Dependability Tests Selection Based on the Concept of Layered Networks
This work addresses the need for efficient dependability testing in distributed systems, which is crucial for preventing failures and downtime, but it appears incremental as it builds on existing concepts like layered networks and combinatorial techniques.
The paper tackles the problem of validating dependability in distributed systems by presenting a systematic approach to identify critical system elements and important component combinations for testing, resulting in a set of test templates to demonstrate system dependability.
Nowadays, the consequences of failure and downtime of distributed systems have become more and more severe. As an obvious solution, these systems incorporate protection mechanisms to tolerate faults that could cause systems failures and system dependability must be validated to ensure that protection mechanisms have been implemented correctly and the system will provide the desired level of reliable service. This paper presents a systematic approach for identifying (1) characteristic sets of critical system elements for dependability testing (single points of failure and recovery groups) based on the concept of layered networks; and (2) the most important combinations of components from each recovery group based on a combinatorial technique. Based on these combinations, we determine a set of test templates to be performed to demonstrate system dependability.