Software reliability modeling in distributed development environment

Abstract

PurposeThe aim of this paper is to propose a software reliability growth model based on stochastic differential equations for the integration testing phase of distributed development environment.Design/methodology/approachA client/server system (CSS), which is a new development method, has come into existence as a result of the progress of networking technology by UNIX systems. On the other hand, the effective testing method for distributed development environment has only a few presented. The method of software reliability assessment considering the interaction among software components in a distributed one is discussed.FindingsConventional software reliability growth models for system testing phase in distributed development environment have included many unknown parameters. Especially, the effective estimation method in terms of these unknown parameters, which means the proportion of the total testing‐load for the software component, has never been presented. This software reliability growth model can be easily applied in distributed software development, because the model has a simple structure.Practical implicationsThis model is very useful for software developers in terms of practical reliability assessment in the actual distributed development environment.Originality/valueThe method of software reliability assessment considering the interaction among software components in distributed development environment is proposed. Additionally, several numerical examples for the actual data are presented.