In processor design well established development methods with common methodology, wide spread languages (e.g. VHDL), and design and simulation tools have been used for many years. All modern processor designs and their known impressive achievements were only possible by making use of this infrastructure.
In the development of larger systems of multimedia enabled networked machines (e.g. client/server systems or clustered machines), there is no such tradition of developing with (formal) models and using simulations to support building reliable systems with predictable performance.
In our work, we use different methods to model and simulate distributed computer systems and networks to help finding representations for such systems in a way so that human designers and analysts can easily comprehend and manipulate them. The same models are used for simulations to predict performance and availability of different configurations.
We present some example graphics to give an impression of some systems we are currently modelling.
Comparing Cluster Interconnection Technologies
Building Modular and Layered Models
Reducing Simulation Time by Choosing Different Abstractions
For questions or comments please mail to: Georg.Mittenecker@tuwien.ac.at