This document describes the accounting records for Broker that can be used for several purposes, including:
application chargeback
for apportioning EntireX resource consumption on the conversation and/or
the application level;
performance measurement
for analyzing application throughput (bytes, messages, etc.) to
determine overall performance;
trend analysis
for using data to determine periods of heavy and/or light resource
and/or application usage.
This document covers the following topics:
In the EntireX Accounting record, there are various types of data available for consumption by applications that process the accounting data:
| Field Name | Accounting Version |
Type of Field | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Record Write Time | 1 | A14 Timestamp in "YYYYMMDDHHMMSS" format | The time this record was written to the accounting file in YYYYMMDDHHMMSS format. |
| EntireX Broker ID | 1 | A32 | Broker ID from attribute file. |
| EntireX Version | 1 | A8 | Version information, v.r.s.p, where:
v = version for example 8.1.2.00 |
| Platform of Operation | 1 | A32 | Platform where EntireX is running. |
| EntireX Start Time | 1 | A14 Timestamp in "YYYYMMDDHHMMSS" format | Time EntireX was initialized in YYYYMMDDHHMMSS format. |
| Accounting Record Type | 1 | A1 | It is always C for conversation. Future Types will have a different value in this field. |
| Client User ID | 1 | A32 | USER-ID ACI field from the client in the conversation. |
| Client Token | 1 | A32 | TOKEN field from the ACI from the client. |
| Client Physical ID | 1 | A56 | The physical user ID of the client, set by EntireX. |
| Client Communication Type | 1 | I1 | Communication used by Client:
1 = Net-Work |
| Client Requests Made | 1 | I4 | Number of Requests made by client. |
| Client Sent Bytes | 1 | I4 | Number of bytes sent by client. |
| Client Received Bytes | 1 | I4 | Number of bytes received by client. |
| Client Sent Messages | 1 | I4 | Number of messages sent by client. |
| Client Received Messages | 1 | I4 | Number of messages received by client. |
| Client Sent UOWs | 1 | I4 | Number of UOWs sent by client. |
| Client UOWs Received | 1 | I4 | Number of UOWs received by client. |
| Client Completion Code | 1 | I4 | Completion code client received when conversation ended. |
| Server User ID | 1 | A32 | USER-ID ACI field from the server in the conversation. |
| Server Token | 1 | A32 | TOKEN field from the ACI from the server. |
| Server Physical ID | 1 | A56 | The physical user ID of the server, set by EntireX. |
| Server Communication Type | 1 | I1 | Communication used by Server:
1 = Entire Net-Work |
| Server Requests Made | 1 | I4 | Number of requests made by server. |
| Server Sent Bytes | 1 | I4 | Number of bytes sent by server. |
| Server Received Bytes | 1 | I4 | Number of bytes received by server. |
| Server Sent Messages | 1 | I4 | Number of messages sent by server. |
| Server Received Messages | 1 | I4 | Number of messages received by server. |
| Server Sent UOWs | 1 | I4 | Number of UOWs sent by server. |
| Server Received UOWs | 1 | I4 | Number of UOWs received by server. |
| Server Completion Code | 1 | I4 | Completion code server received when conversation ended. |
| Conversation ID | 1 | A16 | CONV-ID from ACI. |
| Server Class | 1 | A32 | SERVER-CLASS from ACI. |
| Server Name | 1 | A32 | SERVER-NAME from ACI. |
| Service Name | 1 | A32 | SERVICE from ACI. |
| CID=NONE Indicator | 1 | A1 | Will be N if CONV-ID=NONE is indicated in application. |
| Restarted Indicator | 1 | A1 | Will be R if a conversation was restarted after a Broker shutdown. |
| Conversation Start Time | 1 | A14 Timestamp in "YYYYMMDDHHMMSS" format | Time conversation began in YYYYMMDDHHMMSS format. |
| Conversation End Time | 1 | A14 Timestamp in "YYYYMMDDHHMMSS" format | Time conversation was cleaned up in YYYYMMDDHHMMSS format. |
| Conversation CPU Time | 1 | I4 | Number of microseconds of CPU time used by the conversation |
| Client Security Identity | 2 | A32 | Actual identity of client derived from authenticated user ID. |
| Client Application Node | 2 | A32 | Node name of machine where client application executes. |
| Client Application Type | 2 | A8 | Stub type used by client application. |
| Client Application Name | 2 | A64 | Name of the executable that called the broker.
Corresponds to the Broker Information Service field APPLICATION-NAME.
|
| Client Credentials Type | 2 | I1 | Mechanism by which authentication is performed for client. |
| Server Security Identity | 2 | A32 | Actual identity of server derived from authenticated user ID. |
| Server Application Node | 2 | A32 | Node name of machine where server application executes. |
| Server Application Type | 2 | A8 | Stub type used by server application. |
| Server Application Name | 2 | A64 | Name of the executable that called the broker. Corresponds to the Broker Information Service field APPLICATION-NAME.
|
| Server Credentials Type | 2 | I1 | Mechanism by which authentication is performed for server. |
| Client RPC Library | 3 | A128 | RPC Library referenced by Client when sending the only/first request message of the conversation. |
| Client RPC Program | 3 | A128 | RPC Program referenced by Client when sending the only/first request message of the conversation. |
| Server RPC Library | 3 | A128 | RPC Library referenced by Server when sending the only/first response message of the conversation. |
| Server RPC Program | 3 | A128 | RPC Program referenced by Server when sending the only/first response message of the conversation. |
| Client IPv4 Address | 4 | A16 | IPv4 address of the client. |
| Server IPv4 Address | 4 | A16 | IPv4 address of the server. |
| Client Application Version | 4 | A16 | Application version of the client. |
| Server Application Version | 4 | A16 | Application version of the server. |
| Client IPv6 Address | 5 | A46 | IPv6 address of the client. |
| Server IPv6 Address | 5 | A46 | IPv6 address of the server. |
Note:
Accounting fields of any version greater than 1 are created only if the attribute ACCOUNTING-VERSION
value is greater than or equal to the corresponding version. For example: accounting fields of version 2 are visible only
if ACCOUNTING-VERSION=2 or higher is specified.
