Uncertainty in the quantitative evaluation of quality characteristics in distributed systems and microservices

DOI: 10.31673/2412-9070.2024.043746

Abstract

In the modern world of software development, distributed systems and microservices are becoming increasingly popular. They enable developers to create flexible, scalable, and reliable applications that can quickly adapt to changes in business needs and the technological environment. The contemporary use of microservices as an architectural approach in software system development promotes the division of monolithic applications into smaller, independent services that can be deployed and updated separately. This, in turn, significantly increases the speed of development and implementation of new features. However, despite numerous advantages, distributed systems and microservices present new challenges, particularly in the evaluation of their quality.
One of the main aspects is the uncertainty that arises from the complexity of the system, variability of the load, diversity of configurations, and dependence on external components. Significant contributions to the development of theoretical and practical aspects related to the generalization of the problem of uncertainty in the evaluation of quantitative quality characteristics have been made by researchers such as C. Areces, R. Fervari, A. Saravia, F. Vela′zquez-Quesada, S. Guaman, J. Alamo, J. Caiza, M. Nakamura, and others. The purpose of this article is to address the issue related to the uncertainty in the quantitative evaluation of quality characteristics in distributed systems and microservices.
To achieve this goal, the article sets and resolves the following tasks: conducting a theoretical review of the problem of uncertainty in the quantitative evaluation of quality characteristics in distributed systems and microservices; considering methodological features of accounting for uncertainty in the quantitative evaluation of quality characteristics in distributed systems and microservices; exploring a practical example of implementing the quantitative evaluation of quality characteristics in distributed systems and microservices under conditions of uncertainty. In the process of addressing the tasks, methods of analysis, synthesis, generalization, and comparison were used.

Keywords: software system quality; uncertainty of quantitative quality characteristics; distributed systems; microservices; Monte Carlo method; uncertainty; network reliability analysis.