Platform-independent Dynamic Reconfiguration of Distributed Applications

The aim of dynamic reconfiguration is to allow a system to evolve incrementally from one configuration to another at run-time, without restarting it or taking it offline. In recent years, support for transparent dynamic reconfiguration has been added to middleware platforms, shifting the complexity required to enable dynamic reconfiguration to the supporting infrastructure. These approaches to dynamic reconfiguration are mostly platform-specific and depend on particular implementation approaches suitable for particular platforms. In this paper, we propose an approach to dynamic reconfiguration of distributed applications that is suitable for application implemented on top of different platforms. This approach supports a platform-independent view of an application that profits from reconfiguration transparency. In this view, requirements on the ability to reconfigure components are expressed in an abstract manner. These requirements are then satisfied by platform-specific realizations

On the Notion of Abstract Platform in MDA Development

Although platform-independence is a central property in MDA models, the study of platform-independence has been largely overlooked in MDA. As a consequence, there is a lack of guidelines to select abstraction criteria and modelling concepts for platform-independent design. In addition, there is little methodological support to distinguish between platform-independent and platform-specific concerns, which could be detrimental to the beneficial exploitation of the PIM-PSM separation-of-concerns adopted by MDA. This work is an attempt towards clarifying the notion of platform-independent modelling in MDA development. We argue that each level of platform-independence must be accompanied by the identification of an abstract platform. An abstract platform is determined by the platform characteristics that are relevant for applications at a certain level of platform-independence, and must be established by balancing various design goals. We present some methodological principles for abstract platform design, which forms a basis for defining requirements for design languages intended to support platform-independent design. Since our methodological framework is based on the notion of abstract platform, we pay particular attention to the definition of abstract platforms and the language requirements to specify abstract platforms. We discuss how the concept of abstract platform relates to UML

Interim research assessment 2003-2005 - Computer Science

This report primarily serves as a source of information for the 2007 Interim Research Assessment Committee for Computer Science at the three technical universities in the Netherlands. The report also provides information for others interested in our research activities

Contribution to dynamic reconfiguration in component-based systems: consistency and non-functional properties specification

Le travail réalisé dans le cadre de cette thèse a deux objectifs principaux. Le premier est de contribuer `à la spécification de la reconfiguration dynamique des systèmes à base de composants. Le deuxième objectif est de s´sélectionner la configuration optimale parmi un ensemble de configurations qui fournissent des fonctionnalités identiques ou similaires. Le processus de sélection dépend des propriétés non-fonctionnelles du système. La propriété de reconfigurabilité est essentielle pour de nombreux systèmes à base de composants contemporains. En effet, cette propriété améliore la disponibilité, l'adaptabilité, l'évolutivité, la maintenabilité et la performance des systèmes tels que les systèmes avioniques, les commutateurs de télécommunications et les systèmes commerciaux. Pour ces systèmes, l'arrêt de longue durée n'est pas admissible pour des raisons s´sécuritaires ou économiques. L'adaptabilité et l'evolvabilité sont également des caractéristiques importantes pour ces systèmes qui ont besoin d'inclure des changements de l'environnement ou des nouvelles exigences des utilisateurs dans le logiciel. Toutes ces motivations plus montrent l'importance de permettre, dès la conception, la reconfiguration dynamique de systèmes. La reconfiguration est la capacité de modifier la structure ou le comportement d'un système à l'exécution et sans l'arrêter complétement. Le travail présenté dans cette thèse étudie les mécanismes et les techniques pour fournir la reconfigurabilité aux systèmes à base de composants. La fourniture de reconfigurabilité nécessite la prise en considération de la cohérence du système pendant et après la reconfiguration. Il y a deux sortes de cohérence : cohérence globale et cohérence locale. Dans cette thèse, nous proposons une approche pour préserver la cohérence globale d'un système à base de composants reconfigurable en utilisant un langage formel déclaratif, Alloy. Une autre approche est proposée pour préserver la cohérence locale en analysant la relation entre la dépendance indirecte et la reconfiguration dynamique. Enfin, la sélection de configuration consiste à choisir la configuration la plus optimale à partir d'un ensemble de choix dans le but de maximiser la satisfaction de l'utilisateur. Une approche proposée pour faire le meilleur choix en fonction des préférences de l'utilisateur exprimées sur des métriques non-fonctionnellesThe research of this thesis has two main goals. The first goal is to provide the reconfigurability feature to the component-based systems. The second goal is to select the optimal configuration from a set of configurations, which provide similar functionality. The selection process depends on the non-functional properties of the system. Reconfigurability is essential feature for many contemporary component-based systems. Reconfigurability enhances the continuous availability, the adaptability, the evolvability, the maintainability, and the performance. Avionics systems, telecommunications switches and some commercial systems require the high availability. For these systems, long shutting down is not allowable due to economical or safety reasons. The adaptability and the evolvability are also important features for those systems which need to accommodate the environmental changes or the new requirements of software users. The maintainability and the performance are important requirements for a large category of systems. All the previous motivations and more show the importance of having the reconfigurability. Reconfigurability is the ability to change the system structure or the system behavior at running time without stopping it. The work presented in this thesis investigates the required mechanisms and techniques in order to provide the reconfigurability feature to a component-based system. The provision of the reconfigurability feature requires preserving the system consistency during and after the reconfiguration. The consistency has two kinds: global consistency and local consistency. In this thesis, we propose an approach to preserve the global consistency of a reconfigurable component-based system using declarative formal language. Another approach is proposed to preserve the local consistency during the reconfiguration. The second approach investigates the relationship between the indirect dependency and the dynamic reconfiguration. Configuration selection is to select the most optimal configuration from a set of alternatives in order to maximize the end user satisfaction. The thesis proposes an approach to make the best selection depending on the user preference

