NIVERSITY Dynamic Configuration Abstraction

Dynamic configuration is the ability to modify the structure of an application as a concurrent activity to the application providing service. Society has placed great reliance on complex computer systems; this trend looks set to continue with expectations for non-stop and adaptive applications. Research to date has produced a pool of mechanisms and theory regarding dynamic configuration. Our research appears as a natural and timely progression. We feel it is appropriate to provide abstraction support, so propose the use of an abstract model to manage reconfiguration. Central to our work is an application model which is used to manage reconfiguration automatically whilst preserving application consistency. Reconfiguration is expressed by version descriptions, which initiate a state transition from one configuration state to another. In addition, the model provides a base from which developers can analyse reconfigurable