% $Id: overview.tex 5108 2007-01-07 23:52:29Z gokhale $

\subsection{Overview of Enabling Technologies}
\label{sec:overview}

Before delving into the details of our design-time dependability
provisioning tool, we first provide an overview of the enabling
technologies we have leveraged to develop MDDPro.

MDDPro has been developed in the context of the CoSMIC (Component
Synthesis with Model Integrated Computing)~\cite{Schmidt:03n} MDE
toolsuite.  CoSMIC is an open source MDE tool suite used to simplify
the development of component-based DRE applications focusing
particularly on the assembly, deployment, configuration, and
validation of component-based enterprise DRE systems.  CoSMIC
comprises a collection of {\em domain-specific modeling languages}
(DSMLs), which define the concepts, relationships, and constraints
used to express domain entities~\cite{Janos:03}, and generative
programming capabilities that automate the different development
concerns of DRE systems.

The different capabilities in CoSMIC including the MDDPro tool
described in this paper have been developed using the Generic Modeling
Environment (GME)~\cite{GME:01}.  GME is a metaprogrammable modeling
environment that enables domain experts to develop visual modeling
languages and generative tools associated with those languages.  The
modeling languages in GME are represented as metamodels.  A metamodel
in GME depicts a class diagram using UML-like constructs showcasing
the elements of the modeling language and how they are associated with
each other.

A key CoSMIC DSML developed in GME is the {\em Platform Independent
  Component Modeling Language} (PICML)~\cite{Schmidt:05o}, which
enables graphical manipulation of modeling elements, such as component
ports and attributes.  PICML also performs various types of generative
actions, such as synthesizing XML-based deployment plan descriptors
defined in the OMG Deployment and Configuration (D\&C)
specification~\cite{DandC:03}.  CoSMIC provides the {\em
  Component QoS Modeling Language} (CQML), which is a mappping of the
platform-independent PICML models to models that are specific to the
lightweight CORBA Component Model.  Figure~\ref{fig:cqml-sample}
illustrates the CQML model for the enterprise DRE system case study
from Figure~\ref{fig:sample}.  Our MDDPro tool is an enhancement to
the CQML DSML and its generative capabilities.


\begin{figure}[htb]
  \centering
  \includegraphics[width=0.9\columnwidth,keepaspectratio]{figs/slice-cqml}
  \vspace{-3.3in}
  \caption{CQML Model of the Enterprise DRE System Case Study}
  \label{fig:cqml-sample}
\end{figure}



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