Preserving Dynamic Reconfiguration Consistency in Aspect Oriented Middleware

Aspect-oriented middleware is a promising technology for the realisation of dynamic reconfiguration in heterogeneous distributed systems. However, like other dynamic reconfiguration approaches, AO-middleware-based reconfiguration requires that the consistency of the system is maintained across reconfigurations. AO-middleware-based reconfiguration is an ongoing research topic and several consistency approaches have been proposed. However, most of these approaches tend to be targeted at specific contexts, whereas for distributed systems it is crucial to cover a wide range of operating conditions. In this paper we propose an approach that offers distributed, dynamic reconfiguration in a consistent manner, and features a flexible framework-based consistency management approach to cover a wide range of operating conditions. We evaluate our approach by investigating the configurability and transparency of our approach and also quantify the performance overheads of the associated consistency mechanisms.