Chapter 7

System Design:
Addressing Design Goals

Bernd Bruegge & Allen H. Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Using UML, Patterns, and Java 1
 System Design
8. Boundary
1. Design Goals Conditions
Definition Initialization
Trade-offs Termination
Failure
2. Subsystem Decomposition 7. Software
Layers vs Partitions Control
Coherence/Coupling
Monolithic
Event-Driven
3. Concurrency Conc. Processes
Identification of 4. Hardware/ 5. Data 6. Global Resource
Threads Software Mapping Management Handlung
Special Purpose Persistent Objects Access Control List
Buy vs Build File system vs Database vs Capabilities
Allocation of Resources Security
Connectivity
Bernd Bruegge & Allen H. Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Using UML, Patterns, and Java 2
Concurrency

• Nonfunctional Requirements to be addressed:

Performance, Response time, latency, availability.
• Two objects are inherently concurrent if they can receive
events at the same time without interacting
• Source for identification: Objects in a sequence
diagram that can simultaneously receive events
• Unrelated events, instances of the same event
• Inherently concurrent objects can be assigned to different
threads of control
• Objects with mutual exclusive activity could be folded into
a single thread of control.

Bernd Bruegge & Allen H. Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Using UML, Patterns, and Java 3
Thread of Control

• A thread of control is a path through a set of state

diagrams on which a single object is active at a time

• A thread remains within a state diagram until an object

sends an event to different object and waits for another
event
• Thread splitting: Object does a non-blocking send of an
event to another object.

• Concurrent threads can lead to race conditions.

• A race condition (also race hazard) is a design flaw where

the output of a process is depends on the specific
sequence of other events.

Bernd Bruegge & Allen H. Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Using UML, Patterns, and Java 4
 Assume: Initial
Example: Problem with threads balance = 200

:WithdrawCtrl :BankAccount :WithdrawCtrl

c1:Customer c2:Customer

withdraw(50)
getBalance()

Thread 1 200 withdraw(50)

getBalance()
computeNewBalance(200,50)
200
Thread 2
computeNewBalance(200,50)

setBalance(150)

setBalance(150)

Final
balance = 150 ??!
Bernd Bruegge & Allen H. Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Using UML, Patterns, and Java 5
 Initial
Solution: Synchronization of Threads Single WithdrawCtrl
Instance balance = 200

:WithdrawCtrl :BankAccount
c1:Customer c2:Customer Synchronized method

withdraw(50)
getBalance()
withdraw(50)
200

computeNewBalance(200,50)

setBalance(150)

End
balance = 100
Bernd Bruegge & Allen H. Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Using UML, Patterns, and Java 6
Concurrency Questions

• To identify threads for concurrency we ask the following

questions:
• Does the system provide access to multiple users?
• Which entity objects of the object model can be
executed independently from each other?
• What kinds of control objects are identifiable?
• Can a single request to the system be decomposed into
multiple requests? Can these requests and handled in
parallel? (Example: a distributed query)

Bernd Bruegge & Allen H. Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Using UML, Patterns, and Java 7
Implementing Concurrency

• Concurrent systems can be implemented on any system

that provides
• Physical concurrency: Threads are provided by hardware
or
• Logical concurrency: Threads are provided by software
• Physical concurrency is provided by multiprocessors and
computer networks
• Logical concurrency is provided by threads packages.

Bernd Bruegge & Allen H. Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Using UML, Patterns, and Java 8
Implementing Concurrency (2)
• In both cases, - physical concurrency as well as logical
concurrency - we have to solve the scheduling of these
threads:
• Which thread runs when?
• Today’s operating systems provide a variety of scheduling
mechanisms:
• Round robin, time slicing, collaborating processes,
interrupt handling
• General question addresses starvation, deadlocks, fairness
-> Topic for researchers in operating systems
• Sometimes we have to solve the scheduling problem
ourselves
• Topic addressed by software control (system design
topic 7).

