Applying PNZ Model in Reliability Prediction of Component-Based Systems and Fault Tolerance Structures Technique

Abstract

Reliability is the chief quality that one wishes for in anything. Reliability is also the main issue with computer systems. One of the purposes of system reliability analysis is to identify the weakness in a system and to quantify the impact of component failures. However, existing reliability prediction approaches for component-based software systems are limited in their applicability because they either neglect or do not support modeling explicitly several factors like error propagation, software fault tolerance mechanisms. In this paper, we evaluate reliability prediction of component-based system and fault tolerance structures technique by applying Pham Nordmann Zhang (PNZ) model, one of the best models based on non homogeneous Poisson process. Our approach uses a reliability modeling schema whose models are automatically transformed by a reliability prediction tool into PNZ models for reliability predictions and sensitivity analyses. Via these our case studies, we demonstrate its applicability and introduce how much reliability of software system can be improved by using fault tolerance structures technique.