Analysis of Monitoring Tools for Java Applications

Abstract. Runtime Monitoring is performed during the execution of software to detect anomalies in them. Currently several tools are available that help in developing the monitors. We analyze the prominent monitoring tools available for Java applications based on two features, the properties that can be monitored using these tools and the specification language used to specify the monitorable properties. The analysis performed will help the users and developers better evaluate the characteristics of different monitoring tools available in order to select the one suitable for their application

Реконфигурирование компонентно-ориентированных систем на базе графовых грамматик

Dynamic reconfigurations can modify the architecture of component-based systems without incurring any system downtime. In this context, the main contribution of the present article is the establishment of correctness results proving component-based systems reconfigurations using graph grammars. New guarded reconfigurations allow us to build reconfigurations based on primitive reconfiguration operations using sequences of reconfigurations and the alternative and the repetitive constructs, while preserving configuration consistency. A practical contribution consists of the implementation of a component-based model using the GROOVE graph transformation tool. Then, after enriching the model with interpreted configurations and reconfigurations in a consistency compatible manner, a simulation relation is exploited to validate component systems’ implementations. This sound implementation is illustrated on a cloud-based multitier application hosting environment managed as a component-based system.Динамические реконфигурирования могут изменять архитектуру компонентно-ориентированных систем, не подвергаясь никакому системному простою. В этом контексте основной вклад данной статьи – доказательство результатов корректности реконфигурирования систем, используя графовые грамматики. В этой статье предложены новые охраняемые реконфигурирования на базе логики Хоара, которые построены на основе примитивных операций по реконфигурированию и включают последовательности реконфигурирований, альтернативные и повторяющиеся конструкции, сохраняя при этом непротиворечивость конфигураций. Практический вклад состоит в описании имплементации компонентно-ориентированной модели, используя программный инструмент GROOVE для преобразования графов. После обогащения модели интерпретированными конфигурациями и реконфигурированиями, совместимого с непротиворечивостью, отношение симуляции используется для доказательства корректности имплементации, выполненной под GROOVE. Эта имплементация иллюстрирована на примере многоуровневого облачно-ориентированного приложения

The LIME Interface Specification Language and Runtime Monitoring Tool ⋆

Abstract. This paper describes an interface specification language designed in the LIME project (LIME ISL) and the supporting runtime monitoring tool. The interface specification language is tailored for the Java programming language and supports two kinds of specifications: (i) call specifications that specify requirements for the allowed call sequences to a Java object instance and (ii) return specifications that specify the allowed behaviors of the Java object instance. Both the call and return specifications can be expressed with Java annotations in several different ways: as past time LTL formulas, as (safety) future LTL formulas, as regular expressions, and as nondeterministic finite automata. We also describe the supporting LIME interface monitoring tool which is an open source implementation of runtime monitoring for the interface specifications implemented using AspectJ.

TOOL-ASSISTED VALIDATION AND VERIFICATION TECHNIQUES FOR STATE-BASED FORMAL METHODS

To tackle the growing complexity of developing modern software systems that usually have embedded and distributed nature, and more and more involve safety critical aspects, formal methods (FMs) have been affirmed as an efficient approach to ensure the quality and correctness of the design, that permits to discover errors yet at the early stages of the system development. Among the several FMs available, some of them can be described as state-based, since they describe systems by using the notions of state and transitions between states. State-based FMs are sometimes preferred since they produce specifications that are more intuitive, being the notions of state and transition close to the notions of program state and program execution that are familiar to any developer. Moreover, state-based FMs are usually executable and permit to be simulated, so having an abstraction of the execution of the system under development. The aim of the thesis is to provide tool-assisted techniques that help the adoption of state-based FMs. In particular we address four main goals: 1) identifying a process for the development of an integrated framework around a formal method. The adoption of a formal method is often prevented by the lack of tools to support the user in the different development activities, as model editing, validation, verification, etc. Moreover, also when tools are available, they have usually been developed to target only one aspect of the system development process. So, having a well-engineered process that helps in the development of concrete notations and tools for a FM can make FMs of practical application. 2) promoting the integration of different FMs. Indeed, having only one formal notation, for doing different formal activities during the development of the system, is preferable than having a different notation for each formal activity. Moreover such notation should be high-level: working with high level notations is definitely easier than working with low-level ones, and the produced specifications are usually more readable. This goal can be seen as a sub-goal of the first goal; indeed, in a framework around a formal method, it should also be possible to integrate other formal methods that better address some particular formal activities. 3) helping the user in writing correct specifications. The basic assumption of any formal technique is that the specification, representing the desired properties of the system or the model of the system, is correct. However, in case the specification is not correct, all the verification activities based on the specification produce results that are meaningless. So, validation techniques should assure that the specification reflects the intended requirements; besides traditional simulation (user-guided or scenario-based), also model review techniques, checking for common quality attributes that any specification should have, are a viable solution. 4) reducing the distance between the formal specification and the actual implementation of the system. Several FMs work on a formal description of the system which is assumed to reflect the actual implementation; however, in practice, the formal specification and the actual implementation could be not conformant. A solution is to obtain the implementation, through refinements steps, from the formal specification, and proving that the refinements steps are correct. A different viable solution is to link the implementation with its formal specification and check, during the program execution, if they are conformant