Systems for monitoring and improving performance on the world wide web

A computerized method executed on a Web server having one or more computers connected to each other and to client computers by a computer network, said method comprising:

• receiving over said network URL requests from individual client computers requesting the transmission by said server to said client computers of individual data objects identified by URL;
• responding to the receipt of each of individual URL requests by transmitting information including one or more data objects corresponding to the URL contained in said request to the given client computer from which the request came, with the transmitted information transmitted in response to some such URL requests including performance monitoring instructions which instruct the given client computer to send to the server a performance message indicating the length of time required on the given client computer for the performance of an act associated with one or more of said transmitted data objects;
• and
• receiving said performance messages transmitted by individual client computers to said server in response to such performance monitoring instructions;
• wherein said performance monitoring instructions instruct a client computer to send a performance message indicating the length of time required on a client computer for performance of a given portion of computer programming included in one or more of said data objects transmitted to said client computer.

A computerized method executed on a Web server having one or more computers connected to each other and to client computers by a computer network, said method comprising:

• receiving over said network URL requests from individual client computers requesting the transmission by said server to said client computers of individual data objects identified by URL;
• responding to the receipt of each of individual URL requests by transmitting information including one or more data objects corresponding to the URL contained in said request to the given client computer from which the request came, with the transmitted information transmitted in response to some such URL requests including performance monitoring instructions which instruct the given client computer to send to the server a performance message indicating the length of time required on the given client computer for the performance of an act associated with one or more of said transmitted data objects;
• and
• receiving said performance messages transmitted by individual client computers to said server in response to such performance monitoring instructions;
• wherein said performance monitoring instructions instruct:
• a first data object downloaded on to said client computer to communicate to a second data object when a first event occurs in said first data object on said client computer;
• and
• a second data object downloaded on to said client computer to send a performance message indicating the difference in time between the occurrence of said first event and the occurrence of a second event occurring in a data object other than said first data object which has been downloaded onto said client computer.

A computerized method executed on a Web server having one or more computers connected to each other and to client computers by a computer network, said method comprising:

• receiving over said network URL requests from individual client computers requesting the transmission by said server to said client computers of individual data objects identified by URL;
• responding to the receipt of each of individual URL requests by transmitting information including one or more data objects corresponding to the URL contained in said request to the given client computer from which the request came, with the transmitted information transmitted in response to some such URL requests including performance monitoring instructions which instruct the given client computer to send to the server a performance message indicating the length of time required on the given client computer for the performance of an act associated with one or more of said transmitted data objects;
• and
• receiving said performance messages transmitted by individual client computers to said server in response to such performance monitoring instructions;
• wherein said performance monitoring instructions instruct a client computer to send a performance message indicating the time, measured on the client computer, to perform a transaction which includes the uploading of user input from the client computer to said server and the downloading of information, in response to said upload, from the server to the client computer.

A computerized method executed on a Web server having one or more computers connected to each other and to client computers by a computer network, said method comprising:

• receiving over said network URL requests from individual client computers requesting the transmission by said server to said client computers of individual data objects identified by URL;
• responding to the receipt of each of individual URL requests by transmitting information including one or more data objects corresponding to the URL contained in said request to the given client computer from which the request came, with the transmitted information transmitted in response to some such URL requests including performance monitoring instructions which instruct the given client computer to send to the server a performance message indicating the length of time required on the given client computer for the performance of an act associated with one or more of said transmitted data objects;
• and
• receiving said performance messages transmitted by individual client computers to said server in response to such performance monitoring instructions;
• wherein said performance monitoring instructions instruct a client computer to send a performance message indicating when a user of the client computer aborts the downloading of a page and the length of time the downloading of said page had taken prior to said abort.

