Methods, systems and computer program products for evaluating network performance using diagnostic rules identifying performance data to be collected

#The present invention, generally, relates to network communication methods, systems and computer program products and, more particularly, to methods, systems and computer program products for evaluating the performance of a network.

#Companies are often dependent on mission-critical network applications to stay productive and competitive. To achieve this, information technology (IT) organizations preferably provide reliable application performance on a 24-hour, 7-day-a-week basis. One known approach to network performance testing to aid in this task is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,881,237 (“the 237 patent”) entitled Methods, Systems and Computer Program Products for Test Scenario Based Communications Network Performance Testing, which is incorporated herein by reference as if set forth in its entirety. As described in the '237 patent, a test scenario simulating actual applications communication traffic on the network is defined. The test scenario may specify a plurality of endpoint node pairs on the network that are to execute respective test scripts to generate active traffic on the network. Various performance characteristics are measured while the test is executing. The resultant data may be provided to a console node, coupled to the network, which may also initiate execution of the test scenario by the various endpoint nodes. The endpoint nodes may execute the tests as application level programs on existing endpoint nodes of a network to be tested, thereby using the actual protocol stacks of such devices without reliance on the application programs available on the endpoints.

#One application area of particular interest currently is in the use of a computer network to support voice communications. More particularly, packetized voice communications are now available using data communication networks, such as the Internet and intranets, to support voice communications typically handled in the past over a conventional switched telecommunications network (such as the public switched telephone network (PSTN)). Calls over a data network typically rely on codec hardware and/or software for voice digitization so as to provide the packetized voice communications. However, unlike conventional data communications, user perception of call quality for voice communications is typically based on their experience with the PSTN, not with their previous computer type application experiences. As a result, the types of network evaluation supported by the various approaches to network testing described above are limited in their ability to model user satisfaction for this unique application.

#FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a hardware and software environment in which the present invention may operate according to some embodiments of the present invention;

#FIG. 2 is a more detailed block diagram of a hardware and software environment in which the present invention may operate according to some embodiments of the present invention;

#FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a data processing system according to some embodiments of the present invention;

#The present invention now will be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which preferred embodiments of the invention are shown. This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout.

#As will be appreciated by one of skill in the art, the present invention may be embodied as a method, data processing system, or computer program product. Accordingly, the present invention may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects all generally referred to herein as a “circuit” or “module.” Furthermore, the present invention may take the form of a computer program product on a computer-usable storage medium having computer-usable program code means embodied in the medium. Any suitable computer readable medium may be utilized including hard disks, CD-ROMs, optical storage devices, or magnetic storage devices.

#Computer program code for carrying out operations of the present invention may be written in an object oriented programming language, such as Java® or C++. However, the computer program code for carrying out operations of the present invention may also be written in conventional procedural programming languages, such as the “C” programming language or assembly language. Furthermore, the computer program code for carrying out operations of the present invention may be written in rule based programming languages, such as Eclipse from The Haley Enterprise. The program code may execute entirely on the user's computer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand alone software package, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remote computer, or entirely on the remote computer. In the latter scenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user's computer through a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN).