Rule-based CIM query facility for dependency resolution

Abstract

A distributed system is composed of various resources which have mutually complicated dependencies. The fact increases an importance of the dependency resolution facility which makes it possible to check if there is given dependency between resources such as a router, and to determine which resources have given dependencies with other resources. This paper addresses a CIM query facility for dependency resolution. Its main features are ease of query description, bi-directional query execution, and completeness of query capability to CIM. These features are performed by a rule-based language that enables interesting predicates to be defined declaratively, unification and backtracking, and the preparation of predicates corresponding to CIM metamodel elements. To validate this facility, it was applied in servers dynamically allocated to service providers in a data center. The basic behavior of the query facility and the dynamic server allocation was illustrated. © IFIP International Federation for Information Processing 2004.