Chapter 13:

Architecture
Patterns
S O F T WA R E A R C H I T E C T U R E I N P R A C T I C E C H A P T E R 1 3
Topics
What is a Pattern?
Pattern Catalog
◦ Module patterns
◦ Component and Connector Patterns
◦ Allocation Patterns
Architectural Styles (Patterns)
Patterns – a Review
Work on software patterns stemmed from work on patterns for building
architecture carried out by Christopher Alexander (
A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction (1977))

All well-structured software systems are full of patterns

◦ Architectural patterns – system level structural organization
◦ Design patterns – component level design
◦ Programming idioms – reoccurring constructs expressed in different
languages (programming tasks, algorithms, data structures; e.g., increment
counter)
What is a Software
Architectural Pattern?
A pattern is a solution to a problem in a context
◦ Context. A recurring, common situation in the world that gives rise to a
problem.
◦ Problem. The problem, appropriately generalized, that arises in the given
context.
◦ A solution. A successful architectural resolution to the problem,
appropriately abstracted

An architectural pattern expresses a fundamental structural

organization abstraction for software systems
◦ A set of structural elements
◦ Their relationships
◦ Rules and guidelines for organizing the relationships between them
Software Architecture Patterns
Versus software design patterns – higher level system wide in scope ;
some overlap
◦ Recall the distinction between architecture and design work

Most software systems cannot be structured

according to a single architectural pattern
◦ Example: Design a system for flexibility of
component distribution in a heterogeneous computer network and for
adaptability of their user interfaces

How do you think about software design? Essentially the same cognitive
process for architecture design …
◦ Requirements driven, separation of concerns, top-down, apply patterns
Describing a Pattern Solution
A pattern solution is determined and described by:
◦ A set of element types (for example, data repositories, processes, and
objects)
◦ A set of interaction mechanisms or connectors (for example, method calls,
events, or message bus)
◦ A topological layout of the components
◦ A set of semantic constraints covering topology, element behavior, and
interaction mechanisms
◦ I.e., views

Organize patterns by predominant structure – module, connector,

allocation
 A Pattern Catalog
Module Component & Connector Allocation
Layered* Broker* Map-Reduce*
Domain decomposition Model-View-Controller* Multi-tier functional mapping*
Pipe-and-Filter* Platform
Client-Server* Team work allocation
Peer-to-Peer*
Service-Oriented Architecture*
Microservices*
Publish-Subscribe (Observer)*
Shared-Data*
Black Board*
Event Driven*
* Detailed below
 Class Activity
Each team will prepare a short ~five minute presentation of an architectural pattern
◦ Context, problem, solution, constraints/weaknesses
◦ Example view (not from the text)
◦ Candidate for your project?

Team 1 – Broker
Team 2 – Event Driven
Team 3 – Publish-Subscribe
Team 4 – Pipe-and-Filter
Team 5 – Map-Reduce
Team 6 – Microservices
Layer Pattern
Context: Complex systems need to develop and evolve portions of the
system independently. Developers need well-documented separation
of concerns, so system modules may be independently developed and
maintained.
Problem: The software needs to be segmented in such a way that the
modules can be developed and evolved separately with little
interaction among the parts, supporting portability, modifiability, and
reuse.
Solution: To achieve this separation of concerns, the layered pattern
divides the software into units called layers. Each layer is a grouping of
modules that offers a cohesive set of services. The usage must be
unidirectional. Layers completely partition a set of software, and each
partition is exposed through a public interface.
Layer Pattern Example
 UML Package Notation for
Layer Diagrams
A

Note: The textbook uses various <<uses>>

informal architecture notations. That is
OK if you use legends (keys) to explain
the components, connectors, and B

structures.

