An Architecture-Centric Approach to Evaluating the Reliability of Component-Based Software Systems

International Journal of Computer Science and Technology | Vol. 10, No. 8, August 2008 | pp. 57–64

DOI: 10.46882/2008/IJCST/108017

Research Article

Title: An Architecture-Centric Approach to Evaluating the Reliability of Component-Based Software Systems

Names of Authors: Hans-Werner Schmidt¹, Dieter K. Müller¹

Authors’ Affiliations: ¹Institute of Software Systems, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany

Abstract: Modern enterprise applications are increasingly constructed by integrating third-party commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) software components. Evaluating the overall reliability of these systems is challenging due to the hidden internal complexities and opaque failure characteristics of individual black-box components. This paper introduces an architecture-centric analytical framework that uses Discrete-Time Markov Chains (DTMC) to model system operational profiles and compute reliable runtime failure probabilities. The approach maps component interactions, interface dependencies, and transactional frequencies into a coherent execution state graph. We run sensitivity analyses to isolate critical individual components whose failure behaviors present the highest risk to global application stability. Validation experiments conducted on a simulated distributed banking infrastructure showed that the DTMC predictive framework estimated system failure rates within an error margin of ±1.8% compared to empirical load-testing results. This mathematical framework allows software engineers to systematically specify component-level reliability requirements before full integration.

Keywords: Software reliability, component-based software, Markov chains, software architecture, sensitivity analysis, reliability modeling

Manuscript Timeline: Received May 12, 2008; Revised June 25, 2008; Accepted July 19, 2008; Published August 5, 2008

Citation: Schmidt, H. W., & Müller, D. K. (2008). An Architecture-Centric Approach to Evaluating the Reliability of Component-Based Software Systems. International Journal of Computer Science and Technology, 10(8), 57–64.

Subscribe to read the full article: https://www.internationalscholarsjournals.org/subscribe-to-read