Optimal number of hosts in a distributed system based on cost criteria

Authors: M. Xie¹; Y. S. Dai¹; K. L. Poh¹; C. D. Lai²

Source: International Journal of Systems Science, Volume 35, Number 6, May 15, 2004 , pp. 343-353(11)

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Abstract:

Redundant or distributed systems are increasingly used in system design so that the required reliability and availability can be easily achieved. However, such an approach requires additional resources that can be very costly. Hence, how to design and test such a system in the most cost-effective way is of concern to the developers. A general cost model and a solution algorithm are presented for the determination of the optimal number of hosts and optimal system debugging time that minimize the total cost while achieving a certain performance objective. During testing, software faults are corrected and the reliability shows an increasing trend, and hence system reliability increases. A general system model is constructed based on a Markov process with software reliability and availability obtained from software reliability growth models. The optimization problem is formulated based on the cost criteria and the solution procedure is described. An application example is presented.

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00207720410001716228

Affiliations: 1: Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering National University of Singapore 10 Kent Ridge Crescent Singapore 119 260 2: Institute of Information Sciences and Technology Massey University New Zealand

Publication date: 2004-05-01

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