Self-organising software architectures for distributed systems

A self-organising software architecture is one in which components automatically configure their interaction in a way that is compatible with an overall architectural specification. The objective is to minimise the degree of explicit management necessary for construction and subsequent evolution whilst preserving the architectural properties implied by its specification. This paper examines the feasibility of using architectural constraints as the basis for the specification, design and implementation of self-organising architectures for distributed systems. Although we focus on organising the structure of systems, we show how component state can influence reconfiguration via interface attributes.