Performance Evaluation of a Distributed Software Architecture

There is growing recognition of the importance of the role of architecture in determining the quality of a software system. While a good architecture cannot guarantee attainment of quality goals, a poor architecture can prevent their achievement. It is particularly important to evaluate the performance of a distributed system architecture. Errors made early can cause excessive overhead for communication and coordination and they are far more difficult – if not impossible – to correct with tuning. This paper discusses assessment of the performance characteristics of distributed software architectures in early life cycle stages. The techniques are described and illustrated with a simple example.