<<uses>>

C
Business IT Example

Software Architecture Patterns, Mark Richards

Layer Pattern Solution
Overview: The layered pattern defines layers (groupings of modules
that offer a cohesive set of services) and a unidirectional allowed-to-use
relation among the layers.
Elements: Layer, a kind of module. The description of a layer should
define what modules the layer contains.
Relations: Allowed to use. The design should define what the layer
usage rules are and any allowable exceptions.
Constraints:
◦ Every piece of software is allocated to exactly one layer.
◦ There are at least two layers (but usually there are three or more).
◦ The allowed-to-use relations should not be circular (i.e., a lower
layer cannot use a layer above).
Weaknesses:
◦ The addition of layers adds up-front cost and complexity to a system.
◦ Layers contribute a performance penalty.
Broker Pattern
Context: Many systems are constructed from a collection of services
distributed across multiple servers. Implementing these systems is
complex because you need to worry about how the systems will
interoperate—how they will connect to each other and how they will
exchange information—as well as the availability of the component
services.
Problem: How do we structure distributed software so that service
users do not need to know the nature and location of service
providers, making it easy to dynamically change the bindings between
users and providers?
Solution: The broker pattern separates users of services (clients) from
providers of services (servers) by inserting an intermediary, called a
broker. When a client needs a service, it queries a broker via a service
interface. The broker then forwards the client’s service request to a
server, which processes the request.
Broker Example
Broker Example
Broker Solution – 1
Overview: The broker pattern defines a runtime component, called a
broker, that mediates the communication between a number of clients
and servers.
Elements:
◦ Client, a requester of services
◦ Server, a provider of services
◦ Broker, an intermediary that locates an appropriate server to fulfill a
client’s request, forwards the request to the server, and returns the
results to the client
◦ Client-side proxy, an intermediary that manages the actual
communication with the broker, including marshaling, sending, and
unmarshaling of messages
◦ Server-side proxy, an intermediary that manages the actual
communication with the broker, including marshaling, sending, and
unmarshaling of messages
Broker Solution - 2
Relations: The attachment relation associates clients (and, optionally, client-
side proxies) and servers (and, optionally, server-side proxies) with brokers.
Constraints: The client can only attach to a broker (potentially via a client-side
proxy). The server can only attach to a broker (potentially via a server-side
proxy).
Weaknesses:
◦ Brokers add a layer of indirection, and hence latency, between clients and servers, and
that layer may be a communication bottleneck.
◦ The broker can be a single point of failure.
◦ A broker adds up-front complexity.
◦ A broker may be a target for security attacks.
◦ A broker may be difficult to test.
Model-View-Controller
Pattern
Context: User interface software is typically the most frequently
modified portion of an interactive application. Users often wish to look
at data from different perspectives, such as a bar graph or a pie chart.
These representations should both reflect the current state of the data.
Problem: How can user interface functionality be kept separate from
application functionality and yet still be responsive to user input, or to
changes in the underlying application’s data? And how can multiple
views of the user interface be created, maintained, and coordinated
when the underlying application data changes?
Solution: The model-view-controller (MVC) pattern separates
application functionality into three kinds of components:
◦ A model, which contains the application’s data
◦ A view, which displays some portion of the underlying data and
interacts with the user
◦ A controller, which mediates between the model and the view and
manages the notifications of state changes
 MVC Example
Manage user requests
Initiates model behavior
Select view response
User events

View selection State Change

Change notification

State query
Receives model data Encapsulates application
Requests model data functions and data
Presents view Invocations
Events
MVC Solution - 1
Overview: The MVC pattern breaks system functionality into three
components: a model, a view, and a controller that mediates
between the model and the view.
Elements:
◦ The model is a representation of the application data or state, and it
contains (or provides an interface to) application logic.
◦ The view is a user interface component that either produces a
representation of the model for the user or allows for some form of user
input, or both.
◦ The controller manages the interaction between the model and the view,
translating user actions into changes to the model or changes to the view.
MVC Solution - 2
Relations: The notifies relation connects instances of model,
view, and controller, notifying elements of relevant state
changes.
Constraints:
◦ There must be at least one instance each of model, view, and controller.
◦ The model component should not interact directly with the controller.

