Method of recording and measuring e-business sessions on the world wide web

A method of evaluating performance of a given server application in a computer network environment, comprising the steps of:

• connecting a Web browser of a client machine to a monitoring process for generating a trace;
• during a simulated transaction session, forcing any HTTP request intended for the given server application to be redirected to the monitoring process;
• recording each HTTP request in the trace;
• and
• replaying the trace to gather information to evaluate the performance of the given server application.

A computer program product in a computer-readable medium for generating a trace of requests to a given server application in a computer network during a transaction session initiated from a client machine having a Web browser, the program product comprising:

• means supported on the client machine for intercepting any HTTP request issued from the Web browser and intended for the given server application;
• means responsive to the intercepting means for recording information associated with the HTTP request to generate the trace;
• and
• a set of HTTP processes each of which simulate a live user, wherein each HTTP process replays the trace against the given server application;
• and
• means for evaluating data generated by the HTTP processes to determine a performance of the given server application against the simulated live users.

A computer program product in a computer-readable medium for performance evaluation of a given server application in a computer network environment, comprising:

• means supported on the client machine for intercepting any HTTP request issued from the Web browser and intended for the given server application;
• means responsive to the intercepting means for recording information associated with the HTTP request to generate a session trace;
• a set of HTTP submitter routines each of which execute the trace against the server application;
• and
• means for measuring performance of the server application as the trace is executed by the HTTP submitter routines.

A computer connectable to a given server application in a computer network environment, comprising:

• a processor;
• an operating system;
• a Web browser;
• means for intercepting any HTTP request issued from the Web browser and intended for the given server application;
• means responsive to the intercepting means for recording information associated with the HTTP request to generate a session trace;
• a set of HTTP submitter routines each of which execute the trace against the server application;
• and
• means for measuring performance of the server application as the trace is executed by the HTTP submitter routines.