A computerized method executed on a Web server having one or more computers connected to each other and to client computers by a computer network, said method comprising:

• receiving over said network URL requests from individual client computers requesting the transmission by said server to said client computers of individual data objects identified by URL;
• responding to the receipt of each of individual URL requests by transmitting information including one or more data objects corresponding to the URL contained in said request to the given client computer from which the request came, with the transmitted information transmitted in response to some such URL requests including performance monitoring instructions which instruct the given client computer to send to the server a performance message indicating the length of time required on the given client computer for the performance of an act associated with one or more of said transmitted data objects;
• and
• receiving said performance messages transmitted by individual client computers to said server in response to such performance monitoring instructions;
• wherein:
• said computer network has an end-system address space including the addresses of all of the client computers on said network;
• each performance message sent by a client computer to said server includes a source address identifying the end-system address of the client computer from which said performance message originated;
• and
• at least some of the performance messages received by said server are problem messages which indicate that the length of time required for the downloading of data objects to a client computer took more than a threshold amount of time;
• and
• said method further includes creating a problem distribution representation, which indicates how source addresses of the problem messages received by the server are distributed in said end-system address space by organizing information from said problem messages by said client source addresses.

A computerized method executed on a Web server having one or more computers connected to each other and to client computers by a computer network, said method comprising:

• receiving over said network URL requests from individual client computers requesting the transmission by said server to said client computers of individual data objects identified by URL;
• responding to the receipt of each of individual URL requests by transmitting information including one or more data objects corresponding to the URL contained in said request to the given client computer from which the request came, with the transmitted information transmitted in response to some such URL requests including performance monitoring instructions which instruct the given client computer to send to the server a performance message indicating the length of time required on the given client computer for the performance of an act associated with one or more of said transmitted data objects;
• and
• receiving said performance messages transmitted by individual client computers to said server in response to such performance monitoring instructions;
• wherein:
• said responding to the receipt of URL requests includes transmitting copies of different data objects in response to different URL requests, with each of said data objects having an associated server address which is an address within the address space of the server from which copies of the data object are transmitted to client computers;
• said performance monitoring instructions instruct client computers to monitor the download time of data objects transmitted to client computers by sending to the server a problem message indicating when the time required for the downloading of a given one of such monitored data object exceeds a certain threshold duration and indicating the identity of the given data object;
• and
• said method further includes generating an indication of whether or not the server's performance problem appears to be localized within a sub-portion of the server's address space as a function of the degree to which the distribution of said server addresses of monitored data objects for which problem messages are generated is concentrated within a certain portion of said server's address space.

A computerized method executed on a Web server having one or more computers connected to each other and to client computers by a computer network, said method comprising:

• receiving over said network URL requests from individual client computers requesting the transmission by said server to said client computers of individual data objects identified by URL;
• responding to the receipt of each of individual URL requests by transmitting information including one or more data objects corresponding to the URL contained in said request to the given client computer from which the request came, with the transmitted information transmitted in response to some such URL requests including performance monitoring instructions which instruct the given client computer to send to the server a performance message indicating the length of time required on the given client computer for the performance of an act associated with one or more of said transmitted data objects;
• and
• receiving said performance messages transmitted by individual client computers to said server in response to such performance monitoring instructions;
• wherein:
• said data objects transmitted by said server in response to URL requests include composite data objects, the display of which require the downloading of component data objects referred to by URL within said composite data objects;
• and
• said performance monitoring instructions include composite monitoring instructions which cause client computers to send a problem message to the server when the download time of a composite data object exceed a certain threshold and component monitoring instructions which cause client computers to send a problem message to the server when the download time of a component data object exceed a certain threshold;
• and
• said method further includes responding to a distribution of problem messages which indicate there is a performance problem associated with a given composite data object by increasing the number of client computers which receive component monitoring instructions for component data objects of the composite data object which appears to have the performance problem.

