Dependability modeling for multiprocessors

A tutorial on dependability and performance-related dependability models for multiprocessors is presented. Multiprocessors are classified as having shared-memory or distributed-memory architectures, and some fundamental dependability modeling concepts. Reliability models based on four types of reliability evaluation techniques (terminal, multiterminal, task-based, and network reliability) are examined. The status of research efforts on performance-related dependability is discussed, and the models´ effectiveness is illustrated with a few numerical examples. A brief survey of software packages for dependability computation in included.<>