Weaknesses:
◦ The complexity may not be worth it for simple user interfaces.
◦ The model, view, and controller abstractions may not be good fits for
some user interface toolkits.
Pipe and Filter Pattern
Context: Many systems are required to transform streams of discrete data
items, from input to output. Many types of transformations occur repeatedly in
practice, and so it is desirable to create these as independent, reusable parts.
Problem: Such systems need to be divided into reusable, loosely coupled
components with simple, generic interaction mechanisms. In this way they can
be flexibly combined with each other. The components, being generic and
loosely coupled, are easily reused. The components, being independent, can
execute in parallel.
Solution: The pattern of interaction in the pipe-and-filter pattern is
characterized by successive transformations of streams of data. Data arrives at
a filter’s input port(s), is transformed, and then is passed via its output port(s)
through a pipe to the next filter. A single filter can consume data from, or
produce data to, one or more ports.
Pipe and Filter Example
Pipe and Filter Example
Pipe and Filter Solution
Overview: Data is transformed from a system’s external inputs to its external outputs through a
series of transformations performed by its filters connected by pipes.
Elements:
◦ Filter, which is a component that transforms data read on its input port(s) to data written
on its output port(s).
◦ Pipe, which is a connector that conveys data from a filter’s output port(s) to another filter’s
input port(s). A pipe has a single source for its input and a single target for its output. A
pipe preserves the sequence of data items, and it does not alter the data passing through.
Relations: The attachment relation associates the output of filters with the input of pipes and
vice versa.
Constraints:
◦ Pipes connect filter output ports to filter input ports.
◦ Connected filters must agree on the type of data being passed along the connecting pipe.
Client-Server Pattern
Context: There are shared resources and services that large numbers
of distributed clients wish to access, and for which we wish to control
access or quality of service.
Problem: By managing a set of shared resources and services, we can
promote modifiability and reuse, by factoring out common services
and having to modify these in a single location, or a small number of
locations. We want to improve scalability and availability by
centralizing the control of these resources and services, while
distributing the resources themselves across multiple physical servers.
Solution: Clients interact by requesting services of servers, which
provide a set of services. Some components may act as both clients and
servers. There may be one central server or multiple distributed ones.
Client-Server Example
ATM Banking System
Client-Server Solution - 1
Overview: Clients initiate interactions with servers, invoking services
as needed from those servers and waiting for the results of those
requests.
Elements:
◦ Client, a component that invokes services of a server component. Clients have
ports that describe the services they require.
◦ Server: a component that provides services to clients. Servers have ports that
describe the services they provide.
Request/reply connector: a data connector employing a request/reply
protocol, used by a client to invoke services on a server. Important
characteristics include whether the calls are local or remote, and
whether data is encrypted.
Client-Server Solution- 2
Relations: The attachment relation associates clients with servers.
Constraints:
◦ Clients are connected to servers through request/reply connectors.
◦ Server components can be clients to other servers.

Weaknesses:
◦ Server can be a performance bottleneck.
◦ Server can be a single point of failure.
◦ Decisions about where to locate functionality (in the client or in the server)
are often complex and costly to change after a system has been built.
Peer-to-Peer Pattern
Context: Distributed computational entities—each of which is
considered equally important in terms of initiating an interaction and
each of which provides its own resources—need to cooperate and
collaborate to provide a service to a distributed community of users.
Problem: How can a set of “equal” distributed computational entities
be connected to each other via a common protocol so that they can
organize and share their services with high availability and scalability?
Solution: In the peer-to-peer (P2P) pattern, components directly interact
as peers. All peers are “equal” and no peer or group of peers can be
critical for the health of the system. Peer-to-peer communication is
typically a request/reply interaction without the asymmetry found in the
client-server pattern.
Peer-to-Peer Example
Gnutella Network
Peer-to-Peer Solution - 1
Overview: Computation is achieved by cooperating peers that request
service from and provide services to one another across a network.
Elements:
◦ Peer, which is an independent component running on a network node. Special
peer components can provide routing, indexing, and peer search capability.
◦ Request/reply connector, which is used to connect to the peer network,
search for other peers, and invoke services from other peers. In some cases,
the need for a reply is done away with.
Relations: The relation associates peers with their connectors.
Attachments may change at runtime.
Peer-to-Peer Solution - 2
Constraints: Restrictions may be placed on the following:
◦ The number of allowable attachments to any given peer
◦ The number of hops used for searching for a peer
◦ Which peers know about which other peers
◦ Some P2P networks are organized with star topologies, in which peers only connect to supernodes.