Bernd Bruegge & Allen H. Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Using UML, Patterns, and Java 9
 System Design
8. Boundary
1. Design Goals Conditions
Definition Initialization
Trade-offs Termination
Failure
2. Subsystem Decomposition 7. Software
Layers vs Partitions Control
Coherence/Coupling
Monolithic
Event-Driven
3. Concurrency Conc. Processes
Identification of  4. Hardware/ 5. Data 6. Global Resource
Threads Software Mapping Management Handlung
Special Purpose Persistent Objects Access Control List
Buy vs Build Filesystem vs Database vs Capabilities
Allocation of Resources Security
Connectivity
Bernd Bruegge & Allen H. Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Using UML, Patterns, and Java 10
4. Hardware Software Mapping
• This system design activity addresses two questions:
• How shall we realize the subsystems: With hardware or
with software?
• How do we map the object model onto the chosen
hardware and/or software?
• Mapping the Objects:
• Processor, Memory, Input/Output
• Mapping the Associations:
• Network connections

Bernd Bruegge & Allen H. Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Using UML, Patterns, and Java 11
Mapping Objects onto Hardware
• Control Objects -> Processor
• Is the computation rate too demanding for a single
processor?
• Can we get a speedup by distributing objects across
several processors?
• How many processors are required to maintain a
steady state load?
• Entity Objects -> Memory
• Is there enough memory to buffer bursts of requests?
• Boundary Objects -> Input/Output Devices
• Do we need an extra piece of hardware to handle the
data generation rates?
• Can the desired response time be realized with the
available communication bandwidth between
subsystems?

Bernd Bruegge & Allen H. Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Using UML, Patterns, and Java 12
Mapping the Associations:
Connectivity
• Describe the physical connectivity
• (“physical layer in the OSI Reference Model”)
• Describes which associations in the object model
are mapped to physical connections.
• Describe the logical connectivity (subsystem associations)
• Associations that do not directly map into physical
connections.
• In which layer should these associations be
implemented?
• Informal connectivity drawings often contain both types of
connectivity
• Practiced by many developers, sometimes confusing.

Bernd Bruegge & Allen H. Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Using UML, Patterns, and Java 13
 Example: Informal Connectivity
DistributedDatabaseArchitecture Tue, Oct 13, 1992 12:53 AM

Drawing
Application Application Application
Client Client Client

TCP/IP
Logical LAN
Connectivity
Communication
Agent for
Application Clients LAN Global
Data
Communication Server
Communication
Backbone Network Agent for Data
Agent for OODBMS
Server
Application Clients
Communication Global
Agent for Data Data
Server Server
LAN RDBMS
Ethernet Cat 5
Local Data Global Data
Physical
Server Server Connectivity
Bernd Bruegge & Allen H. Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Using UML, Patterns, and Java 14
Logical vs Physical Connectivity and
the relationship to Subsystem
Layering

Application Layer Application Layer

Presentation Layer Presentation Layer

Logical
Session Layer Connectivity
Session Layer
Bidirectional associa-
tions for each layer
Transport Layer Transport Layer

Network Layer Network Layer

Data Link Layer Data Link Layer

Physical
Physical Layer Physical Layer Connectivity

Processor 1 Processor 2
Bernd Bruegge & Allen H. Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Using UML, Patterns, and Java 15
Hardware-Software Mapping
Difficulties
• Much of the difficulty of designing a system comes from
addressing externally-imposed hardware and software
constraints
• Certain tasks have to be at specific locations
• Example: Withdrawing money from an ATM
machine
• Some hardware components have to be used from a
specific manufacturer
• Example: To send DVB-T signals, the system has to
use components from a company that provides
DVB-T transmitters.

Bernd Bruegge & Allen H. Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Using UML, Patterns, and Java 16
 Hardware/Software Mappings in
UML
• A UML component is a building block of the system. It is
represented as a rectangle with a tabbed rectangle symbol
inside
• Components have different lifetimes:
• Some exist only at design time
• Classes, associations
• Others exist until compile time
• Source code, pointers
• Some exist at link or only at runtime
• Linkable libraries, executables, addresses
• The Hardware/Software Mapping addresses dependencies and
distribution issues of UML components during system design.

Bernd Bruegge & Allen H. Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Using UML, Patterns, and Java 17
Two New UML Diagram Types

• Component Diagram:
• Illustrates dependencies between components at
design time, compilation time and runtime

• Deployment Diagram:
• Illustrates the distribution of components at run-time.
• Deployment diagrams use nodes and connections to
depict the physical resources in the system.

