Structural Failure Models for Fault-Tolerant Distributed Computing (Software Engineering Research)

Despite means of fault prevention such as extensive testing or formal veri?cation, errors inevitably occur during system operation. To avoid subsequent system fa- ures, critical distributed systems, therefore, require engineering of means for fault tolerance. Achieving fault tolerance requires some redundancy, which, unfor- nately, is bound to limitations. Appropriate fault models are needed to describe which types of faults and how many faults are tolerable in a certain context. Pre- ous research on distributed systems has often introduced fault models that abstract too many relevant system properties such as dependent and propagating com- nent failures. In this research work, Timo Warns introduces new structural failure models that are both accurate (to cover relevant properties) and tractable (to be - alyzable). These new failure models cover dependent failures (for instance, failure correlation by geographic proximity) and propagating failures (for instance, pr- agation by service utilization). To evaluate the new failure models, Timo Warns shows how some seminal problems in distributed systems can be solved with - proved resilience and ef?ciency, as compared to existing solutions. Particularly, the textbook-style introduction to distributed systems and the r- orous presentation of the new failure models and their evaluation may serve as an example for other software engineering research projects – which is why this book is a valuable addition to both a researcher’s and a student’s library.