Multiple modes of data collection and analysis in a microservices-based architecture

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11256604-B2
Application number	US-202016752286-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 24, 2020
Priority date	Jan 24, 2020
Publication date	Feb 22, 2022
Grant date	Feb 22, 2022

Abstract

A method of analyzing a performance of a microservices-based application comprises generating a plurality of traces from a plurality of spans associated with the microservices-based application. The method also comprises generating a plurality of data sets each associated with a respective analysis mode of a plurality of analysis modes using the plurality of traces, wherein each analysis mode extracts a different level of detail for analyzing the performance of the services in the application from the plurality of spans. Further, the method comprises selecting, based on a first user query, a first analysis mode from the plurality of analysis modes for generating a response to the first user query. The method also comprises accessing a data set of the plurality of data sets that is associated with the first analysis mode and generating the response to the first user query using the data set associated with the first analysis mode.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of analyzing performance of services in a microservices-based application, the method comprising:
generating a plurality of traces from a plurality of spans associated with the microservices-based application and ingested during a given time duration;
generating a plurality of data sets each associated with a respective analysis mode of a plurality of analysis modes using the plurality of traces, wherein each analysis mode extracts a different level of detail from the plurality of spans associated with the plurality of traces, wherein at least one analysis mode of the plurality of analysis modes is associated with analyzing raw trace data associated with the plurality of traces to analyze the performance of the services;
selecting, based on a first user query, a first analysis mode from the plurality of analysis modes for generating a response to the first user query;
accessing a data set of the plurality of data sets that is associated with the first analysis mode; and
generating the response to the first user query using the data set associated with the first analysis mode, wherein the first user query requests information pertaining to the performance of the services in the microservices-based application.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising ingesting the plurality of spans in real time.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the selecting further comprises:
determining the first analysis mode from the plurality of analysis modes based on at least one of a structure of the first user query, a type of the first user query, a syntax of the first user query, a content of the first user query, and an interface through which the first user query was submitted.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
selecting, based on a second user query, a second analysis mode from the plurality of analysis modes for generating a response to the second user query;
navigating from the first analysis mode to the second analysis mode; and
accessing a data set of the plurality of data sets associated with the second analysis mode; and
generating a response to the second user query using the data set associated with the second analysis mode.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
selecting, based on a second user query, the first analysis mode for generating a response to the second user query, wherein the second user query is associated with the first analysis mode;
accessing the data set associated with the first analysis mode; and
generating a response to the second user query using the data set associated with the first analysis mode.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of analysis modes comprises the first analysis mode, a second analysis mode and a third analysis mode, and wherein the first analysis mode is associated with computing metrics associated with the performance of the services using information extracted from the plurality of spans, wherein the second analysis mode is associated with sampling traces from the plurality of traces to analyze the performance of the services, and wherein the third analysis mode is associated with the analyzing of the raw trace data associated with the plurality of traces to analyze the performance of the services.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one analysis mode of the plurality of analysis modes is associated with computing metrics associated with the performance of the services using information extracted from the plurality of spans and wherein at least one analysis mode of the plurality of analysis modes is associated with sampling traces from the plurality of traces to analyze the performance of the services.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one analysis mode of the plurality of analysis modes is associated with computing metrics associated with the performance of the services using information extracted from the plurality of spans and wherein at least one analysis mode of the plurality of analysis modes is associated with the analyzing of the raw trace data associated with the plurality of traces to analyze the performance of the services.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one analysis mode of the plurality of analysis modes is associated with sampling traces from the plurality of traces to analyze the performance of the services and wherein at least one analysis mode of the plurality of analysis modes is associated with the analyzing of the raw trace data associated with the plurality of traces to analyze the performance of the services.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one analysis mode of the plurality of analysis modes performs analysis by:
computing metrics data from selected tags extracted from the plurality of spans; and
aggregating the metrics data to deliver a response to the first user query.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one analysis mode of the plurality of analysis modes performs analysis by:
storing exemplary traces associated with respective services in the microservices-based application;
accessing an exemplary trace associated with a respective service in response to the first user query; and
analyzing the exemplary trace to analyze a performance of the respective service.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one analysis mode of the plurality of analysis modes performs analysis by:
storing exemplary traces associated with respective services in the microservices-based application using a unique identifier for each exemplary trace;
accessing an exemplary trace associated with a respective service using a respective unique identifier in response to the first user query; and
analyzing the exemplary trace to analyze a performance of the respective service.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one of the plurality of analysis modes performs analysis by:
storing the raw trace data for the plurality of traces with corresponding metadata extracted from the plurality of traces, wherein the corresponding metadata comprises tag information associated with the plurality of traces; and
querying the raw trace data and the metadata to analyze performance of services associated with the plurality of traces.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the plurality of analysis modes performs analysis by:
storing the raw trace data for the plurality of traces with corresponding metadata extracted from the plurality of traces, wherein the corresponding metadata comprises tag information associated with the plurality of traces; and
querying the raw trace data and the metadata to analyze performance of services associated with the plurality of traces, wherein the querying comprises filtering information corresponding to indexed tags and unindexed tags from the raw trace data and the metadata.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the generating the plurality of data sets comprises:
generating a first data set associated with the first analysis mode from the plurality of analysis modes, wherein the generating the first data set comprises:
indexing a plurality of tags from the plurality of traces; and
generating metrics for services and dependencies comprised within the microservices-based application by tracking of a number of occurrences of at least one indexed tag from the plurality of tags in connection with a respective service or a respective dependency over the given time duration.

16. The method of claim 1 , wherein the generating the plurality of data sets comprises:
generating a first data set associated with the first analysis mode from the plurality of analysis modes, where

Assignees

• Splunk Inc

Inventors

• Agarwal Mayank
• Anoshin Dmitrii
• Flanders Steven
• Karis Steven
• Smith Justin
• Wohlstadter Eric

Classifications

• G06F11/3476

  Data logging (G06F11/14, G06F11/2205 take precedence) · CPC title

• G06F11/323

  Visualisation of programs or trace data · CPC title

• G06F16/953

  Querying, e.g. by the use of web search engines · CPC title

• G06F11/302

  where the computing system component is a software system · CPC title

• G06F11/364 Primary

  tracing values on a bus · CPC title