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Computer and Spftware Reliability

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18 views4 pages

Computer and Spftware Reliability

Uploaded by

chanelldraws
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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A Computer System

Possible Faults in a Computer System


1. Fault-tolerant computing
a. Faults in computer hardware
b. Faults in computer software

2. Fault-tolerant control
a. Faults in sensors/effectors (actuators)
b. • Faults in application (system or plant)

3. Fault-tolerant communication
a. Faults in communication link (network)

4. Faults induced by operator – human errors

Overall, computer systems that can handle the above faults are referred to as Fault-Tolerant
Computer Systems, or in general, as Fault-Tolerant Systems.
Availability = Ahardware * Asoftware * Ahumans * Ainterfaces * Aprocess

Generic Sources of Faults


• Mechanical – “wears out’’
􀂾 Deterioration: wear, fatigue, corrosion
􀂾 Shock: fractures, stiction, overload
• Electronic hardware – “bad fabrication; wear out”
􀂾 Latent manufacturing defects
􀂾 Operating environment: noise, heat, electro-migration
􀂾 Design defects
• Software – “bad design”
􀂾 Design defects
􀂾 “Code rot” – accumulated run-time faults
• People
􀂾 Human-made errors
Failures, faults and Cause-Effect Sequence
Type of fault connotation Cause-Effect
Sequence
• system Faults Defects within the deviation of function
system from design value
 Hardware
 Software
Errors Deviation from the manifestation of fault
required operation by incorrect value
Failures When system fails to 􀂾 Random, unpredictable, in
hardware but not in software
perform its required 􀂾 Systematic, resulting from
operation erroneous design
(The inability of a component 􀂾 Single-point failure, failure
or system to perform its of single component causes
intended function for a system failure
specified time under specified 􀂾 Multiple failures, failure of
environment conditions) several components leads to
system failure

Dealing with faults 􀂾 During development: fault avoidance & removal


􀂾 During operation: fault detection, removal & tolerance

Steps Developing Reliable Computer Systems - Design


Methodology
• Specification
􀂾 Functional requirements
􀂾 Reliability requirements

• System Design and Implementation


􀂾 Architectural/module design
􀂾 Construction, integration, and test

• Verification and Validation (V&V)


􀂾 Verification: process of determining that system meets specification
􀂾 Validation: process of determining that system is appropriate for the purpose

• Certification

Methods of improving computer systems reliability


Primary Design Techniques
• Fault avoidance
􀂾 Prevent faults in the first place e.g. design review
• Fault masking
􀂾 Localize fault, prevent error from getting into system informational structure e.g. error
correcting code, triple modular redundancy (TMR)

• Fault tolerance
􀂾 Allow system be able to perform tasks in the presence of faults e.g.
 redundancy techniques (hardware, software, information, time redundancies),
 Fault detection,
 Reconfiguration

MTBF: Mean Time Between Failures


MTTD: Mean Time To Detection
MTTR: Mean Time To Repair
MTTF: Mean Time To Failure
Failure Rate: The expected number of failures of
a type of device or system per a given time period.
Fault Coverage: A measure of a system’s ability
to perform fault detection, fault location, fault
containment, and/or fault recovery.

Basic Steps in Fault Handling


 􀂙 Fault confinement
 􀂙 Fault detection
 􀂙 Fault masking
 􀂙 Retry
 􀂙 Diagnosis
 􀂙 Reconfiguration
 􀂙 Recovery
 􀂙 Restart
 􀂙 Repair
 􀂙 Reintegration

SOFTWARE MAINTENANCE
It is defined as the process of modifying the software system/component subsequent to delivery to rectify faults,
improve performance or other attributes, or adapt to a change in the use environment

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