Gateway Latency Measurement via Pre-Allocated Buffers
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Solution Overview
Problem
Latency measurement processes in low-latency environments introduce additional latency, which can disrupt critical metrics and service level agreements, particularly in systems where minimal disruption is essential.
Innovation Solution
A lightweight measurement process is employed to measure gateway system latency, allocating memory in a way that avoids garbage collection, and using a modified service request with a timestamp to minimize additional latency, allowing for precise and efficient latency measurement without interference from memory management processes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If a traditional latency measurement process is used, then latency can be measured, but the measurement process itself introduces additional latency that disrupts critical metrics and service level agreements
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the measurement process from the main application code path by using a separate lightweight measurement process that operates independently. This separation allows latency measurement to occur without interfering with the critical service operations, thereby measuring latency without introducing significant additional latency that would disrupt service level agreements
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a copy of the service request data in a lightweight format specifically for measurement purposes. Instead of measuring latency on the actual production traffic, the system creates measurement copies that can be processed separately, allowing accurate latency measurement without affecting the performance of real service requests
2Ease of operation
If memory is allocated during latency measurement, then the measurement process can function, but garbage collection may occur and disrupt the measurement
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary memory allocation before the measurement process begins. By allocating all necessary memory buffers and data structures in advance, the measurement process avoids dynamic memory allocation during execution, thereby preventing garbage collection interruptions and ensuring reliable, uninterrupted latency measurements
Solution Approach 2:
The measurement process is designed to be self-sufficient by using pre-allocated memory that it manages independently. The measurement process reads data from pre-allocated buffers without requiring additional memory allocations or interactions with the garbage collector, making it immune to garbage collection disruptions
3Loss of information
If a detailed service request is used for measurement, then comprehensive latency data can be collected, but the processing overhead increases additional latency
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by creating a simplified measurement-specific format that contains only the essential data fields needed for latency measurement. Instead of copying entire detailed service requests, the system extracts and measures only the critical timing-related portions, thereby maintaining measurement comprehensiveness while minimizing processing overhead and additional latency
Data Source
AI summary
Latency of a gateway system that connects to downstream services can be measured using an external computer system. The gateway may route component requests to various downstream services in order to service a main request, and be part of an overall service where low latency is important. It may be desirable for the gateway system to have as little added latency as possible. Benchmarking the gateway by performing latency measurements can give an indication of how the gateway is performing. If software on the gateway changes, re-benchmarking the gateway can reveal if problematic code was introduced. A measurement system can employ a lightweight process so that minimal additional latency is incurred by the measuring process. Memory can be allocated as to avoid a garbage collection process so that the latency measurement is unaffected when garbage collection occurs, for example, and multiple buffers can measure latency for different request types.