Comprehensive Framework-Based Reconfigurable Object Nets for Managing Dynamic Protocols Evolution

Abstract

In the change management context, handling web service evolution is a challenging issue that aims to adapt deployed business processes to the perpetual changes occurring in enterprises environments. While existing approaches deal with the problem by focusing only on migratable instances, in this approach the authors propose a paradigm shift based on reconfigurable objects nets (RONs) to allow running service instances continuing their execution according to the evolved protocol specifications. In this approach, service protocols are modelled as petri nets, and changes are perceived as transformation rules. Further, reachability graphs are deployed for calculating migratable services instances after evolution. The conceived framework allows migrating active instances from the old protocol version to the evolved one. Web service protocol compatibility and replaceability aspects are addressed to distinguish migratable services instances from non-migratable ones. The authors illustrate their contribution and highlight advantages of using RONs through a real-world scenario related to the visa application service.