SE401:Group33:Research:Nick:Autonomic Computing Manifesto

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The manifesto starts with a broad overview of IBMs vision for the future. It describes the features that may be made available through the implementation of autonomic computing at all levels of a system.
It has some really cool illustrations and ideas that are worth reading for interests sake.
Following that, there is an explanation of 8 key features that would be necessary.
The 8 key points are:

• 1 To be autonomic, a computing system needs to “know itself ”—and comprise components that also possess a system identity.
• 2 An autonomic computing system must configure and reconfigure itself under varying and unpredictable conditions.
• 3 An autonomic computing system never settles for the status quo — it always looks for ways to optimize its workings.
  • This consistent effort to optimize itself is the only way a computing system will be able to meet the complex and often conflicting I/T demands of a business, its customers, suppliers and employees. And since the priorities that drive those demands change constantly, only constant self-optimization will satisfy them.
  • To be able to optimize itself, a system will need advanced feedback control mechanisms to monitor its metrics and take appropriate action. Although feedback control is an old technique, we’ll need new approaches to apply it to computing. We’ll need to answer questions such as how often a system takes control actions, how much delay it can accept between an action and its effect, and how all this affects overall system stability.
• 4 An autonomic computing system must perform something akin to healing — it must be able to recover from routine and extraordinary events that might cause some of its parts to malfunction.
  • But since restoring service to the customer and minimizing interruptions is the primary concern, an action-oriented approach determining what immediate actions need to be taken given current information available) will need to take precedence in an autonomic solution.
• 5 A virtual world is no less dangerous than the physical one, so an autonomic computing system must be an expert in self-protection.
  • An autonomic system will need to remain on alert, anticipate threats, and take necessary action.
  • To deal with malicious attacks by hackers, intrusion systems must automatically detect and alert system administrators to the attacks.
• 6 An autonomic computing system knows its environment and the context surrounding its activity, and acts accordingly.
• 7 An autonomic computing system cannot exist in a hermetic environment.
• 8 Perhaps most critical for the user, an autonomic computing system will anticipate the optimized resources needed while keeping its complexity hidden.
  • It will deliver essential information with a system optimized and ready to implement the decisions users make and not needlessly entangle them in coaxing results from the system.

As the rest of the points are not so directly relevant to us (I don't think) I will not go into any more details on them, though there is plenty more info there.