Systems and methods for monitoring digital user experience

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10892964-B2
Application number	US-201916284073-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 25, 2019
Priority date	Feb 25, 2019
Publication date	Jan 12, 2021
Grant date	Jan 12, 2021

Abstract

Systems and methods for monitoring digital user experience include performing inline monitoring of network access between one or more users each with an associated user device executing an agent application, the Internet, and one or more cloud applications and private applications accessible via lightweight connectors; responsive to a user executing a specific application, obtaining device and application metrics for the user from the associated user device related to usage of specific application; obtaining network metrics from the cloud system related to network performance of the specific application; and providing the device and application metrics and the network metrics to a logging and analytics system for quantifying digital user experience of the specific application.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system for monitoring digital user experience comprising:
a plurality of nodes forming a cloud system, wherein the plurality of nodes are communicatively coupled to i) one or more users each with an associated user device executing an agent application, ii) the Internet, and iii) one or more cloud applications and private applications, the one or more cloud applications and private applications accessible via lightweight connectors, and wherein the cloud system provides inline monitoring of network access between the one or more users, the Internet, and the one or more cloud applications and private applications;
a logging and analytics system communicatively coupled to the cloud system; and
a monitoring service communicatively coupled to the cloud system and the logging and analytics system, wherein the monitoring service is configured to
responsive to a user executing a specific application, obtain device and application metrics for the user from the associated user device related to usage of specific application,
obtain network metrics from the inline monitoring of the cloud system related to network performance of the specific application, and
provide the device and application metrics and the network metrics to the logging and analytics system for quantifying digital user experience of the specific application.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the monitoring service is further configured to
tag the device and application metrics and the network metrics with metadata for the logging and analytics system to aggregate, analyze, and report, the metadata including a user and a time stamp.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the lightweight connectors sit in front of the one or more cloud applications and private applications and only connect to the plurality of nodes, the lightweight connectors being configured to
obtain private application metrics related to performance of the private application, and
provide the private application metrics to the monitoring service.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the agent application is configured to detect the specific application and cause metric generation based thereon.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the cloud system is a distributed security system with the inline monitoring of all traffic associated with the one or more users such that the cloud system is an overlay network.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the monitoring service is further configured to
cause periodic synthetic measurements in the context of inline monitored real user traffic between one or more users, the Internet, and the one or more cloud applications and private applications.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the specific application is one of a cloud application, a Software-as-a-Service application, and a real-time communication application.

8. A cloud node in a cloud system for monitoring digital user experience comprising:
a network interface communicatively coupled to i) one or more users each with an associated user device executing an agent application, ii) the Internet, and iii) one or more cloud applications and private applications, the one or more cloud applications and private applications accessible via lightweight connectors;
a processor communicatively coupled to the network interface; and
memory storing instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to
perform inline monitoring of network access between the one or more users, the Internet, and the one or more cloud applications and private applications,
responsive to a user executing a specific application, obtain device and application metrics for the user from the associated user device related to usage of specific application,
obtain network metrics from the inline monitoring of the cloud system related to network performance of the specific application, and
provide the device and application metrics and the network metrics to a logging and analytics system for quantifying digital user experience of the specific application.

9. The cloud node of claim 8 , wherein the memory storing instructions that, when executed, further cause the processor to
tag the device and application metrics and the network metrics with metadata for the logging and analytics system to aggregate, analyze, and report, the metadata including a user and a time stamp.

10. The cloud node of claim 8 , wherein the memory storing instructions that, when executed, further cause the processor to
obtain private application metrics related to performance of the private application from the lightweight connector, wherein the lightweight connectors sit in front of the one or more cloud applications and private applications and only connect to a plurality of nodes that includes the cloud node.

11. The cloud node of claim 8 , wherein the agent application is configured to detect the specific application and cause metric generation based thereon.

12. The cloud node of claim 8 , wherein the cloud system is a distributed security system with the inline monitoring of all traffic associated with the one or more users such that the cloud system is an overlay network.

13. The cloud node of claim 8 , wherein the monitoring service is further configured to
cause periodic synthetic measurements in the context of inline monitored real user traffic between one or more users, the Internet, and the one or more cloud applications and private applications.

14. The cloud node of claim 8 , wherein the specific application is one of a cloud application, a Software-as-a-Service application, and a real-time communication application.

15. A method comprising:
performing inline monitoring of network access between one or more users each with an associated user device executing an agent application, the Internet, and one or more cloud applications and private applications, the one or more cloud applications and private applications accessible via lightweight connectors;
responsive to a user executing a specific application, obtaining device and application metrics for the user from the associated user device related to usage of specific application;
obtaining network metrics from the inline monitoring of the cloud system related to network performance of the specific application; and
providing the device and application metrics and the network metrics to a logging and analytics system for quantifying digital user experience of the specific application.

16. The method of claim 15 , further comprising
tagging the device and application metrics and the network metrics with metadata for the logging and analytics system to aggregate, analyze, and report, the metadata including a user and a time stamp.

17. The method of claim 15 , wherein the lightweight connectors sit in front of the one or more cloud applications and private applications and only connect to the plurality of nodes, the method further comprising
obtaining private application metrics related to performance of the private application via the lightweight connector.

18. The method of claim 15 , wherein the agent application is configured to detect the specific application and cause metric generation based thereon.

19. The method of claim 15 , wherein the cloud system is a distributed security system with the inline monitoring of all traffic associated with the one or more users such that the cloud system is an overlay network.

20. The method of claim 15 , further comprising
causing periodic synthetic measurements in the context of inline monitored real user traffi

Assignees

• Zscaler Inc

Inventors

• Sharma Dhawal
• Mazboudi K D
• Devarajan Srikanth
• Balaiah Chakkaravarthy Periyasamy
• Pampati Sreedhar
• Sinha Amit

Classifications

• H04L43/20

  the monitoring system or the monitored elements being virtualised, abstracted or software-defined entities, e.g. SDN or NFV · CPC title

• H04L43/08

  Monitoring or testing based on specific metrics, e.g. QoS, energy consumption or environmental parameters · CPC title

• H04L41/40

  using virtualisation of network functions or resources, e.g. SDN or NFV entities · CPC title

• H04L43/062 Primary

  related to network traffic · CPC title

• H04L41/046 Primary

  comprising network management agents or mobile agents therefor · CPC title