Multiphase stabilization

We generalize the concept of stabilization of computing systems. According to this generalization, the actions of a system S are partitioned into n partitions, called phase 1 through phase n. In this case, system S is said to be n-stabilizing to a state predicate Q iff S has state predicates P.0, .....

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:IEEE transactions on software engineering 2002-02, Vol.28 (2), p.201-208
Main Author: Gouda, M.G.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Boolean
Computation
Convergence
Fault tolerant systems
Faults
Mathematical models
Multiphase
Partitions
Program verification (computers)
Recovery
Software
Software engineering
Stabilization
Systems design
Tail
Variables
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Summary:We generalize the concept of stabilization of computing systems. According to this generalization, the actions of a system S are partitioned into n partitions, called phase 1 through phase n. In this case, system S is said to be n-stabilizing to a state predicate Q iff S has state predicates P.0, ..., P.n such that P.0=true, P.n=Q, and the following two conditions hold for every j, 1/spl les/j/spl les/n. First, if S starts at a state satisfying P.(j-1) and if the only actions of S that are allowed to be executed are those of phase j or less, then S will reach a state satisfying P.j. Second, the set of states satisfying P.j is closed under any execution of the actions of phase j or less. By choosing n=1, this generalization degenerates to the traditional definition of stabilization. We discuss three advantages of this generalization over the traditional definition. First, this generalization captures many stabilization properties of systems that are traditionally considered nonstabilizing. Second, verifying stabilization when n>1 is usually easier than when n=1. Third, this generalization suggests a new method of fault recovery, called multiphase recovery.
ISSN:0098-5589
1939-3520
DOI:10.1109/32.988499