Validating interaction patterns of CORBA based network management systems

This article presents different approaches for monitoring of interaction patterns and black box testing within CORBA-based distributed object systems. A generic and universally applicable method, called the proxy approach, is discussed and relations to existing CMIP-based validation approaches are outlined. Aspects like ORB independence, use of dynamic interfaces instead of stub generation, pragmatic specification of reference behavior, and formal as well as graphical presentation of validation results are taken into account. Problems determined by the concurrent nature of distributed systems are discussed. The article presents a concrete implementation of a validation tool which is based on the proxy approach.