Home // International Journal On Advances in Software, volume 2, number 4, 2009 // View article

Enabling Effective Dependability Evaluation of Complex Systems via a Rule-Based Logging Framework

Authors:
Marcello Cinque
Domenico Cotroneo
Antonio Pecchia

Keywords: Field Failure Data Analysis; Dependability Evaluation; Logging Rules; Automated Log Analysis.

Abstract:
Field Failure Data Analysis (FFDA) is a widely adopted methodology to characterize the dependability behavior of a computing system. It is often based on the analysis of logs available in the system under study. However, current logs do not seem to be actually conceived to perform FFDA, since their production usually lacks a systematic approach and relies on developers’ experience and attitude. As a result, collected logs may be heterogeneous, inaccurate and redundant. This, in turn, increases analysis efforts and reduces the quality of FFDA results. This paper proposes a rule-base logging framework, which aims to improve the quality of logged data and to make the analysis phase more effective. Our proposal is compared to traditional log analysis in the context of a real-world case study in the field of Air Traffic Control. We demonstrate that the adoption of a rule-based strategy makes it possible to significantly improve dependability evaluation by both reducing the amount of information actually needed to perform the analysis and without affecting system performance.

Pages: 323 to 336

Copyright: Copyright (c) to authors, 2009. Used with permission.

Publication date: March 17, 2010

Published in: journal

ISSN: 1942-2628