Automatic generation of layered queuing software performance models from commonly available traces

Abstract

Performance models of software designs can give early warnings of problems such as resource saturation or excessive delays. However models are seldom used because of the considerable effort needed to construct them. Software Architecture and Model Extraction (SAME) is a lightweight model building technique that extracts communication patterns from executable designs or prototypes that use message passing, to develop a Layered Queuing Network model in an automated fashion. It is a formal, traceable model building process. The transformation follows a series of well-defined transformation steps, from input domain, (an executable software design or the implementation of software itself) to output domain, a Layered Queuing Network (LQN) Performance model. The SAME technique is appropriate for a message passing distributed system where tasks interact by point-to-point communication. With SAME, the performance analyst can focus on the principles of software performance analysis rather than model building.