Assessing transaction-based Internet applications performance through a passive network traffic monitoring approach

The paper proposes an approach to monitor the response time of transaction-based Internet applications and protocols that uses a passive network traffic monitoring technique and stores the resulting statistics in a management information base compatible with the SNMP architecture. The work is within the scope of the Trace platform, which provides support for high-layer protocols, services and networked applications management. The implementation of the proposed approach comprises the extension of the monitoring agent, a key component of the platform, so that it stores information related to response time and generates performance-related reports.