Supporting automatic configuration of component-based distributed systems
Fábio Kon, Roy H. Campbell · 1999
Recent developments in Component technology enable the construction of complex software systems by assembling together off-the-shelf components. However, it is still difficult to develop efficient, reliable, and dynamically configurable component based systems. Components are often developed by different groups with different methodologies. Unspecified dependencies and behavior lead to unexpected failures. Component-based software systems must maintain explicit representations of inter-component dependence and component requirements. This provides a common ground for supporting fault-tolerance and automating dynamic configuration. In this paper, we present a generic model for reifying dependencies in distributed component systems and discuss how it can be used to support automatic configuration. We describe our experience deploying the framework in a CORBA-compliant reflective ORB and discuss the use of this model in a new distributed operating system.