Method and apparatus for determining an arrangement of components

A computer program product comprising:

• a computer usable medium having computer readable program code embodied to determine if a set comprising at least one component satisfies a required set of characteristics comprising:
• computer readable program code configured to arranged components in a hierarchy;
• computer readable program code configured to cause a computer to determine one or more sets of at least one component based upon said hierarchy;
• computer readable program code configured to cause a computer to identify a set of at least one component for evaluation;
• computer readable program code configured to cause a computer to determine a threshold value associated with each component of said set to be evaluated;
• computer readable program code configured to cause a computer to identify a least plentiful characteristic of from said at least one component of said set to be evaluated;
• computer readable program code configured to allocate said least plentiful characteristic in a manner which maximizes the equality of the difference between total remaining capacity and threshold value of each component after the allocation;
• and
• computer readable program code configured to cause a computer to determine if said set of required characteristics is satisfied by said set of at least one component evaluated.

A computer system comprising:

• a processor;
• a computer program executable by said processor, said program arranged to determine if a set of at least one component satisfies a set of required characteristics, said program determining sets of at least one component arranged into a hierarchy;
• selecting a first set comprising at least one component;
• determining a threshold value for each component of said first set, said threshold value comprising a value equal to or less than a minimum of any resource of said component which is unallocated;
• allocating a first, least available resource from said components to a first required resource of said required set of resources, said first resource allocated from each component in an amount no greater than a maximum amount of said first resource available from said component and maximizing the equality of the difference between each components total capacity and threshold value after said allocation;
• and determining if said first required resource is satisfied.

A computer system comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a component determinant system for determining if a particular set of at least one component satisfies a set of characteristics comprising:
• a component ordered arranging each component in a hierarchical superior/inferior relationship;
• a set generator generating sets of at least one component in an order based upon said relationships of said components;
• a set selector for selecting a particular set of at least one component for evaluation;
• and
• a set evaluator determining if said selected set of at least one component satisfies the set of characteristics.