Towards an MDA-oriented UML profile for distribution

Abstract

The era of distributed systems is upon us. Middleware-specific concerns, and especially the distribution concern, which is the core of any middleware-mediated application, are addressed every day in all sorts of enterprise systems. However, object-oriented UML designs offer a very limited perspective on what exactly is distributed, how exactly the distribution is achieved, and where exactly distributed services are located. In order to answer these questions, the MDA-compliant enterprise Fondue method proposes a hierarchy of UML profiles as a means for addressing the distribution concern at three different MDA-levels of abstraction. Model transformations are provided to incrementally refine existing design models according to the proposed profiles. For the last phase of the enterprise Fondue process, code generation for specific middleware infrastructures is supported through the Parallax framework. The CORBA technology is used for illustrating the entire approach on a concrete example.