Weaknesses:
◦ Managing security, data consistency, data/service availability,
backup, and recovery are all more complex.
◦ Small peer-to-peer systems may not be able to consistently
achieve quality goals such as performance and availability.
Service Oriented Architecture
Pattern
• Context: A number of services are offered (and
described) by service providers and consumed by service
consumers. Service consumers need to be able to
understand and use these services without any detailed
knowledge of their implementation.
Problem: How can we support interoperability of
distributed components running on different platforms and
written in different implementation languages, provided by
different organizations, and distributed across the Internet?
Solution: The service-oriented architecture (SOA) pattern
describes a collection of distributed components that
provide and/or consume services.
Service Oriented Architecture Example
“Adventure Builder”

OPC – Order Processing Center

Service Oriented Architecture
Solution - 1
Overview: Computation is achieved by a set of cooperating components
that provide and/or consume services over a network.
Elements:
◦ Components:
◦ Service providers, which provide one or more services through
published interfaces.
◦ Service consumers, which invoke services directly or through an
intermediary.
◦ Service providers may also be service consumers.
◦ Enterprise Service Bus (ESB), which is an intermediary element that
can route and transform messages between service providers and
consumers.
◦ Registry of services, which may be used by providers to register their
services and by consumers to discover services at runtime.
◦ Orchestration server, which coordinates the interactions between
service consumers and providers based on languages for business
processes and workflows.
Service Oriented Architecture
Solution - 2
◦ Connectors:
◦ SOAP connector, which uses the SOAP protocol for
synchronous communication between web services, typically over HTTP.
◦ REST connector, which relies on the basic request/reply
operations of the HTTP protocol.
◦ Asynchronous messaging connector, which uses a messaging
system to offer point-to-point or publish-subscribe asynchronous message exchanges.
Service Oriented Architecture
Solution - 3
Relations: Attachment of the different kinds of components available
to the respective connectors
Constraints: Service consumers are connected to service providers, but
intermediary components (e.g., ESB, registry, orchestration server)
may be used.
Weaknesses:
◦ SOA-based systems are typically complex to build.
◦ You don’t control the evolution of independent services.
◦ There is a performance overhead associated with the middleware,
and services may be performance bottlenecks, and typically do not
provide performance guarantees.
Microservices Architecture
Pattern
Context - deploy server based enterprise applications that support a
variety of browser and native mobile clients. The application handles
client requests by executing business logic, accessing a database,
exchanging messages with other systems, and returning responses. The
application might expose a 3rd party API.
Problem – Monolithic applications can become too large and complex
for efficient support, and deployment for optimal distributed resource
utilization such as in cloud environments
Solution - build applications as suites of services. Each service is
independently deployable and scalable, and has its own API boundary.
Different services can be written in different programming languages,
manage their own database, and developed by different teams
http://martinfowler.com/articles/microservices.html
Microservices Architecture
Pattern Example

Used by Amazon and Netflix

Microservices Architecture
Pattern Solution
Overview – decompose business logic into a series of independently developed and
deployable services
Elements – services are packaged as out-of-process components with well defined
service boundaries (APIs). They can be implemented in any programming language.
They may manage their own database as part of the service boundary.
Relationships – clients invoke services via simple remote procedure calls/web services
using for example HTTP RESTful interfaces, or using a lightweight message bus.
Constraints – complexity of distributed systems. Decentralized data management is
harder to manage such as support for cross service transactions. Development team
experience to make good service decomposition decisions, testing and deployment
know how
Weaknesses – systems must be designed to tolerate service failures which requires
more system monitoring. Service choreography and event collaboration overhead.
More memory
Event Driven Architecture
Context – computational and information resources need to be
provided to handle incoming independent asynchronous application
generated events in a manner that can scale up as demand increases.
Problem – construct distributed systems that can service asynchronous
arriving messages associate with an event, and that can scale from
small and simple to large and complex.
Solution – deploy independent event processes/processors for event
handling. Arriving events are queued. A scheduler pulls events from the
queue and distributes them to the appropriate event handler based on
a scheduling policy.

