Monitoring and correlating a binary process in a distributed business transaction

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9529691-B2
Application number	US-201414530633-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 31, 2014
Priority date	Oct 31, 2014
Publication date	Dec 27, 2016
Grant date	Dec 27, 2016

Abstract

A dynamic monitoring process begins with configuring a start and end method to be monitored. The dynamic monitoring process may intercept both the start and end methods as and when the loader is initiated or at runtime to dynamically attach and detach the instrumentation. A loader may then be modified to call a library method upon detection of the start method. The library method may serve as a notification to the start of the method and causes a reflector to retrieve information from the incoming request. The incoming information may include data from which a business transaction name may be determined. The business transaction name is then associated with the monitoring of the particular request. When an exit call is detected, a call may be made to the library for a method which invokes a decorator. The decorator may insert business transaction name and other data into the outgoing call.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for monitoring a binary process, comprising:
monitoring a first application implemented as a binary process, the binary process including a process in a binary language and executing on a first machine;
detecting, at the first machine, communication with the binary process by a second application on a second machine, the second application not implemented as a binary process, wherein the communication is sending an outgoing call to the second application;
inserting method parameters into the outgoing call, wherein inserting includes calling a method from a library, in response to detecting the communication, to invoke a reflector module, the called method configured to write parameters;
installing the reflector module at an address associated with the communication, the reflector module reading one or more parameters contained within the detected communication, the one or more parameters including distributed business transaction information;
monitoring the second application on the second machine; and
correlating the first application implemented as a binary process and the second application not implemented as a binary process as part of the distributed business transaction based on data associated with monitoring the binary process and data associated with monitoring the second application, the distributed business transaction implemented by the first application and the second application across the first machine and the second machine.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the binary process is implemented in C++ language or C language.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the second application is a java application or a .NET application.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the communication is receiving a call from the second application, the method further comprising capturing method parameters of an incoming call.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising determining a name for the distributed business transaction based at least in part from the method parameters.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising configuring the binary process to identify a begin method and an end method to monitor.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein monitoring includes calling monitoring code from a library from within the binary process.

8. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having embodied thereon a program, the program being executable by a processor to perform a method for monitoring a binary process, the method comprising:
monitoring a first application implemented as a binary process, the binary process including a process in a binary language and executing on a first machine;
detecting, at the first machine, communication with the binary process by a second application on a second machine, the second application not implemented as a binary process, wherein the communication is sending an outgoing call to the second application;
inserting method parameters into the outgoing call, wherein inserting includes calling a method from a library, in response to detecting the communication, to invoke a reflector module, the called method configured to write parameters;
installing the reflector module at an address associated with the communication, the reflector module reading one or more parameters contained within the detected communication, the one or more parameters including distributed business transaction information;
monitoring the second application on the second machine; and
correlating the first application implemented as a binary process and the second application not implemented as a binary process as part of the distributed business transaction based on data associated with monitoring the binary process and data associated with monitoring the second application, the distributed business transaction implemented by the first application and the second application across the first machine and the second machine.

9. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 8 , wherein the binary process is implemented in C++ language or C language.

10. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 9 , wherein the second application is a Java application or a .NET application.

11. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 8 , wherein the communication is receiving a call from the second application, the method further comprising capturing method parameters of an incoming call.

12. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 11 , the method further comprising determining a name for the distributed business transaction based at least in part from the method parameters.

13. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 8 , the method further comprising configuring the binary process to identify a begin method and an end method to monitor.

14. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 8 , wherein monitoring includes calling monitoring code from a library from within the binary process.

15. A system for monitoring an application, comprising:
a processor;
a memory; and
one or more modules stored in memory and executable by a processor to monitor a first application implemented as a binary process, the binary process including a process in a binary language and executing on a first machine, detect, at the first machine, communication with the binary process by a second application on a second machine, the second application not implemented as a binary process wherein the communication is sending an outgoing call to the second application, insert method parameters into the outgoing call, wherein insert includes call a method from a library, in response to detecting the communication, to invoke a reflector module, the called method configured to write parameters, install the reflector module at an address associated with the communication, the reflector module reading one or more parameters contained within the detected communication, the one or more parameters including distributed business transaction information, monitor the second application on the second machine, and correlate the first application implemented as a binary process and the second application not implemented as a binary process as part of the distributed business transaction based on data associated with monitoring the binary process and data associated with monitoring the second application, the distributed business transaction implemented by the first application and the second application across the first machine and the second machine.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the binary process is implemented in C++ language or C language.

17. The system of claim 16 , wherein the second application is a java application or a .NET application.

18. The system of claim 15 , wherein the communication is receiving a call from the second application, the method further comprising capturing method parameters of an incoming call.

19. The system of claim 18 , the one or more modules further executable to determine a name for the distributed business transaction based at least in part from the method parameters.

20. The system of claim 15 , the one or more modules further executable to configure the binary process to identify a begin method and an end method to monitor.

21. The system of claim 15 , wherein monitoring includes calling monitoring code from a library from within the binary process.

Assignees

• Appdynamics Inc

Inventors

• Kumar Pankaj
• Gupta Amod
• Nagaraj Sanjay
• Margulis Michael

Classifications

• G06F2201/865

  Monitoring of software · CPC title

• G06F11/3093

  Configuration details thereof, e.g. installation, enabling, spatial arrangement of the probes · CPC title

• G06F11/3003

  Monitoring arrangements specially adapted to the computing system or computing system component being monitored · CPC title

• G06F2201/815

  Virtual · CPC title

• G06F9/466

  Transaction processing · CPC title