Terminal server data file extraction and analysis application

Details Terminal server data file extraction and analysis application Terminal server data file extraction and analysis application

2000-09-19

2004-02-10

Iqbal, Nadeem (Department: 2184)

Error detection/correction and fault detection/recovery

Data processing system error or fault handling

Reliability and availability

C714S020000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06691259

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This application involves methods for organization and analysis of hundreds of similarly formatted Terminal Server data files which have been recorded from the results of the Terminal Server's performance test operations.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In the situation involving networks where numerous client terminals are connected to a server, it is desirable to obtain information as to the actual execution times for accessing programs, and also for example, accessing information about the time required for executing different parts of available programs.
Thus, a performance and measurement system for defining and measuring user-relevant response times to remote client stations which are serviced by a terminal server, is of great importance to evaluate the status of a network of users and terminal servers.
Performance data produced by the interaction of the client-users and the terminal server is collected and subsequently logged. Once the data is logged, the data may then be accessed and collected by an administrator in order to evaluate the system responses involved in the network.
Performance tools are used to measure the performance of the server in regard to its availability of servicing the various and multiple clients. A resultant state of the system may be accomplished in order to evaluate the total resource utilization of the system. Such a determination may eventually discover which resources cause slowdowns or bottlenecks in system performance, and once identified these resources can be upgraded to improve system performance.
Another useful purpose for evaluating computer performance may be for what is called “application tuning” in order to focus on particular user applications or situations in order to determine how to improve system performance regarding a particular application.
Another use for performance tools is for the purpose of troubleshooting and to help determine why system performance may be degrading without any immediately apparent reason.
In many situations, so-called performance tools have generated too much information making it difficult for an operator-user to fully comprehend the nature of what is happening. If a system gathers and logs huge amounts of information, this requires large memory sources for data logging and is often very difficult to analyze, in addition to taking a lot of processing power to generate this information and then to try to present this data into a form that is useful to a user.
It is always a problem to identify when the performance of a system has been degraded beyond acceptable limitations. Many of the earlier attempts for such analysis provided only indirect information regarding the end-user's performance expectations in addition to requiring extraordinary administration and management efforts in the system to develop the required information. Many of the earlier systems were likely to be influenced by the test environment characteristics and did not provide feedback for the actual client sessions under test. As a result, this necessitated the opening of additional terminal server connections which were time-consuming and costly and caused significant additional CPU overhead.
As was previously described in the co-pending U.S. Ser. No. 09/664,100 entitled “TERMINAL SERVER SIMULATED CLIENT PERFORMANCE MEASURING TOOL”, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,567,767, a system and method was provided to measure and collect the response times for the variety of designated actions initiated by terminal server scripts. The method operated to call a timer utility before and after each designated action, such as—logging on, opening applications, and typing, after which the data was logged into a Timer Log File.
The presently described application then tackles the problem of accessing hundreds of formatted Terminal Server data files in order to organize and graph the information for suitable analysis.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A program is provided to measure, collect, and analyze response times for a variety of actions initiated by terminal server scripts in a system where multiple client users are connected via hubs and switches to a back-end server. The calling of a timer utility before and after each set of designated actions provides information on resulting response times. These response times are collected and imported into a database where the data is organized for analysis and comparison.
The performance data is logged into a timer log file which is then subjected to the data file extraction and analysis process where the log files are queried, sorted, then calculations are made and placed into desired formats so that the resulting information can be analyzed.


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