A Product Line Architecture for a Network Product

Abstract

Given a set of related (and existing) network products, the goal of this architectural exercise was to define a generic architecture that was sufficient to encompass existing and future products in such a way as to satisfy the following two requirements: 1) represent the range of products from single board, centralized systems to multiple board, distributed systems; and 2) support dynamic reconfigurability.

We first describe the basic system abstractions and the typical organization for these kinds of projects. We then describe our generic architecture and show how these two requirements have been met. Our approach using late binding, re ection, indirection and location transparency combines the two requirements neatly into an interdependent solution – though they could be easily separated into independent ones.

We then address the ubiquitous problem of how to deal with multiple dimensions of organization. In many types of systems there are several competing ways in which the system might be organized. We show how architectural styles can be an effective mechanism for dealing with such issues as initialization and exception handling in a uniform way across the system components.

Finally, we summarize the lessons learned from this experience.