Browsing by Author "Frank, Sebastian"

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Open Access
Handling quality trade-offs in architecture-based performance optimization
(2016) Frank, Sebastian
The goal of software architecture optimization is to find architecture candidates that satisfy the expectations of all relevant stakeholders with regard to some quality attributes, e.g., performance, modifiability, or reliability. Quality attributes usually compete with each other, which makes trade-offs inevitable. In the SQuAT project the suitability of distributed search strategies for architecture optimization is investigated. This approach is based on the way human architects would conduct architecture optimization. Related works from the domain of software architecture optimization are usually monolithic and only extendable to a certain degree. The SQuAT approach tries to overcome these drawbacks. This thesis contributes a SQuAT module for the analysis and optimization of software architecture with regard to the quality attribute performance. Therefore, the already existing approach for architecture-based performance optimization PerOpteryx is integrated. In addition, this module gets evaluated with an example system and it is shown that it reaches a similar quality than PerOpteryx. In conclusion, this work is the first step to gain new insights into the applicability of distributed search strategies, modularization of design knowledge, and negotiation techniques for software architecture optimization.
Open Access
Iterative and incremental refinement of microservice-based architectures and SLOs
(2022) Speth, Sandro; Stieß, Sarah; Frank, Sebastian; Becker, Steffen
In an agile development process, non-functional requirements and software architectures continuously change, making it hard to extract and manage appropriate Service Level Objectives (SLO). We propose an interactive toolchain to support the architect in iteratively and incrementally adapting SLOs and architecture alongside each other. Our toolchain utilises the results of experiments and SLO violation impact analyses to guide the architect's adaptation decisions, reflecting continuously changing and imprecise requirements. Prototypes of the presented tools already exist. In this paper, we envision their interconnection and required extensions.
Open Access
Techniques for visualization and interaction in software architecture optimization
(2019) Frank, Sebastian
Software architecture optimization aims at improving the architecture of software systems with regard to a set of quality attributes, e.g., performance, reliability, and modifiability. However, particular tasks in the optimization process are hard to automate. For this reason, architects have to participate in the optimization process, e.g., by making trade-offs and selecting acceptable architectural proposals. The existing software architecture optimization approaches only offer limited support in assisting architects in the necessary tasks by visualizing the architectural proposals. In the best case, these approaches provide very basic visualizations, but often results are only delivered in textual form, which does not allow for an efficient assessment by humans. Hence, this work investigates strategies and techniques to assist architects in specific use cases of software architecture optimization through visualization and interaction. Based on this, an approach to assist architects in these use cases is proposed. A prototype of the proposed approach has been implemented. Domain experts solved tasks based on two case studies. The results show that the approach can assist architects in some of the typical use cases of the domain. Conducted time measurements indicate that several hundred architectural proposals can be handled. Therefore, the approach usefully complements existing software architecture optimization approaches. Furthermore, it is a foundation for the participation of humans in the optimization process and further research in this field.