Policy definition language for automated management of distributed systems

Abstract

The heterogeneity, increasing size and complexity of distributed systems requires new architectures, strategies, and tools for their technical management. In this paper we propose a policy based approach to distributed systems management. The use of different abstraction levels allows a stepwise refinement from an informal strategic level to a formalized operational level. On the lowest level, we use a formal language for separate definition of policies and events, that enables the computer to check the syntax of a given policy description and to translate policies into executable rules. To increase the capability for reasoning on a given set of policies, we extended the architecture by a graph model of the process semantics of operational policy and event specifications. The graph model is supported by a compiler mapping operational specifications into their semantic graphs, and performing analysis and manipulation functions on such graphs.