ACCOUNTING = NO | YES | (YES, SEPARATOR=Separator Characters) (Default is NO)
Set this parameter to "NO" (i.e., do not create accounting data) or "YES" to create accounting data. Up to seven separator characters can specified using the SEPARATOR suboption, for example ACCOUNTING = (YES, SEPARATOR=;). If no separator character is specified, the comma character will be used.
The accounting file will be located in the Broker's installed directory. The file's name is based on the ETB_LOG environment variable and the current date and time (for uniqueness). Example: If ETB_LOG is set to BROKER1.LOG, the accounting data file will be named BROKER1_YYYYMMDDHHMMSS.csv. If ETB_LOG is not set, the Broker's ID will be used, with an extension of CSV (e.g. ETB048_YYYYMMDDHHMMSS.csv). See Environment Variables in EntireX.
Customers can use the EntireX accounting data to perform chargeback calculations for resource utilization in a data center. Suppose EntireX Broker is being used to dispatch messages for three business departments: Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable, and Inventory. At the end of each month, the customer needs to determine how much of the operation and maintenance cost of EntireX Broker should be assigned to these departments. For a typical month, assume the following is true:
| Department | Amount of Data | Percentage | Messages Sent | Percentage | Average Percentage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Accts Payable | 50 MB | 25 | 4000 | 20 | 22.5 |
| Accts Receivable | 40 MB | 20 | 6000 | 30 | 25 |
| Inventory | 110 MB | 55 | 10000 | 50 | 52.5 |
The use of Broker resources here is based upon both the amount of traffic sent to the Broker (bytes) as well as how often the Broker is called (messages). The average of the two percentages is used to internally bill the departments, so 52.5% of the cost of running EntireX Broker would be paid by the Inventory Department, 25% by the Accounts Receivable Department, and 22.5% by the Accounts Payable Department.
The Accounting Data can also be used for trend analysis. Suppose a customer has several point-of-sale systems in several stores throughout the United States that are tied into the corporate inventory database with EntireX. The stubs would be running at the stores, and the sales data would be transmitted to the Broker, which would hand it off to the appropriate departments in inventory. If these departments wish to ascertain when the stores are busiest, they can use the accounting data to monitor store transactions. Assume all of the stores are open every day from 9 AM to 10 PM.
| Local Time | Average: Weekday Transactions per Store | Maximum Weekday Transactions in any Store | Average Weekend Transactions per Store | Maximum Weekend Transactions in any Store |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 AM | 7.3 | 27 | 28.2 | 83 |
| 10 AM | 11.2 | 31 | 29.3 | 102 |
| 11 AM | 14.6 | 48 | 37.9 | 113 |
| 12 noon | 56.2 | 106 | 34.8 | 98 |
| 1 PM | 25.6 | 65 | 34.2 | 95 |
| 2 PM | 17.2 | 52 | 38.5 | 102 |
| 3 PM | 12.1 | 23 | 42.7 | 99 |
| 4 PM | 18.3 | 34 | 43.2 | 88 |
| 5 PM | 26.2 | 47 | 45.2 | 93 |
| 6 PM | 38.2 | 87 | 40.6 | 105 |
| 7 PM | 29.6 | 83 | 39.2 | 110 |
| 8 PM | 18.6 | 78 | 28.6 | 85 |
| 9 PM | 11.2 | 55 | 17.5 | 62 |
The owner of the stores can examine the data and make decisions based upon the data here. For example, on weekdays, he or she can see that there is little business until lunchtime, when the number of transactions increase. It then decreases during lunch hour; then there is another increase from 5 PM to 8 PM, after people leave work. Based on this data, the owner might investigate changing the store hours on weekdays to 10 AM to 9 PM. On the weekend the trends are different, and the store hours could be adjusted as well, although there is a more regular customer flow each hour on the weekends.
Assume that a customer has two applications that perform basic request/response messaging for similar sized messages. The applications consist of many Windows PC clients and Natural RPC Servers on UNIX. An analysis of the accounting data shows the following:
| Application Type | Class | Server | Service | Average Server Messages Received per Conversation | Average Client Messages Received per Conversation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Application 1: | CLASS1 | SERVER1 | SERVICE1 | 10.30 | 10.29 |
| Application 2: | CLASS2 | SERVER2 | SERVICE2 | 10.30 | 8.98 |
A further analysis of the accounting data reveals that there are a lot of non-zero response codes in the records pertaining to Application 2, and that a lot of these non-zero responses indicate timeouts. With that information, the customer can address the problem by modifying the server code, or by adjusting the timeout parameters for SERVER2 so that it can have more time to get a response from the Service.
