Distributed Holistic Bounding: Structuring Testbeds for Emerging Virtual Environments

Abstract

Adequately testing, evaluating and analyzing large, scale-free information systems is very difficult due to the nebulous nature of the systems boundaries and ever-changing number of links and nodes that comprise the overall system. This paper proposed that it is possible to conduct such studies through distributed holistic bounding and employment of disciplined experiment campaigning. Beginning with identification of the overarching purpose of the entire system and identifying the boundaries of the sub-systems that contribute to the overall system’s functionality we can develop effective experiments that will identify critical environmental variables that affect system performance. By adhering to an experiment campaign strategy we can discover those variables, develop hypotheses that help determine optimal system configurations and ultimately build and demonstrate that optimal system.