Detector-based component model abstraction for microservice-based systems

Abstract

One of the chief problems in software architecture is avoiding architecture model drift and erosion in all kinds of complex software systems. Microservice-based systems introduce new challenges in this context, as they often use a large variety of technologies in their latest iteration, and are changed and released very frequently. Existing solutions that can be used to reconstruct architecture models fall short in addressing these new challenges, as they cannot easily cope with continuous evolution, their accuracy is too low, and highly polyglot settings are not supported well. In this work, we report on a research study aiming to design a highly accurate architecture model abstraction approach for comprehending component architecture models of highly polyglot systems that can cope with continuous evolution. After analyzing the results of related studies, we found two possible architecture model abstraction approaches that meet the requirements of our study: an opportunistic, and a reusable semi-automatic detector-based approach. We have conducted an empirical case study for validation and comparison of the two approaches. We conclude that both detector approaches are feasible. In our case study, the reusable approach breaks even in terms of time and effort needed for establishing reuse, if modest reuse of detectors is possible, and is producing slightly more high quality and evolution-stable solutions than the opportunistic approach.

Assessing Architecture Conformance to Security-Related Practices in Infrastructure as Code Based Deployments

“…In the context of this approach, and based on our work [32], we have introduced a number of detectors in order to automatically reconstruct the IaC architecture from the source code. Combining the automatic reconstruction with the automatic metrics calculation, the overall assessment process can be improved.…”

Assessing Architecture Conformance to Coupling-Related Infrastructure-as-Code Best Practices: Metrics and Case Studies

“…Finally, we evaluated our set of metrics using the case studies. Furthermore, in our work [12], we have introduced a set of detectors to automatically reconstruct an architecture component model from the source code. Combining the automatic reconstruction with the automatic computation of metrics, the evaluation process can be fully automated.…”

Advancing Static Code Analysis With Language-Agnostic Component Identification

“…A semi-automated approach to detect microservice components (services, endpoints, etc.) for architectural reconstruction was proposed by Ntentos et al [24]. This approach utilizes ''Detectors'' to extract information into ''Matches.''…”

“…Finally, there is the relevant question raised by Ntentos et al [24]. In their example, they stated that endpoints might be stored in configuration files and environment variables, making it difficult to determine URLs programmatically.…”