Ingeniería basada en modelos aplicada a sistemas distribuidos sensibles al contexto.

239 p.En esta Tesis Doctoral se plantea una metodología, soportada por mecanismos y herramientas, que da soporte al ciclo de desarrollo de aplicaciones distribuidas sensibles al contexto, aquéllas que supervisan su entorno físico con objeto de detectar cambios en él y reaccionar rápida y adecuadamente. Son aplicaciones presentes en diferentes campos de aplicación que demandan requisitos tales como ejecución en entornos distribuidos y heterogéneos, personalización de la supervisión, adaptación a cambios relevantes en su contexto, gestión de la calidad específica de cada aplicación, disponibilidad y recuperación ante situaciones de fallo. En concreto, se propone una aproximación de modelado genérica que permite la especificación y diseño de estas aplicaciones, independientemente de la plataforma de gestión responsable de su ejecución y atendiendo a los diferentes expertos que participan: expertos de dominio y desarrolladores de software. Se hace uso de la ingeniería dirigida por modelos para lograr la separación de dominios necesaria. Así, el experto de dominio realiza el diseño arquitectónico en el que se especifican todos sus requisitos, mientras que el desarrollador de software se centra en el diseño e implementación de la solución software correspondiente. Por tanto, la aproximación de modelado recoge los requisitos de las aplicaciones que una plataforma de gestión debe cumplir en tiempo de ejecución, al mismo tiempo que captura la información necesaria para la generación de su código. También se plantea un entorno de desarrollo integrado, basado en dicha aproximación, que da soporte al ciclo de desarrollo, cuyo prototipo se ha validado en un demostrador en el campo de la asistencia domiciliaria

Platform-independent dynamic reconfiguration of distributed applications

The aim of dynamic reconfiguration is to allow a system to evolve incrementally from one configuration to another at run-time, without restarting it or taking it offline. In recent years, support for transparent dynamic reconfiguration has been added to middleware platforms, shifting the complexity required to enable dynamic reconfiguration to the supporting infrastructure. These approaches to dynamic reconfiguration are mostly platform-specific and depend on particular implementation approaches suitable for particular platforms. In this paper, we propose an approach to dynamic reconfiguration of distributed applications that is suitable for application implemented on top of different platforms. This approach supports a platformindependent view of an application that profits from reconfiguration transparency. In this view, requirements on the ability to reconfigure components are expressed in an abstract manner. These requirements are then satisfied by platform-specific realizations. 1