Transaction Trace Logging for Failed Transaction Debugging

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Solution Overview

Problem

In transaction processing systems, diagnosing issues with failed transactions is challenging due to the lack of trace data from successfully completed transactions, leading to difficult problem diagnosis and costly interactions between customers and technical support.

Innovation Solution

A method and system for capturing and logging information about successfully completed transactions, which allows for the generation of traces that include data from a successful completion of a failed transaction, enabling better debugging and diagnosis.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Loss of information

If trace data is captured only for failed transactions, then the trace size remains small and manageable, but the ability to diagnose problems is severely limited without comparison data from successful transactions

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvetrace data completenessVSAvoidtrace data management

Core Design Contradiction:

Loss of informationVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The system performs preliminary actions by capturing and storing trace data from successful transactions before failures occur. This advance preparation ensures that when a failure happens, the previously captured successful trace data is already available for comparison, eliminating the need to wait for or manually retrieve historical data.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The system creates copies of trace data from successful transactions and stores them in association with the transaction type. When a failure occurs, these copied successful traces serve as reference data for comparison, allowing diagnosticians to identify what went wrong without needing to manually recreate or retrieve the original successful transaction data.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #26Copying

2Difficulty of detecting and measuring

If comprehensive trace data from successful transactions is stored for future reference, then problem diagnosis capability is greatly improved, but storage requirements and data management complexity increase

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveproblem diagnosis difficultyVSAvoidtrace data volume

Core Design Contradiction:

Difficulty of detecting and measuringVSQuantity of substance

Solution Approach 1:

Instead of storing all possible trace data uniformly, the system applies local quality by capturing only the specific trace data relevant to each transaction type from successful completions. This selective approach ensures that the stored data is precisely what is needed for diagnosing failures of that transaction type, reducing unnecessary data storage while maintaining diagnostic effectiveness.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #3Local quality

Solution Approach 2:

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

3Adaptability or versatility

If trace operations are performed manually by technical support, then flexibility in handling diverse failure scenarios is maintained, but time consumption and operational costs increase

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvehandling flexibilityVSAvoiddiagnosis time

Core Design Contradiction:

Adaptability or versatilityVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The system implements self-service by automatically capturing trace data from successful transactions and making it available for immediate comparison when failures occur. This automation eliminates the need for manual trace operations by technical support personnel, allowing the system to serve itself by providing the necessary diagnostic data without human intervention.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #25Self-service

Solution Approach 2:

The system establishes a feedback mechanism where trace data from successful transactions is captured and stored, then automatically provided as reference data when failures occur. This creates a continuous loop where successful transaction patterns are learned and immediately applied to diagnose failures, reducing the need for manual analysis and speeding up the diagnostic process.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #23Feedback

Data Source

PatentUS10108474B2Trace capture of successfully completed transactions for trace debugging of failed transactions

Publication Date: 2018.10.23 INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINE CORPORATION

AI summary

Embodiments of the present invention provide a method, system and computer program product for trace capture of successfully completed transactions for trace debugging of failed transactions. In an embodiment of the invention, a method for trace capture of successfully completed transactions for trace debugging of failed transactions is provided. The method includes storing entries in a log with information pertaining to successfully completed transactions in a transaction processing system executing in memory of a host server, detecting a failed transaction in the transaction processing system, generating a trace for the failed transaction, and providing with the generated trace an entry from the log with information pertaining to a successful completion of the failed transaction.