Web transaction analysis
View Patent ↗Individual network activities are correlated to interactions with a target web page to facilitate an analysis of the performance of the web page. This correlation is preferably performed using a combination of heuristics and rules developed to filter network activities into those activities that are likely to have been caused by the particular transaction, and those that are unlikely to be associated with that transaction. The activities that are identified as being associated with the transaction are subsequently organized to identify a time-flow of these activities within the transaction, from which performance statistics can be determined and presented to a user. Because the individual activities within the transaction are identified and time-ordered, an analysis of the effects of each activity on the overall performance of the web page can be performed to identify potential problem areas, or to diagnose reported problems.
1. A method comprising:
receiving a plurality of traffic streams captured by one or more network monitors, each traffic stream including messages between elements other than the network monitors,
parsing the messages of each traffic stream into a plurality of HTTP objects,
identifying a page object in the plurality of HTTP objects,
identifying one or more page elements in the plurality of HTTP objects that are associated with the page object,
distinguishing first page elements that are associated with a download of the page object by a user, and second page elements that are associated with a subsequent action of the user,
determining first performance parameters associated with the page object based on characteristics of the first page elements,
determining second performance parameters associated with the page object based on characteristics of the second page elements, and
providing a display based on at least one of the first and second performance parameters.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the subsequent action of the user includes a selection of an option provided by the page object.
3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the option includes a download of an other page object, the second page elements being associated with the other page object.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first performance parameters include at least one of a page size and a download time.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first performance parameters include at least one of a number of completed downloads and a number of uncompleted downloads.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein distinguishing the first and second page elements includes assessing the page elements based on a set of heuristics pertaining to attributes of the page elements.
7. The method of claim 6 , the set of heuristics pertain to attributes of the HTTP objects.
8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the attributes of the HTTP objects include at least one of: an HTTP referrer field, an HTTP location field, an HTTP user agent field.
9. The method of claim 7 , wherein the attributes of the HTTP objects include at least one of: a time, one or more address fields, one or more cookies, and a content type associated with the HTTP object.
10. The method of claim 6 , wherein distinguishing the one or more page elements includes using one or more decision trees that control a sequence of assessments based on the set of heuristics.
11. A system comprising:
a transaction identifier that is configured to:
receive a plurality of traffic streams captured by one or more network monitors, each traffic stream including messages between elements other than the network monitors,
parse the messages of each traffic stream into a plurality of HTTP objects, and
identify a page object in the plurality of HTTP objects,
a page stitcher that is configured to distinguish at least first page elements and second page elements in the plurality of HTTP objects that are associated with the page object,
a performance analyzer that is configured to:
determine first performance parameters associated with the page object based on characteristics of the first page elements, and
determine second performance parameters associated with the page object based on characteristics of the second page elements, and
a user interface that is configured to provide a display based on at least one of the first and second performance parameters.
12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the second page elements are associated with a subsequent user action while interacting with the page object.
13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the subsequent user action includes a selection of an option provided by the page object.
14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the option includes a download of an other page object, the second page elements being associated with the other page object.
15. The system of claim 11 , wherein distinguishing the first and second page elements includes assessing the page elements based on a set of heuristics pertaining to HTTP attributes of the HTTP objects.
16. A non-transitory computer-readable medium that includes a program that, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to:
receive a plurality of traffic streams captured by one or more network monitors, each traffic stream including messages between elements other than the network monitors,
parse the messages of each traffic stream into a plurality of HTTP objects,
identify a page object in the plurality of HTTP objects,
distinguish at least first page elements and second page elements in the plurality of HTTP objects that are associated with the page object,
determine first performance parameters associated with the page object based on characteristics of the first page elements,
determine second performance parameters associated with the page object based on characteristics of the second page elements, and
provide a display based on at least one of the first and second performance parameters.
17. The medium of claim 16 , wherein the second page elements are associated with a subsequent user action while interacting with the page object.
18. The medium of claim 17 , wherein the subsequent user action includes a selection of an option provided by the page object.
19. The medium of claim 18 , wherein the option includes a download of an other page object, the second page elements being associated with the other page object.
20. The medium of claim 16 , wherein the program causes the processor to distinguish the first and second page elements via a process that includes assessing the page elements based on a set of heuristics pertaining to HTTP attributes of the HTTP objects.