A framework for analyzing configurations of deployable software systems

Configuring and deploying a large software system is complicated when the system is composed of components and when there are numerous possible configurations for the system. In such a scenario, it is difficult for end users to specify and install an appropriate configuration for their specific environment. Defining all valid configurations of a software system is challenging, and can be addressed through a concise specification that can generate all of the possible configurations. The Deployable Software Description (DSD) part of the University of Colorado Software Dock project, is one such specification format. But using the DSD runs the risk that the set of generated configurations includes some that are invalid with respect to constraints defined independently of the DSD. The paper describes a framework to support the analysis of DSD specifications to help developers detect potentially invalid configurations. This analysis assumes that the system components are annotated with properties, and an analysis tool is provided that takes a specific configuration and analyzes it for conflicts with respect to some set of constraints. Using the DSD, we can enumerate and analyze configurations to verify their validity. The results can be used to modify the DSD to avoid future generation of invalid configurations.