Software Architecture Patterns, Mark Richards

 Event Driven Architecture
Example

Mediator topology – orchestrate Broker topology – distribute

multiple steps to handle an event messages in a simple chained
according to some application policy message flow

Software Architecture Patterns, Mark Richards

Event Driven Architecture
Pattern Solution
Overview – arriving client generated requests for service arrive as events. They
are queued, and then directed to an appropriate event handler according to
some application policy. This pattern can be used in a wide range of applications.
Elements – the event queue, the scheduler, and the collection of pertinent event
handlers. Event handlers may be deployed as independent processes and/or
processors.
Relationships – clients and event handlers are usually distributed on a network
but do not have to be. Message communication protocols and message formats
should be consistent and standards based
Constraints – there is no built-in transactional support. The inherent complexity
of deploying distributed systems.
Weaknesses – performance and error recovery may be issues. On the plus side,
with low coupling the resulting systems are highly scalable.
Software Architecture Patterns, Mark Richards
Publish-Subscribe Pattern
Context: There are a number of independent producers and consumers
of data that must interact. The precise number and nature of the data
producers and consumers are not predetermined or fixed, nor is the
data that they share.
Problem: How can we create integration mechanisms that support the
ability to transmit messages among the producers and consumers so
they are unaware of each other’s identity, or potentially even their
existence?
Solution: In the publish-subscribe pattern, components interact via
announced messages, or events. Components may subscribe to a set of
events. Publisher components place events on the bus by announcing
them; the connector then delivers those events to the subscriber
components that have registered an interest in those events.
Publish-Subscribe Example
Publish-Subscribe Example

http://www.enterpriseintegrationpatterns.com/patterns/messaging/PublishSubscribeChannel.html
Publish-Subscribe Solution –
1
Overview: Components publish and subscribe to events. When an
event is announced by a component, the connector infrastructure
dispatches the event to all registered subscribers.
Elements:
◦ Any C&C component with at least one publish or subscribe port.
◦ The publish-subscribe connector, which will have announce and listen roles
for components that wish to publish and subscribe to events.
Relations: The attachment relation associates components with the
publish-subscribe connector by prescribing which components
announce events and which components are registered to receive
events.
Publish-Subscribe Solution - 2
Constraints: All components are connected to an event distributor that
may be viewed as either a bus—connector—or a component. Publish
ports are attached to announce roles and subscribe ports are attached
to listen roles.
Weaknesses:
◦ Typically increases latency and has a negative effect on scalability and
predictability of message delivery time.
◦ Less control over ordering of messages, and delivery of messages is not
guaranteed.
Shared-Data Pattern
Context: Various computational components need to share
and manipulate large amounts of data. This data does not
belong solely to any one of those components.
Problem: How can systems store and manipulate persistent
data that is accessed by multiple independent components?
Solution: In the shared-data pattern, interaction is
dominated by the exchange of persistent data between
multiple data accessors and at least one shared-data store.
Exchange may be initiated by the accessors or the data store.
The connector type is data reading and writing.
Shared Data Example
Shared Data Example
Enterprise Access Management System
Data Warehouse Example

