Patent ID: 8239520

Claim:
An apparatus comprising: an interface operable to enable communication with a service status requestor; an operational status monitor operatively coupled to the interface and operable to receive from the service status requestor, through the interface, a service status request associated with a network service, and to determine an operational status of the network service responsive to the received service status request, the operational status being a service-specific operational status of the network service, and a service interface operatively coupled to the operational status monitor and operable to enable communication with the network service, wherein at least one of the interface, the service interface, and the operational status monitor is implemented using hardware, the operational status monitor being operable to determine an operational status of the network service by monitoring communication traffic associated with usage of the network service, determining whether the monitored communication traffic satisfies an active operational status monitoring criterion, and, responsive to determining that the monitored communication traffic satisfies the active operational status monitoring criterion, transmitting a status message to the network service through the service interface, and monitoring the service interface for a response to the status message from the network service, wherein the operational status monitor is further operable to determine whether the received service status request is compatible with the network service, to transmit the received service status request, as the status message, to the network service through the service interface where it is determined that the received service status request is compatible with the network service, and to transmit the status message in a form that is compatible with the network service where it is determined that the received service status request is not compatible with the network service.