Configuration Services
Large-scale multi-agent systems, e.g., facilitated by AgentScape, distinguish agents and services.
Agents can migrate from one agent platform to another. Services and agents continuously appear and
disappear. Software agents need to adapt to cope with such changes. Services, and compositions of
services, also need to be able to adapt to this dynamic environment.To support adaptation of
services and agents, automated software configuration is required. Research on Configuration
Services within the IIDS group focusses on this topic.
The components for configuration are structured: software components are building blocks that can
have explicitly defined open slots to regulate configuration possibilities. The configuration
process itself is also structured, and based upon the Generic Design Model, a knowledge-level model
of design described in [1]. Applications of software configuration currently studied include: agent
configuration, Web service configuration, and generative migration.
- In agent configuration an Agent Factory is used for creation and maintenance of agents. The Agent
Factory can be a service available on an agent platform, e.g. AgentScape. Based on requirements
from a user, either human or agent, an agent is created or adapted.
- In Web service configuration a configuration of multiple Web services is designed by a
configuration service. Web services that are used in the configuration are described in DAML-S.
- In generative migration a blueprint of an agent (i.e. description of its component configuration)
and its state is sent to its destination, instead of sending state of an agent and its whole code.
The agents code is regenerated at its destination using this blueprint. The agent factory is used
to rebuild agents based on their blueprints, and optionally perform modifications to optimise the
agents for the destination agent platform.
[1] Brazier, F.M.T, Van Langen, P.H.G., Ruttkay, Zs. and Treur, J.
On formal specification of
design tasks, In Proc. of the AAAI Workshop on Artificial Intelligence and Manufacturing: State of
the Art and Practice, AAAI Press, 1994, 30-39.
