SiaaS: Simulation as a Service

Abstract

One major advantage of performance models over tests using real systems is the ability to simulate design alternatives by simply modifying or exchanging parts of such models. However, the evaluation of numerous design alternatives can be time consuming depending on the number of alternatives and the complexity of the model. To overcome this challenge, this work presents a scalable simulation service for the Palladio Component Model (PCM) workbench based on a headless Eclipse instance, a Java EE application server, packaged in a docker container and run in kubernetes. The simulation service supports parallel simulation runs, multiple PCM instances in the same container and scales out automatically, when resources of one container instance exceed. Simulation jobs are triggered by a platform-independent REST interface and can be re-used by other applications. This allows to simulate a vast amount of model instances in parallel on cloud or on-premise installations.