Self-managing systems: A control theory foundation

The introduction of the IBM Automatic Computing Architecture that provides a framework in which to build self managing systems is discussed. Sensors provide a way to obtain measurement data from resources, and effectors provide a means to change the behavior of the resource. Automatic managers read sensor data and manipulate effectors to make resources more self-managing. The automatic manager contains components for monitoring, analysis, planning, and execution, and common to all of these is the knowledge of the computing environment, service level agreements, and other related considerations.