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Currently, we have a functional implementation of the Fractal API and model. One can configure and deploy a distributed system made of components.
However, there are currently no optimizations apart from those already offered by ProActive, such as direct communications when communicating entities are in the same virtual machine.
We are studying strategies for optimizations that would allow us to reduce the interceptions and the network latency times (when the components are distributed). We have already implemented a first mechanism for shortcuts, which does not allow reconfiguration. We are currently working on a more sophisticated version that will allow dynamic reconfigurations.
Reusability and Components should be accessible through predefined / preconfigured packages. A bit like enterprise archives for Enterprise JavaBeans, though there is also a notion of composition of deployment that should be addressed.
Another area of investigation is the tools for configuring, deploying and monitoring distributed component systems.
Because component based programming is somewhat analogous to the assembly of building blocks into a functional product, graphical tools are well suited for the design and monitoring of component based systems. The Fractal community actually proposes such a tool : the Fractal GUI. We have extended this tool to evaluate the feasibility of a full-fledge graphical interface for the design and monitoring of distributed components. The result is available within the IC2D GUI, you can try it out, but consider it as a product in alpha state. Development is indeed currently discontinued as we are waiting for a new release of the Fractal GUI, and some features are only partially implemented (runtime monitoring, composition of virtual nodes).
The GUI allows the creation of ADL files representing component systems, and - the other way around - also allows to load ADL files and get a visual representation of systems described in the ADL files. We have worked on the manipulation of virtual nodes - a deployment abstraction - : components display the virtual nodes where they are deployed, and it is also possible to compose virtual nodes
Ultimately, we would like to couple the visualization of components at runtime (currently unavailable here) with the standard monitoring capabilities of IC2D : we would get a structural view of the application in the Fractal GUI, and a topological view in the standard IC2D frame
If you want to try out the extended Fractal GUI for ProActive :
Other areas of research that we are opening around this work include :
Some features of the Fractal model are not implemented :
Custom controllers cannot yet be specified in the ADL.