Oracle – Introduction to Data Warehousing Concepts

Shared Data Solution - 1
Overview: Communication between data accessors is mediated by a
shared data store. Control may be initiated by the data accessors or the
data store. Data is made persistent by the data store.
Elements:
◦ Shared-data store. Concerns include types of data stored, data performance-
oriented properties, data distribution, and number of accessors permitted.
◦ Data accessor component.
◦ Data reading and writing connector.
Shared Data Solution - 2
Relations: Attachment relation determines which data accessors are
connected to which data stores.
Constraints: Data accessors interact only with the data store(s).
Weaknesses:
◦ The shared-data store may be a performance bottleneck.
◦ The shared-data store may be a single point of failure.
◦ Producers and consumers of data may be tightly coupled.
Blackboard Pattern
Context - An immature or poorly specified domain with no deterministic or
optimal solution known for the problem. Hence, software systems that need to
integrate large and diverse specialized modules, and implement complex,
nondeterministic control strategies. E.g., speech recognition, other AI “expert”
applications. Metaphor of humans collaborating with a blackboard.
Problem –The problem spans several fields of expertise that require a
sequence of independent algorithmic transformations. Intermediate solutions
require different representations. Algorithm experimentation may be required.
The control strategy is complex and cannot be determined statically.
Solution - a collection of independent specialized programs work
cooperatively utilizing a common data structure. A central controller
coordinates the knowledge sources based on the state of the solution.
Blackboard Example
Blackboard Solution - 1
Overview - Problem solvers work independently (and opportunistically) on
parts of the problem. They share a common data structure (the blackboard).
A central controller manages access to the blackboard. The blackboard may
be structured (e.g. into levels of abstraction) so problem solvers may work at
different levels. Blackboard contains original input and/or partial solutions
Elements
◦ Knowledge source - separate, independent subsystems that solve specific aspects
of the overall problem
◦ Blackboard - the central data store for solution space and control data It provides
an interface to enable knowledge source access
◦ Control – uses data in the blackboard to coordinate the sequence interaction
between knowledge sources
Blackboard Solution – 2
Relations – knowledge sources are completely independent. They are
coordinated by the state of data in the blackboard and control directed
actuation.
Constraints – computationally expensive, low support for parallelism, no
good solution is guaranteed, control solution may be heuristic
Weaknesses - Difficulty of testing, may be hard to develop
Map-Reduce Pattern
Context: Businesses have a pressing need to quickly analyze enormous volumes of
data they generate or access, at petabyte scale.
Problem: For many applications with ultra-large data sets, sorting the data and then
analyzing the grouped data is sufficient. The problem the map-reduce pattern solves is
to efficiently perform a distributed and parallel sort of a large data set and provide a
simple means for the programmer to specify the analysis to be done.
Solution: The map-reduce pattern requires three parts:
◦ A specialized infrastructure takes care of allocating software to the hardware
nodes in a massively parallel computing environment and handles sorting the
data as needed.
◦ A programmer specified component called the map which filters the data to retrieve
those items to be combined.
◦ A programmer specified component called reduce which combines the results of the
map
Map-Reduce Example
Another Map-Reduce View
Map-Reduce Solution - 1
Overview: The map-reduce pattern provides a framework for analyzing a
large distributed set of data that will execute in parallel, on a set of
processors. This parallelization allows for low latency and high availability.
The map performs the extract and transform portions of the analysis and the
reduce performs the loading of the results.
Elements:
◦ Map is a function with multiple instances deployed across multiple processors
that performs the extract and transformation portions of the analysis.
◦ Reduce is a function that may be deployed as a single instance or as multiple
instances across processors to perform the load portion of extract-transform-load.
◦ The infrastructure is the framework responsible for deploying map and reduce
instances, shepherding the data between them, and detecting and recovering
from failure.
Map-Reduce Solution - 2
Relations:
◦ Deploy on is the relation between an instance of a map or reduce
function and the processor onto which it is installed.
◦ Instantiate, monitor, and control is the relation between the
infrastructure and the instances of map and reduce.
Constraints:
◦ The data to be analyzed must exist as a set of files.
◦ Map functions are stateless and do not communicate with each
other.
◦ The only communication between map reduce instances is the data
emitted from the map instances as <key, value> pairs.
Weaknesses:
◦ If you do not have large data sets, the overhead of map-reduce is not
justified.
◦ If you cannot divide your data set into similar sized subsets, the
advantages of parallelism are lost.
Multi-Tier Pattern
Context: In a distributed deployment, there is often a need to distribute
a system’s infrastructure into distinct subsets.
Problem: How can we split the system into a number of
computationally independent execution structures—groups of
software and hardware—connected by some communications media?
Solution: The execution structures of many systems are organized as a
set of logical groupings of components. Each grouping is termed a tier.
Multi-Tier Example
Consumer Web Site Java EE
Multi-Tier Solution
Overview: The execution structures of many systems are organized as a set of
logical groupings of components. Each grouping is termed a tier.
Elements:
◦ Tier, which is a logical grouping of software components.

Relations:
◦ Is part of, to group components into tiers.
◦ Communicates with, to show how tiers and the components they contain interact
with each other.
◦ Allocated to, in the case that tiers map to computing platforms.

Constraints: A software component belongs to exactly one tier.

Weaknesses: Substantial up-front cost and complexity.