Deploying Trace Objectives using Cost Analyses

Abstract

A tracing management system may use cost analyses and performance budgets to dispatch tracing objectives to instrumented systems that may collect trace data while running an application. The tracing management system may analyze individual tracing workloads for processing, storage, and network performance costs, and select workloads to deploy based on a resource budget that may be set for a particular device. In some cases, complementary tracing objectives may be selected that maximize consumption of resources within an allocated budget. The budgets may allocate certain resources for tracing, which may be a mechanism to limit any adverse effects from tracing when running an application.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method performed by a computer processor, said method comprising:
 receiving a plurality of tracer objectives, each of said tracer objectives comprising a set of monitored objects and a tracer cost, said set of monitored objects being objects within an application;   identifying a tracing system executing said application;   determining a tracing resource budget for said tracing system;   selecting a first tracer objective having a first tracer cost, said first tracer cost being within said tracing resource budget; and   causing said first tracer objective to be executed on said tracing system.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 selecting a second tracer objective having a second tracer cost, said second tracer cost being within said tracing resource budget; and 
 causing said second tracer objective to be executed on said tracing system. 
 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , said tracing resource budget being greater than a sum of said first tracer cost and said second tracer cost. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , said first tracer objective and said second tracer objective being executed at the same time. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 2 , said tracing resource budget being less than a sum of said first tracer cost and said second tracer cost. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , said second tracer objective being executed when said first tracer objective is not executing. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 determining that said first tracer cost is larger than said tracing resource budget; and 
 changing said first tracer objective so that said first tracer cost is less than said tracing resource budget. 
 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 , said changing said first tracer objective comprises adjusting one of a group composed of:
 sampling rate; and   duration of execution.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 identifying a plurality of tracing systems; 
 for each of said plurality of tracing systems, determining a tracing resource budget, said tracing system being selected from said plurality of tracing systems. 
 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9  further comprising:
 for each of said plurality of tracing systems, determining a set of capabilities. 
 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , a first tracing system having a first set of capabilities and said second tracing system having a second set of capabilities, said first set of capabilities being different from said second set of capabilities. 
     
     
         12 . A system comprising:
 a processor;   a dispatcher executing on said processor, said dispatcher that:
 receives a plurality of tracer objectives, each of said tracer objectives comprising a set of monitored objects and a tracer cost, said set of monitored objects being objects within an application; 
 identifies a tracing system executing said application; 
 determines a tracing resource budget for said tracing system; 
 selects a first tracer objective having a first tracer cost, said first tracer cost being within said tracing resource budget; and 
 causes said first tracer objective to be executed on said tracing system. 
   
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 12  further comprising:
 said application. 
 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 13  further comprising:
 said application executing on said processor. 
 
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 12  further comprising:
 a plurality of processors. 
 
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 15 , said application executing on a first processor, said dispatcher executing on a second processor. 
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 15 , said application executing on a first processor, said tracing objective executing at least in part on a second processor. 
     
     
         18 . A system comprising:
 a plurality of application devices executing an application and having an instrumentation infrastructure;   a first device comprising a dispatcher, said dispatcher that;
 receives a plurality of tracer objectives, each of said tracer objectives comprising a set of monitored objects and a tracer cost, said set of monitored objects being objects within an application; 
 identifies a tracing system executing said application, said tracing system being one of said application devices; 
 determines a tracing resource budget for said tracing system; 
 selects a first tracer objective having a first tracer cost, said first tracer cost being within said tracing resource budget; and 
 causes said first tracer objective to be executed on said tracing system. 
   
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 18 , said plurality of application devices each executing an instance of said application. 
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 18 , at least some of said application devices executing a first portion of said application.