Integrating UML application design with deployment planning in topologies
You can use topologies with UML models to integrate application
development with deployment architecture.
About this task
After you model an application in UML, you can import elements from the UML models into topologies. Then, you can plan deployment for that application in the topologies. The UML model editor and the topology editor keep the UML models and the topologies in sync to ensure that the deployment planning complements the application design.
Topologies
and UML models work together in the following ways:
- If you have modeled an application with a UML model, you can import elements from the UML model into a topology. In this way, you can plan an application in abstract terms with the UML model and then import the UML elements into a topology to plan deployment for the application.
- You can model non-functional requirements and deployment units in a UML model and then import these NFRs and DUs into a topology to ensure that the deployment scenario can satisfy the requirements.
- After you import UML elements into a topology (creating topology units from those UML elements), you can use UML interactions as constraints on the topology. These constraints ensure that the units are linked together in the same way that they are in the UML interaction and therefore that the topology accurately reflects the UML model.
- You can import units from a topology into a UML model. Although the more common path is to plan the application in a UML model first and then create one or more topologies based on that UML model, you can also work in the opposite direction. For example, while working on a topology, you might notice that you left an important element or other important details out of the UML model. In this case, you can make the appropriate changes in the topology and then import the new or changed units into the UML model.
The following topics cover the ways that you can use topologies and UML models together. For an example of how UML models and topologies can work together, see the tutorial Planning deployment with the topology editor.