Transaction log management
View Patent ↗A transaction processing system comprising a transaction log, a log management policy, a profile and a log manager, and method for managing the transaction log are provided. The method comprises maintaining a transaction log of recoverable changes made by transaction processing tasks; storing a log management policy including at least one log threshold and a plurality of possible actions associated therewith; and generating a historical profile comprising a set of acceptable values for characteristics of the log resource usage of tasks. Such log resource usage characteristics may include time taken for a task to complete, CPU resource consumed, number of log records made, etc. From a comparison of the profile behaviour to the actual behaviour of a task which has been identified as holding up trimming of the log, the likelihood that the identified task has entered an invalid loop and represents a ‘bad’ transaction instance, rather than simply just taking a long time to complete, can be inferred. Thus the most appropriate action can be selected and taken.
1. A method for managing a transaction log in a transaction processing system, the method comprising:
maintaining a transaction log of recoverable changes made by transaction processing tasks;
storing a log management policy including a log threshold and a plurality of possible actions associated therewith;
generating a historical profile comprising a set of acceptable values for characteristics of the log resource usage of tasks;
monitoring current usage of the log by transaction processing tasks to determine when the log threshold is reached; and
in response to determining that the log threshold has been reached:
identifying an active task having the oldest log entry of all active tasks;
comparing a value of a characteristic of the identified task to the set of acceptable values identified in the profile for a corresponding characteristic;
selecting, in dependence on the comparison, one of the plurality of possible actions associated with the threshold reached; and
taking the selected action.
2. A method according to claim 1 , in which the log management policy defines a series of log thresholds, each having one or more actions associated therewith.
3. A method according to claim 1 , wherein a log threshold specified in the log management policy is reached when a predetermined number of successive attempts to trim the log have failed.
4. A method according to claim 1 , wherein a log threshold specified in the log management policy is reached when an estimate of the time left until the log is full is less than a predetermined period of time.
5. A method according to claim 1 , in which the plurality of actions associated with the log threshold comprise a series of progressively stronger actions to enable the size of the log to be reduced.
6. A method according to claim 1 , in which a stronger action of two or more possible actions is selected if the comparison step indicates that a value of a characteristic of the log usage of the identified task is outside the set of acceptable values identified in the profile.
7. A method according to claim 1 , in which an action associated with the log threshold comprises emitting a warning message.
8. A method according to claim 1 , in which an action associated with the log threshold comprises increasing a dispatching priority value of the identified task.
9. A method according to claim 5 , in which an action associated with the log threshold comprises removing the identified task from the system.
10. A transaction processing system comprising:
a transaction log for recording recoverable changes made by transaction processing tasks;
log management policy including a log threshold and a plurality of possible actions associated therewith;
a profiler for generating a historical profile comprising a set of acceptable values for characteristics of the log resource usage of tasks;
a log manager for monitoring usage of the log by transaction processing tasks and determining when the log threshold is reached; and operable, in response to determining that the log threshold has been reached, to:
identify an active task having the oldest log entry of all active tasks;
compare a value of a characteristic of the identified task to the set of acceptable values identified in the historical profile for a corresponding characteristic;
select, in dependence on the comparison, one of the plurality of possible actions associated with the threshold reached; and
request the selected action.
11. A transaction processing system according to claim 10 , wherein the log management policy defines a series of log thresholds, each having one or more actions associated therewith.
12. A transaction processing system according to claim 10 , further comprising function for storing a count value indicative of a number of successive failed attempts to trim the log.
13. A transaction processing system according to claim 10 , further comprising function for estimating the time left before the log becomes full.
14. A transaction processing system according to claim 10 , in which the plurality of actions associated with the log threshold comprise a series of progressively stronger actions to enable the size of the log to be reduced.
15. A transaction processing system according to claim 14 , in which the log manager selects a stronger action if the comparison step indicates that a value of a characteristic of the current log usage of the identified task is outside the set of acceptable values identified in the profile.
16. A transaction processing system according to claim 10 , further comprising a message emitter, and in which an action associated with a log threshold comprises emitting a warning message.
17. A transaction processing system according to claim 10 , further comprising a dispatcher for selecting a task for dispatch, and in which an action associated with a log threshold comprises the dispatcher increasing a dispatching priority value of the identified task.
18. A transaction processing system according to claim 14 , further comprising a transaction manager, and in which an action associated with a log threshold comprises the transaction manager removing the identified task from the system.
19. A computer program element comprising computer program code to, when loaded into a computer system and executed by a processor thereon, cause the computer to perform the steps of:
maintaining a transaction log of recoverable changes made by transaction processing tasks;
storing a log management policy including a log threshold and a plurality of possible actions associated therewith;
generating a historical profile comprising a set of acceptable values for characteristics of the log resource usage of tasks;
monitoring current usage of the log by transaction processing tasks to determine when the log threshold is reached; and
in response to determining that the log threshold has been reached:
identifying an active task having the oldest log entry of all active tasks;
comparing a value of a characteristic of the identified task to the set of acceptable values identified in the profile for a corresponding characteristic;
selecting, in dependence on the comparison, one of the plurality of possible actions associated with the threshold reached; and
taking the selected action.