Bernd Bruegge & Allen H. Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Using UML, Patterns, and Java 18
UML Component Diagram
• Used to model the top-level view of the system design in
terms of components and dependencies among the
components. Components can be
• source code, linkable libraries, executables

• The dependencies (edges in the graph) are shown as dashed

lines with arrows from the client component to the supplier
component:
• The lines are often also called connectors
• The types of dependencies are implementation language
specific

• Informally also called “software wiring diagram“ because it

show how the software components are wired together in
the overall application.

Bernd Bruegge & Allen H. Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Using UML, Patterns, and Java 19
UML Interfaces: Lollipops and
Sockets
• A UML interface describes a group of operations used or
created by UML components.
• There are two types of interfaces: provided and
required interfaces.
• A provided interface is modeled using the lollipop
notation

• A required interface is modeled using the socket

notation.

• A port specifies a distinct interaction point between the

component and its environment.
• Ports are depicted as small squares on the sides of
classifiers.

Bernd Bruegge & Allen H. Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Using UML, Patterns, and Java 20
Component Diagram Example

Bernd Bruegge & Allen H. Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Using UML, Patterns, and Java 21
Deployment Diagram
• Deployment diagrams are useful for showing a system
design after these system design decisions have been
made:
• Subsystem decomposition
• Concurrency :PC :Server
• Hardware/Software Mapping
• A deployment diagram is a graph of nodes and
connections (“communication associations”)
• Nodes are shown as 3-D boxes
• Connections between nodes are shown as solid lines
• Nodes may contain components
• Components can be connected by “lollipops” and
“grabbers”
• Components may contain objects (indicating that
the object is part of the component).
Bernd Bruegge & Allen H. Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Using UML, Patterns, and Java 22
Deployment Diagram Example

Bernd Bruegge & Allen H. Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Using UML, Patterns, and Java 23
5. Data Management

• Some objects in the system model need to be persistent:

• Values for their attributes have a lifetime longer than a
single execution
• A persistent object can be realized with one of the
following mechanisms:
• Filesystem:
• If the data are used by multiple readers but a single
writer
• Database:
• If the data are used by concurrent writers and
readers.

Bernd Bruegge & Allen H. Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Using UML, Patterns, and Java 24
Data Management Questions

• How often is the database accessed?

• What is the expected request (query) rate? The worst
case?
• What is the size of typical and worst case requests?
• Do the data need to be archived?
• Should the data be distributed?
• Does the system design try to hide the location of the
databases (location transparency)?
• Is there a need for a single interface to access the data?
• What is the query format?
• Should the data format be extensible?

Bernd Bruegge & Allen H. Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Using UML, Patterns, and Java 25
Mapping Object Models

• UML object models can be mapped to relational databases

• The mapping:
• Each class is mapped to its own table
• Each class attribute is mapped to a column in the table
• An instance of a class represents a row in the table
• One-to-many associations are implemented with a
buried foreign key
• Many-to-many associations are mapped to their own
tables
• Methods are not mapped

Bernd Bruegge & Allen H. Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Using UML, Patterns, and Java 26
6. Global Resource Handling

• Discusses access control

• Describes access rights for different classes of actors
• Describes how object guard against unauthorized access.

Bernd Bruegge & Allen H. Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Using UML, Patterns, and Java 27
Defining Access Control

• In multi-user systems different actors usually have

different access rights to different functionality and data
• How do we model these accesses?
• During analysis we model them by associating different
use cases with different actors
• During system design we model them determining
which objects are shared among actors.

Bernd Bruegge & Allen H. Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Using UML, Patterns, and Java 28
Access Matrix

• We model access on classes with an access matrix:

• The rows of the matrix represents the actors of the
system
• The column represent classes whose access we want to
control

• Access Right: An entry in the access matrix. It lists the

operations that can be executed on instances of the class
by the actor.

Bernd Bruegge & Allen H. Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Using UML, Patterns, and Java 29
Access matrix example
Access right

Bernd Bruegge & Allen H. Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Using UML, Patterns, and Java 30
Global Resource Questions

• Does the system need authentication?

• If yes, what is the authentication scheme?
• User name and password? Access control list
• Tickets? Capability-based
• What is the user interface for authentication?
• Does the system need a network-wide name server?
• How is a service known to the rest of the system?
• At runtime? At compile time?
• By Port?
• By Name?

