Efficiently building on-line tools for distributed heterogeneous environments

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Rackl, Günther | Ludwig, Thomas | Lindermeier, Markus | Stamatakis, Alexandros

Affiliations: Lehrstuhl für Rechnertechnik und Rechnerorganisation (LRR), Institut für Informatik, Technische Universität München (TUM), 80290 München, Germany. E-mail: {rackl,ludwig,linderme,stamatak}@in.tum.de

Note: [] Present address: Günther Rackl, Holzstraße 20, 80469 München, Germany. E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract: Software development is getting more and more complex, especially within distributed middleware-based environments. A major drawback during the overall software development process is the lack of on-line tools, i.e. tools applied as soon as there is a running prototype of an application. The MIMO MIddleware MOnitor provides a solution to this problem by implementing a framework for an efficient development of on-line tools. This paper presents a methodology for developing on-line tools with MIMO. As an example scenario, we choose a distributed medical image reconstruction application, which represents a test case with high performance requirements. Our distributed, CORBA-based application is instrumented for being observed with MIMO and related tools. Additionally, load balancing mechanisms are integrated for further performance improvements. As a result, we obtain an integrated tool environment for observing and steering the image reconstruction application. By using our rapid tool development process, the integration of on-line tools shows to be very convenient and enables an efficient tool deployment.

Journal: Scientific Programming, vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 67-74, 2002