Autonomic System Administration. A Testbed on Autonomics

Abstract

Nowadays, companies are becoming increasingly dependent on IT infrastructures as the automation of their business processes is widely supported by an ever growing number of software systems. However, the administration tasks of ensuring the proper functioning of system infrastructure are still a very labour intensive process that can put company's strategy at risk. This paper presents a proof of concept that comprises some of the main autonomic computing and Web2.0 technologies and principles for developing self-management infrastructures. The solution is based on a distributed architecture of autonomic agents deployed in hosts where system processes run. A knowledge plane and a collaborative space between agents deployed in different hosts have been implemented through a Web 2.0 solution to ensure communication between agents: a Wiki allowing them to share knowledge has been successfully developed. As a consequence some changes in services and systems lifecycles take place; the desired behaviour must be specified for an infrastructure to take necessary actions. No specific technical actions are defined but the desired behaviour. Using a business oriented interface instead of infrastructure specific commands, system administrators will find a way to administer systems without losing sight of business goals. Therefore technical knowledge is no longer a must.