A simulation approach to structure-based software reliability analysis

Structure-based techniques enable an analysis of the influence of individual components on the application reliability. In an effort to ensure analytical tractability, prevalent structure-based analysis techniques are based on assumptions which preclude the use of these techniques for reliability analysis during the testing and operational phases. In this paper, we develop simulation procedures to assess the impact of individual components on the reliability of an application in the presence of fault detection and repair strategies that may be employed during testing. We also develop simulation procedures to analyze the application reliability for various operational configurations. We illustrate the potential of simulation procedures using several examples. Based on the results of these examples, we provide novel insights into how testing and repair strategies can be tailored depending on the application structure to achieve the desired reliability in a cost-effective manner. We also discuss how the results could be used to explore alternative operational configurations of a software application taking into consideration the application structure so as to cause minimal interruption in the field.