Bernd Bruegge & Allen H. Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Using UML, Patterns, and Java 31
7. Decide on Software Control flow
Two major design choices:
1. Choose implicit control
2. Choose explicit control
• Centralized or decentralized
• Centralized control:
• Procedure-driven: Control resides within program code.
• Event-driven: Control resides within a dispatcher calling
functions via callbacks.
• Decentralized control
• Control resides in several independent objects.
• Examples: Message based system, RMI
• Possible speedup by mapping the objects on different
processors, increased communication overhead.

Bernd Bruegge & Allen H. Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Using UML, Patterns, and Java 32
Centralized vs. Decentralized
Designs
• Centralized Design
• One control object or subsystem ("spider") controls
everything
• Pro: Change in the control structure is very easy
• Con: The single control object is a possible
performance bottleneck
• Decentralized Design
• Not a single object is in control, control is distributed;
That means, there is more than one control object
• Con: The responsibility is spread out
• Pro: Fits nicely into object-oriented development

Bernd Bruegge & Allen H. Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Using UML, Patterns, and Java 33
Centralized vs. Decentralized
Designs (2)
• Should you use a centralized or decentralized design?
• Take the sequence diagrams and control objects from the
analysis model
• Check the participation of the control objects in the
sequence diagrams
• If the sequence diagram looks like a fork =>
Centralized design
• If the sequence diagram looks like a stair =>
Decentralized design.

Bernd Bruegge & Allen H. Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Using UML, Patterns, and Java 34
8. Boundary Conditions

• Initialization
• The system is brought from a non-initialized state to
steady-state
• Termination
• Resources are cleaned up and other systems are
notified upon termination
• Failure
• Possible failures: Bugs, errors, external problems
• Good system design foresees fatal failures and provides
mechanisms to deal with them.

Bernd Bruegge & Allen H. Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Using UML, Patterns, and Java 35
Boundary Condition Questions

• Initialization
• What data need to be accessed at startup time?
• What services have to registered?
• What does the user interface do at start up time?
• Termination
• Are single subsystems allowed to terminate?
• Are subsystems notified if a single subsystem
terminates?
• How are updates communicated to the database?
• Failure
• How does the system behave when a node or
communication link fails?
• How does the system recover from failure?

Bernd Bruegge & Allen H. Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Using UML, Patterns, and Java 36
Modeling Boundary Conditions

• Boundary conditions are best modeled as use cases with

actors and objects
• We call them boundary use cases or administrative use
cases
• Actor: often the system administrator
• Interesting use cases:
• Start up of a subsystem
• Start up of the full system
• Termination of a subsystem
• Error in a subsystem or component, failure of a
subsystem or component.

Bernd Bruegge & Allen H. Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Using UML, Patterns, and Java 37
Example: Boundary Use Case for
ARENA

• Let us assume, we identified the subsystem

AdvertisementServer during system design
• This server takes a big load during the holiday season
• During hardware software mapping we decide to dedicate
a special node for this server
• For this node we define a new boundary use case
ManageServer
• ManageServer includes all the functions necessary to start
up and shutdown the AdvertisementServer.

Bernd Bruegge & Allen H. Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Using UML, Patterns, and Java 38
 ManageServer Boundary Use Case

<<include>>

StartServer
Server <<include>>
Administrator
ManageServer ShutdownServer

<<include>>

ConfigureServer

Bernd Bruegge & Allen H. Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Using UML, Patterns, and Java 39
Summary
• System design activities:
• Concurrency identification
• Hardware/Software mapping
• Persistent data management
• Global resource handling
• Software control selection
• Boundary conditions
• Each of these activities may affect the subsystem
decomposition
• Two new UML Notations
• UML Component Diagram: Showing compile time and
runtime dependencies between subsystems
• UML Deployment Diagram: Drawing the runtime
configuration of the system.

Bernd Bruegge & Allen H. Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Using UML, Patterns, and Java 40
Object Design

During object design, we close the gap between the

application objects and the off-the-shelf components by
identifying additional solution objects and refining existing
objects.
Object design includes the following activities
• Reuse, during which we identify off-the-shelf
components and design patterns to make use of existing
solutions.
• Service specification, during which we precisely
describe each class interface.
• Object model restructuring, during which we
transform the object design model to improve its
understandability and extensibility
• Object model optimization, during which we
transform the object design model to address
performance criteria such as response time or memory
utilization.

Bernd Bruegge & Allen H. Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Using UML, Patterns, and Java 41
 Activities of object design (UML
activity diagram).
Bernd Bruegge & Allen H. Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Using UML, Patterns, and Java 42