A computerized method executed on a Web server having one or more computers connected to each other and to client computers by a computer network, said method comprising:

• receiving over said network URL requests from individual client computers requesting the transmission by said server to said client computers of individual data objects identified by URL;
• responding to the receipt of each of individual URL requests by transmitting information including one or more data objects corresponding to the URL contained in said request to the given client computer from which the request came, with the transmitted information transmitted in response to some such URL requests including performance monitoring instructions which instruct the given client computer to send to the server a performance message indicating the length of time required on the given client computer for the performance of an act associated with one or more of said transmitted data objects;
• and
• receiving said performance messages transmitted by individual client computers to said server in response to such performance monitoring instructions;
• wherein the responding to URL requests includes transmitting a given type of performance monitoring instructions in response to only a sampling of requests for a given URL.

A computerized method executed on a Web server having one or more computers connected to each other and to client computers by a computer network, said method comprising:

• receiving over said network URL requests from individual client computers requesting the transmission by said server to said client computers of individual data objects identified by URL;
• responding to the receipt of each of individual URL requests by transmitting information including one or more data objects corresponding to the URL contained in said request to the given client computer from which the request came, with the transmitted information transmitted in response to some such URL requests including performance monitoring instructions which instruct the given client computer to send to the server a performance message indicating the length of time required on the given client computer for the performance of an act associated with one or more of said transmitted data objects;
• and
• receiving said performance messages transmitted by individual client computers to said server in response to such performance monitoring instructions;
• wherein:
• said performance messages sent by client computers to the server include indications of the length of time required for the downloading of data objects from the server to client computers;
• and
• said method further includes sending to client computers an indication of the estimated time required for future downloading of data objects from the server to client computers, based on said download time indications contained in said performance messages received by said server.

A computerized method executed on a Web server having one or more computers connected to each other and to client computers by a computer network, said method comprising:

• receiving over said network URL requests from individual client computers requesting the transmission by said server to said client computers of individual data objects identified by URL;
• responding to the receipt of each of individual URL requests by transmitting information including one or more data objects corresponding to the URL contained in said request to the given client computer from which the request came, with the transmitted information transmitted in response to some such URL requests including performance monitoring instructions which instruct the given client computer to send to the server a performance message indicating the length of time required on the given client computer for the performance of an act associated with one or more of said transmitted data objects;
• receiving said performance messages transmitted by individual client computers to said server in response to such performance monitoring instructions;
• and
• responding to the receipt of performance messages indicating a problem by causing said responding to the receipt of URL requests to alter the information it transmits to a client computer in response to a request for a given URL.

A computerized method executed on a Web server having one or more computers connected to each other and to client computers by a computer network, said method comprising:

• receiving over said network URL requests from individual client computers requesting the transmission by said server to said client computers of individual data objects identified by URL;
• responding to the receipt of each of individual URL requests by transmitting information including one or more data objects corresponding to the URL contained in said request to the given client computer from which the request came, with the transmitted information transmitted in response to some such URL requests including performance monitoring instructions which instruct the given client computer to send to the server a performance message indicating the length of time required on the given client computer for the performance of an act associated with one or more of said transmitted data objects;
• and
• receiving said performance messages transmitted by individual client computers to said server in response to such performance monitoring instructions;
• wherein;
• said server includes a plurality of server computers each having a different address on said computer network;
• and
• said method further includes responding to the receipt of a set of performance messages which indicate a problem by causing said responding to the receipt of URL requests to alter which of said server computers transmits a data object in response to a request for a given URL.

A computerized method executed on a Web server having one or more computers connected to each other and to client computers by a computer network, said method comprising:

• receiving over said network URL requests from individual client computers requesting the transmission by said server to said client computers of individual data objects identified by URL;
• responding to the receipt of each of individual URL requests by transmitting information including one or more data objects corresponding to the URL contained in said request to the given client computer from which the request came, with the transmitted information transmitted in response to some such URL requests including performance monitoring instructions which instruct the given client computer to send to the server a performance message indicating the length of time required to download one or more of said transmitted data objects to the client computer;
• receiving said performance messages transmitted by individual client computers to said server in response to such performance monitoring instructions;
• and
• responding to the receipt of performance messages from a client computer indicating that the length of time required for the downloading of data objects to the client computer took more than a threshold amount of time by causing said responding to the receipt of a URL request from that client computer to decrease the size of one or more data objects which are transmitted in response to such a request.

