Software architecture reliability prediction models: An overview

The ability to predict reliability of the software during its architectural design not only helps in saving cost but also helps to improve its reliability. With the growing size and complexity of software applications researchers have focused that how to get software reliability through its architecture. Architectural design phase is the stage where one can evaluate either the developed software will fulfill the requirements or not; that´s why a highly reliable method is required to analyze and predict the software´s architectural reliability. Reliability prediction at architecture level is a challenging task because the architecture reliability depends on the reliability of the individual component, their size, complexity, implemented technology and the interaction among the components. In this paper we have compared the existing reliability prediction models based on our criteria. The purpose is to discover that which one is the best and what is the shortcoming of these models. We also have suggested the research activities needed to overcome these shortcomings.