Patent ID: 7657397

Claim:
A method for evaluating the performance of a computing system, comprising: receiving a first sampling of a computer system performance measurement, the first sampling comprising a first number of samples of the computer system performance measurement; determining a set of descriptive statistics and key ratios from the first sampling, wherein the key ratios comprise at least one of a ratio between the minimum value and a median value, a ratio between the median value and a mean value, a ratio between the mean value and the maximum value, and a ratio between the median value and the maximum value; evaluating the set of descriptive statistics and key ratios to determine whether at least one predetermined criteria has been met; upon a determination that the at least one predetermined criteria has not been met, determining whether the first sampling of the computer system performance measurement is a perturbed sampling by evaluating the set of descriptive statistics and key ratios, wherein a sampling is perturbed if a key ratio is greater than a specified threshold; and determining a second number of samples of the computer system performance measurement comprising a second sampling of the computer system performance measurement, the second number of samples of the computer system performance measurement based upon the determination of whether the first sampling is perturbed.