Autonomic systems and networks: Theory and practice

Abstract

The increasing complexity of computing systems is beginning to overwhelm the capabilities of software developers and system administrators to design, evaluate, integrate, and manage these systems. Major software and system vendors, such as IBM, HP and Microsoft, along with Telecom suppliers and vendors, such as France Telecom and Motorola Labs, have concluded that the only viable long-term solution is to create computer systems that manage themselves - a vision that is often referred to as autonomic computing. In the last few years, interest in autonomic computing has burgeoned within academia and industry. In 2005, there were at least 15 conferences and workshops devoted to the subject, and new ones are being established for 2006. Many companies such as IBM, Motorola, Intel, HP and Microsoft and several start-ups are actively pursuing research and development efforts in autonomic computing. Such widespread interest is fortunate, because autonomic computing is a broad topic, one that requires contributions from many people in a broad array of fields over a long period of time to reach full fruition. This tutorial will motivate, define, explain and explore autonomic computing, giving attendees a good understanding of its essential relevance to systems and network management today and over the course of the foreseeable future. A typical autonomic computing architecture will be presented, along with several important components of this architecture. This will provide participants with a good understanding of the architectural principles and technologies that contribute to autonomic computing, as well as a sense of the role that emerging standards will play. Participants will learn about how state-of-the-art technologies in policy-based management, artificial intelligence and many other fields are being applied to and developed for future autonomic systems and networks. Particular attention will be paid to change management (e.g., recognizing and accommodating change in users, environmental conditions, business goals, and other factors). One of the most important elements of the tutorial will be systems and networking use cases and scenarios that will be used for illustration throughout. The tutorial will conclude with an exploration of research challenges and an account of some early progress towards them by researchers in industry and academia. © 2006 IEEE.