Chapter 6 - Interoperability

Question 1

what is interoperability?

Answer 1

the degree to which two or more systems can usefully exchange meaningful information

Question 2

What is the general scenario “Source”

Answer 2

a system

Question 3

What is the general scenario “Stimulus”

Answer 3

a request to exchange information among systems

Question 4

What is the general scenario “Artifact”

Answer 4

the systems that wish to exchange information

Question 5

What is the general scenario “Environment”

Answer 5

system(s) wishing to interoperate are discovered at runtime or known prior to runtime

Question 6

What are the 3 general scenario “responses”

Answer 6

• the request is rejected and the appropriate entities are notified
• the request is accepted and the information is exchanged successfully
• the request is logged by one or more of the involved systems

Question 7

What are the 2 general scenario “response measures”

Answer 7

• percentage of information exchanges correctly processed

- percentage of information exchanges correctly rejected

Question 8

2 concepts that must be true for two or more systems to usefully exchange information

Answer 8

• know about each other

- exchange information in a semantically meaningful fashion

Question 9

2 aspects of an information exchange that make it semantically meaningful

Answer 9

• provides services in the correct sequence

- modifies information produced by one actor to a form acceptable to the second actor

Question 10

2 categories of interoperability tactics

Answer 10

• locate

- manage interface

Question 11

1 type of locate tactic

Answer 11

discover service

Question 12

What does it mean to discover service?

Answer 12

to locate a service through searching a known directory service

could be multiple levels of indentation

Question 13

2 types of manage interface tactics?

Answer 13

• orchestrate

- tailor interface

Question 14

what does it mean to orchestrate?

Answer 14

to use a control mechanism to coordinate, manage and sequence the invocation of services

Orchestration is used when systems must interact in a complex fashion to accomplish a complex task

Question 15

What does it mean to tailor the interface?

Answer 15

to add or remove capabilities to an interface such as translation, buffering, or data-smoothing

Question 16

3 important aspects of allocation of responsibilities with regards to interoperability

Answer 16

• determine which of the system responsibilities will need to interoperate with other systems
• ensure the responsibilities have been allocated to detect a request to interoperate with known or unknown external systems
• ensure responsibilities have been allocated to handle any of the 3 possible responses

Question 17

2 important aspects of the coordination model with regards to interoperability

Answer 17

• ensure coordination mechanisms can meet the critical quality attribute requirements (volume, timeliness, concurrency, and jitter of messages in system)
• ensure all of the systems under your control make assumptions about protocols and underlying networks that are consistent with the systems not under your control

Question 18

2 important aspects of the data model with regards to interoperability

Answer 18

• determine syntax and semantics of data abstractions that may be exchanged among systems
• ensure that these data abstractions are consistent with the data from the interoperating systems.

Question 19

1 important aspect of the mapping among architectural elements with regards to interoperability

Answer 19

the mapping of components to processors so that components that communicate externally can reach the network

Question 20

3 important aspects of resource management with regards to interoperability

Answer 20

• ensure that interoperation with another system can never exhaust critical system resources
• ensure that the resource load imposed by the communication requirements of interoperation is acceptable
• ensure that an adequate arbitration policy is in place for sharing of resources

Question 21

4 important aspects of binding time with regards to interoperability

Answer 21

• determine the system that may interoperate and when they become known to each other
• ensure a good policy for dealing with known and unknown external systems
• ensure that it has mechanisms for rejecting unacceptable bindings
• ensure that mechanisms will support the discovery of relevant new services or protocols

Question 22

2 important aspects of the “choice of technology” with regards to interoperability

Answer 22

• ensure the interoperability effects of the interface boundary for any of the chosen technologies
• can specific choices of technology be used to satisfy interoperability requirements