Evaluating Performance of Software Architecture Models with the Palladio Component Model

Abstract

Techniques from model-driven software development are useful to analyse the performance of a software architecture during early development stages. Design models of software models can be transformed into analytical or simulation models, which enable analyzing the response times, throughput, and resource utilization of a system before starting the implementation. This chapter provides an overview of the Palladio Component Model (PCM), a special modeling language targeted at model-driven performance predictions. The PCM is accompanied by several model transformations, which derive stochastic process algebra, queuing network models, or Java source code from a software design model. Software architects can use the results of the analytical models to evaluate the feasibility of performance requirements, identify performance bottlenecks, and support architectural design decisions quantitatively. The chapter provides a case study with a component-based software architecture to illustrate the performance prediction process.