Detecting upset conditions in channel instances

{
  "publication_number": "US9563495B1",
  "country": "US",
  "kind": "B1",
  "title": "Detecting upset conditions in channel instances",
  "abstract": "A method, system, and computer-readable media for automatically detecting an abnormal data transfer rate in a channel instance. The method includes determining a normal data transfer rate for a particular channel instance and then monitoring data transfer rates for a channel instance. Corrective action may be taken when the data transfer rate in a channel instances deviates more than a threshold amount from the normal rate.",
  "claims": [
    "1. One or more non-transitory computer storage media having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon for performing a method of detecting an abnormal data transfer rate in a channel instance, the method comprising; determining a normal data transfer performance for individual instances of a channel; monitoring a present data transfer performance for each of multiple instances of the channel; determining that an upset condition exists for a specific channel instance of the multiple instances because the present data transfer performance for the specific channel instance deviates from the normal data transfer performance by at least a threshold amount; and in response to said determining the upset condition exists, generating an upset response event for the specific channel instance, wherein the upset response event comprises automatically rebooting the specific channel instance.",
    "2. The media of claim 1, wherein the normal data transfer performance is determined by calculating a total amount of data communicated across the multiple instances of the channel during a time interval and then dividing the total amount by a number of channel instances in the multiple instances of the channel that are running during the time interval.",
    "3. The media of claim 2, wherein the present data transfer performance is determined by calculating an amount of data communicated across the specific channel instance during the time interval.",
    "4. The media of claim 1, wherein the threshold amount is one standard deviation from the normal data transfer performance.",
    "5. The media of claim 1, wherein the rebooting of the specific channel instance comprises generating an instruction to reboot a queue manager associated with the specific channel instance.",
    "6. The media of claim 5, wherein the method further comprises determining that one or more parallel instances of the queue manager are not presently being rebooted prior to generating said instruction.",
    "7. The media of claim 1, wherein the channel instance is associated with a series of parallel queue mangers within a messaging-middleware application and a load-balancing method is in place to distribute messages across multiple channel instances that serve the parallel queue managers in a substantially equal distribution.",
    "8. One or more non-transitory computer storage media having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon for performing a method of detecting an abnormal data transfer rate in a channel instance, the method comprising: receiving data transfer performance information describing an amount of data that is communicated over a specific instance of a channel during a period of time; comparing the amount of data with a normal data transfer performance for the specific instance of the channel, wherein the normal data transfer performance is determined by calculating a total amount of data communicated across multiple instances of the channel during a time interval and then dividing the total amount by a number of channel instances in the multiple instances of the channel that are running during the time interval; and when the amount of data deviates from the normal data transfer performance, by at least a threshold amount, generating an upset response event.",
    "9. The media of claim 8, wherein the multiple instances of the channel have the same process identification and thread identification.",
    "10. The media of claim 8, wherein the threshold amount is one standard deviation from the normal data transfer performance.",
    "11. The media of claim 8, wherein the amount of data that is communicated over the specific instance of the channel exceeds the normal data transfer performance by at least the threshold amount.",
    "12. The media of claim 8, wherein the specific instance of the channel communicates data to a queue manager, wherein the upset response event comprises determining that one or more parallel instances of the queue manager presently have capacity to handle messages being processed by the queue manager to be rebooted and automatically generating an instruction to reboot the specific instance of the channel.",
    "13. A method of detecting an abnormal data transfer rate in a channel instance, the method comprising; monitoring a present message transfer performance for an instance of a channel that communicates messages to a messaging-middleware queue in a queue manager; determining that an upset condition exists for the instance of the channel when the present message transfer performance deviates from a normal data transfer performance by at least a threshold amount; and in response to said determining the upset condition exists, automatically rebooting the queue manager, thereby rebooting the instance of the channel and all other instances of the channel connected to the queue manager.",
    "14. The method of claim 13, wherein the method further comprises determining the normal data transfer performance for a hierarchical level of channel instances.",
    "15. The method of claim 14, wherein the hierarchical level is all instances of the channel.",
    "16. The method of claim 14, wherein the hierarchical level is all instances of the channel having the same process identification.",
    "17. The method of claim 14, wherein the hierarchical level is all instances of the channel having the same process identification and same thread identification.",
    "18. The method of claim 14, wherein the normal data transfer performance is determined by calculating a total amount of data communicated across the hierarchical level of channel instances of the channel during a time interval and then dividing the total amount by a number of channel instances in the hierarchical level of channel instances that are running during the time interval."
  ],
  "description_excerpt": "This summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the detailed description. This summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used in isolation as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.\n\nThe present invention is defined by the claims below. Aspects of the present invention detect problems with one or more channel instances in a messaging middleware environment. Each channel instance carries data between a queue and components communicating with the queue. The components may be a computer application, another queue, or some other computing component. In one aspect, the queue and channel instances are part of a messaging-middleware environment. An aspect of the present invention monitors the performance of individual channel instances and detects an upset condition by comparing the present performance with a baseline performance or normal performance range. The channel instance's message transfer rate or byte transfer rate may be used to measure both present and normal performance.\n\nIllustrative aspects of the present invention are described in detail below with reference to the attached drawing figures, which are incorporated by reference herein and wherein:\n\nFIG. 1 is a drawing of an illustrative environment in which an aspect of the present invention may operate;\n\nFIG. 2 is a drawing of an exemplary computing system architecture in which an aspect of the present invention may be practiced;",
  "cpc": [
    "G06F 11/076",
    "G06F 11/00",
    "G06F 11/079",
    "G06F 11/0793",
    "G06F 11/1464",
    "G06F 11/3006",
    "G06F 11/3072",
    "G06F 13/00"
  ],
  "ipc": [
    "G06F 11/00",
    "G06F 11/07"
  ],
  "assignees": [
    "Sprint Communications Co LP"
  ],
  "inventors": [
    "Mark D. Leonard"
  ],
  "filing_date": "2014-08-13",
  "publication_date": "2017-02-07",
  "grant_date": "2017-02-07",
  "priority_date": "2014-08-13",
  "application_number": "US-201414458742-A",
  "family_id": "57908766",
  "cited_by_count": 3,
  "citations": [
    "US7246181B2",
    "US20080273555A1",
    "US20090222553A1",
    "US20130121177A1"
  ]
}