Towards a Runtime Standard-Based Testing Framework for Dynamic Distributed Information Systems

International audienceIn this work, we are interested in testing dynamic distributed information systems. That is we consider a decentralized information system which can evolve over time. For this purpose we propose a runtime standard-based test execution platform. The latter is built upon the normalized TTCN-3 specification and implementation testing language. The proposed platform ensures execution of tests cases at runtime. Moreover it considers both structural and behavioral adaptations of the system under test. In addition, it is equipped with a test isolation layer that minimizes the risk of interference between business and testing processes. The platform also generates a minimal subset of test scenarios to execute after each adaptation. Finally, it proposes an optimal strategy to place the TTCN-3 test components among the system execution nodes

Test d'exécution des systèmes à base de composants logiciels distribués etdynamiquement adaptables

Runtime testing of dynamically adaptable and distributed systems is currentlyhighly demanded to ensure their correctness and trustworthiness. However, this runtimevalidation technique expects additional processing time and computational resources. Therefore,our objective is to conceive and implement an efficient runtime testing framework thatalleviates its cost and burden while increasing its fault-finding capabilities. Our maincontribution consists in covering the runtime testing process from the test generation to the testexecution while supporting structural and behavioral adaptations. On the one hand, we proposea standardized test execution platform that executes safely and efficiently runtime tests whilerespecting resource availability and node connectivity. On the other hand, we introduce aselective test generation approach that evolves the old test suite after behavioral adaptations.Through several experiments, we show the efficiency of our proposal and the tolerated overheadthat it introduces in case of dynamic structural or behavioral adaptations.Le test d'exécution des systèmes à base de composants logiciels distribués etdynamiquement adaptables devient une nécessité afin de maintenir leur sûreté defonctionnement après chaque adaptation dynamique. Cependant, cette technique se caractérisepar sa grande consommation de ressources et de temps d'exécution. D'où, notre objectifconsiste à concevoir un Framework de test capable de réduire son coût et d'augmenter sonefficacité à révéler des fautes d'adaptation. Notre contribution assure le test d'exécution dès lagénération jusqu'à l'exécution tout en supportant des adaptations dynamiques à la foisstructurelles et comportementales. D'une part, nous proposons une plateforme standardisée pourl'exécution des tests tout en respectant les contraintes de ressources et de connectivité del'environnement d'exécution. D'autre part, une méthode de génération sélective des tests a étédéfinie afin d'évoluer la suite de tests après des adaptations comportementales. Desexpérimentations ont montré l'efficacité de l'approche proposée à réduire le coût du testd'exécution tout en assurant la qualité du système évoluti

Using Knapsack Problem Model to Design a Resource Aware Test Architecture for Adaptable and Distributed Systems

Part 3: Test Frameworks for Distributed SystemsInternational audienceThis work focuses on testing the consistency of distributed and adaptable systems. In this context, Runtime Testing which is carried out on the final execution environment is emerging as a new solution for quality assurance and validation of these systems. This activity can be costly and resource consuming especially when execution environment is shared between the software system and the test system. To overcome this challenging problem, we propose a new approach to design a resource aware test architecture. We consider the best usage of available resources (such as CPU load, memory, battery level, etc.) in the execution nodes while assigning the test components to them. Hence, this work describes basically a method for test component placement in the execution environment based on an existing model called Multiple Multidimensional Knapsack Problem. A tool based on the constraint programming Choco library has been also implemented

Towards a TTCN-3 Test System for Runtime Testing of Adaptable and Distributed Systems

Part 3: Test Frameworks for Distributed SystemsInternational audienceToday, adaptable and distributed component based systems need to be checked and validated in order to ensure their correctness and trustworthiness when dynamic changes occur. Traditional testing techniques can not be used since they are applied during the development phase. Therefore, runtime testing is emerging as a novel solution for the validation of highly dynamic systems at runtime. In this paper, we illustrate how a platform independent test system based on the TTCN-3 standard can be used to execute runtime tests. The proposed test system is called TT4RT: TTCN-3 test system for Runtime Testing. A case study in the telemedicine field is used as an illustration to show the relevance of the proposed test system

A generic process to build reliable distributed software components from early to late stages of software development

International audienceIn this paper, we propose an incremental software development process that addresses reliability concerns, from early to late stages of software development. Contrary to existing techniques, in our proposal we merge two dependability means: fault prevention and fault forecasting techniques in order to build reliable distributed software systems. The design stage is focused on obtaining coherent specification of each individual component using an incremental refinement technique. After obtaining a consistent specification of each component, we deal with generating its code safely. In addition, we define consistent component assemblies by checking their compatibility at the integration level. The runtime testing stage is based on the fault forecasting technique which allows an emprirical estimation of the overall system reliability. Such process is used to get confidence that the obtained system behaves correctly according to its specification and fulfils all requirements and expectations. As an example, this paper introduces B formal method and Fractal component model to build reliable and trustworthy Fractal based applications