Run-time Verification of Service-oriented Systems: A Well-rounded Survey

Abstract

Dynamic nature of Service-Oriented Systems (SOSs) has made conventional verification techniques such as testing, model checking and theorem proving ineffective. As a result, many studies have been dedicated to verification of SOS. In this survey, we first discuss why the conventional verification techniques are not effectively applicable to SOSs and then stress the necessity of the runtime verification as a dynamic approach that formally checks the system behaviour at runtime. To provide a deep comparison between existing studies and to draw a clear road map for the future studies, we introduce the salient characteristics of the runtime verification in SOSs. In addition, we survey a significant number of various studies in the literature by categorizing them in five broad categories: logic and calculus oriented approaches, workflow monitoring, state-based conformity assessment, aspectoriented verification, and SLA-driven compliance. Then, we deal with the comparison between the defined categories and finally discuss open problems.