DFT and DRBD in computing systems dependability analysis

Abstract

Many alternatives are available for modeling reliability aspects, such as reliability block diagrams (RBD), fault trees (FT) or reliability graphs (RG). Since they are easy to use and to understand, they are widely spread. But, often, the stochastic independence assumption significantly limits the applicability of such tools. In particular this concerns complex systems such as computing systems. Also more enhanced formalisms as dynamic FT (DFT) could result not adequate to model dependent and dynamic aspects. To overcome this limitation we developed a new formalism derived from RBD: the dynamic RBD (DRBD). In this paper we compare the DFT and the DRBD approaches in the evaluation of a multiprocessor distributed computing system. Particular attention is given to the analysis phase, in order to highlight the capabilities of DRBD. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2007.