal services, online shopping, electronic business services, online database access, and enterprise computing and intranet services, amongst many other possibilities. The overall performance of any distributed computer system may depend upon the performance ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

"The present invention provides a method for managing a computing system by monitoring transaction requests, collecting status data of managed resources, and analyzing the performance indicators to identify potential problems with the system. The method allows for the simultaneous measurement of system performance and the status of the system, and the ability to identify and localize problems specific to individual users or terminals. The knowledge base used in the method contains expert knowledge of the system, and the performance indicators are derived from the status data of the system. The method also allows for the collection of status data from a wide range of managed elements without the need for installing agents within the elements. The method can account for cyclic variations in system activity by generating performance indicators with appropriate resolution periods."

Problems solved by technology

The performance issues become increasingly complex and difficult to understand and manage as the system and associated networks become larger and more complex.

For example, if an element of the system is not responding to service requests, or is responding slowly, it may be difficult to determine whether the fault is in the element itself, in a data communication link, or in another element of the system, such as an intermediate network device, shared service or memory object that may be affecting the ability of the system element to receive and / or respond to requests.

While known management platforms are useful in enabling networks and information systems to be monitored, and sources of possible problems to be identified, there are nonetheless a number of problems associated with their installation and operation.

Accordingly, traditional management platforms are limited to the collection and monitoring of a specific set of metrics of the managed resources, and constrained to managing the resources only of those elements within which suitable management agents have been installed.

It is therefore not usually possible for the management system to adapt to changes to the architecture of distributed system or to monitor components outside the system under the control of a system operator without the installation of further management agents.

This can be a significant limitation, since the system performance experienced by an end user may be affected by the performance of shared network services, such as Domain Name Services (DNS), that may be provided by servers that are located outside the control of the operator of a particular information service.

Known management platforms do not provide performance metrics that are specific to particular information services, and that are intuitively meaningful to users or non-expert operators of information systems.

In many cases, if an alert is generated by an event within the system, it may be difficult to relate the source of the alarm to any degradation in system performance that is experienced by end users.

Conversely, end users may experience degradation in system performance, resulting in complaints, or calls to a help desk, that may not be readily associated with any specific change in the available metrics, or any alerts that may have been raised.

Accordingly, previous attempts to automate the prediction, detection and correction of causes of performance degradation have been largely unsuccessful, resulting in erroneous outcomes including false identification of problems where no degradation in user performance is experienced, and / or failures to identify causes of performance degradation that is experienced by end users.

Furthermore, when users do report faults or degradation in system performance, there may be a delay between the time at which the performance problems are experienced, and the time at which they are ultimately reported to a system manager.

It may therefore be difficult to precisely pinpoint the time at which the performance problems occurred or commenced, and it may therefore be difficult to associate the performance problems with specific events, or changes in the metrics of the managed resources in the system.

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