Transaction Diagnostics via Session and Transaction Identifiers
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Solution Overview
Problem
In server-client scenarios, administrators face challenges in quickly identifying the root cause of issues due to limited logging data, which delays problem resolution and requires extensive expertise and time.
Innovation Solution
A system that captures and indexes all transaction logs between client and server devices, applying rules to parse, store, or discard data, allowing for fast searching and retrieval of relevant information using session and transaction identifiers, thereby enabling efficient debugging and issue resolution.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If comprehensive transaction logs are captured and stored for all transactions, then diagnostic information completeness is improved, but data storage requirements and system complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the logging system into multiple components: transaction monitors at network elements, session managers that organize logs by session identifiers, and selective storage mechanisms that capture only relevant transactions. This segmentation allows comprehensive diagnostics while distributing system complexity across manageable modules rather than requiring a monolithic logging system.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-configuring transaction monitors with rules and filters before transactions occur. Session identifiers and transaction identifiers are pre-assigned to group related logs, and capture criteria are pre-established based on expected diagnostic needs. This preparation enables efficient diagnostics without requiring complex real-time analysis capabilities.
2Measurement precision
If all transaction data is captured and stored, then diagnostic accuracy is improved, but data retrieval time and processing overhead increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the essential diagnostic elements from complete transaction data by using session identifiers and transaction identifiers as keys. Rather than retrieving and analyzing all transaction logs, the system extracts specific sessions and transactions relevant to the diagnostic query, dramatically reducing retrieval time while maintaining diagnostic accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent merges multiple transaction logs that belong to the same session by using session identifiers, creating consolidated views of related transactions. This merging allows administrators to diagnose session-level issues by examining a single consolidated log entry rather than searching through numerous individual transaction logs, reducing retrieval time while preserving diagnostic detail.
3Difficulty of detecting and measuring
If detailed transaction logging is implemented, then problem identification capability is improved, but network overhead and processing load increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by implementing selective transaction capture based on location and type. Different network elements monitor and capture transactions locally relevant to their function, rather than every element logging all transactions. This localized approach maintains problem identification capability for each component while reducing overall network overhead from duplicate logging of the same transactions.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent discards transactions that do not meet capture criteria or are duplicates already logged by other monitors, reducing network overhead. The system recovers only the essential diagnostic information needed for problem identification, storing detailed logs selectively based on session importance and diagnostic relevance rather than capturing every transaction detail.
Data Source
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AI summary
A method at a network element for monitoring, at the network element, transactions between the network element and at least one client device; applying rules to each transaction; and performing at least one of parsing, storing, or discarding each transaction based on the rules. Further, a method at a client device including storing a session identifier; generating a transaction message; adding the session identifier and a transaction identifier to the transaction message; and sending the transaction message with the session identifier and transaction identifier to a server.