Active Dependency Mapping: A Data-Driven Approach to Mapping Dependencies in Distributed Systems

We introduce Active Dependency Mapping (ADM), a method for establishing dependency relations among a set of interdependent services. The approach is to artificially degrade network performance to infer which assets on the network support a particular process. Artificial degradation of the network environment could be transparent to users; run continuously it could identify dependencies that are rare or occur only at certain timescales. A useful byproduct of this dependency analysis is a quantitative assessment of the resilience and robustness of the system. This technique is intriguing for hardening both enterprise networks and cyber physical systems. We present a proof-of-concept experiment executed on a real-world set of interrelated software services. We assess the efficacy of the approach, discuss current limitations, and suggest options for future development of ADM.