ASA_2 - Modeling of Autonomous IT-Architectures

The development of future IT-systems keeps on growing - computer systems cover more areas of our all-day-life and business activities than ever. The fact that IT emerges further into new areas of our life raises also the demand for dependability. We see 'dependability' as an umbrella concept that combines different aspects, previously discussed separately in the research community. Dependability covers not only the reliability or availability of systems, but also deals with confidentiality, integrity and authenticity. Users and administrators face a growing complexity regarding the management of today's IT-systems. In order to keep assuring the dependability of these systems, we research new approaches to system architecture and to development and system engineering. Our main focus lies on the autonomy and autonomic behaviour of computer systems.

In a joint research effort we cooperate with the Federal Office for Information Security (Bundesamt für Sicherheit in der Informationstechnik, BSI). In this effort, we assess and evaluate recent developments and research findings relevant for this area. Our goal is to identify potential improvements and weaknesses of architectural approaches in order to find out redundancies and complementary aspects. The focus of the assessment is both on software- and hardware-architectures, covering entire systems as well as individual components. In addition, we consider important recent findings in the areas of system engineering and development methodologies. The anticipated result of our research effort is a foundation that serves as an assessment of recent technologies referring to autonomic systems in order to coordinate further research activities in this area, headed by the BSI. The BSI represents the centralised authority on IT security of the German government. Furthermore, the BSI provides the requirements and directions of our joint research effort. The effort is supported by the initiative 'Zukunftsfonds' as a part of the 'High-Tech-Strategy'-programme of the German government.

The project is carried out in cooperation with the "Communication and Operating Systems" group of the Berlin University of Technology and the "Operating Systems" group of the Chemnitz University of Technology.