A computerized method for use in distributing data objects to client computers over a computer network, which method is executed on a server system having a plurality of server computers connected to and having individual addresses on said network, with at least one of said server computers being a spreader computer and a plurality of said server computers being backend server computers, said method comprising:

• receiving, at the spreader computer, individual URL requests, each of which URL requests includes:
• a destination address addressed to the spreader computer
• a URL indicating which data object is to be transmitted in response to the request;
• and
• a source address identifying the client computer to which the data object is to be sent;
• responding, at the spreader computer, to a given URL request by sending a corresponding redirected request to a selected one of said backend server computers, which redirected-request contains the URL request's source address and an indication of a data object, corresponding to the URL request's requested URL, which is to be sent to said source address;
• and
• responding, at each backend server, to the receipt of a redirected request by transmitting the data object identified by the redirected request to the source address contained in the redirected request;
• wherein the sending of a given redirected URL request includes selecting which of said plurality of backend server computers to redirect the given URL request to as a function of the network entity represented by the source address of the URL request.

A computerized method for use in distributing data objects to client computers over a computer network, which method is executed on a server system having a plurality of server computers connected to and having individual addresses on said network, with at least one of said server computers being a spreader computer and a plurality of said server computers being backend server computers, said method comprising:

• receiving, at the spreader computer, individual URL requests, each of which URL requests includes:
• a destination address addressed to the spreader computer
• a URL indicating which data object is to be transmitted in response to the request;
• and
• a source address identifying the client computer to which the data object is to be sent;
• responding, at the spreader computer, to a given URL request by sending a corresponding redirected request to a selected one of said backend server computers, which redirected request contains the URL request's source address and an indication of a data object, corresponding to the URL request's requested URL, which is to be sent to said source address;
• and
• responding, at each backend server, to the receipt of a redirected request by transmitting the data object identified by the redirected request to the source address contained in the redirected request;
• wherein the sending of a given redirected URL request includes selecting which of said plurality of backend server computers to redirect the given URL request to by accessing information associated with, but not included in, the source address of the URL request and selecting which backend server to redirect the given URL request to as a function of said accessed information.

A computerized method for use in distributing data objects to client computers over a computer network, which method is executed on a server system having a plurality of server computers connected to and having individual addresses on said network, with at least one of said server computers being a spreader computer and a plurality of said server computers being backend server computers, said method comprising:

• receiving, at the spreader computer, individual URL requests, each of which URL requests includes:
• a destination address addressed to the spreader computer
• a URL indicating which data object is to be transmitted in response to the request;
• and
• a source address identifying the client computer to which the data object is to be sent;
• responding, at the spreader computer, to a given URL request by sending a corresponding redirected request to a selected one of said backend server computers, which redirected request contains the URL request's source address and an indication of a data object, corresponding to the URL request's requested URL, which is to be sent to said source address;
• and
• responding, at each backend server, to the receipt of a redirected request by transmitting the data object identified by the redirected request to the source address contained in the redirected request;
• wherein the sending of redirected URL requests includes selecting which of said plurality of backend server computers to redirect a given URL request to as a function of the source address of the URL request by doing the following:
• redirecting at least some URL requests having source addresses from a given portion of the address space of the computer network to different ones of said backend server computers;
• receiving in response to said redirected requests a set of performance messages from client computers located in the given network address portion indicating the time required to download data objects sent to client computers in said given network address portion from each of said different backend server computers;
• and
• redirecting at least some URL requests having source addresses from said given network address portion to said different backend server computers as a function of the relative download times to the given network address portion indicated for said different backend servers by said performance messages.