Selecting a target server for a workload with a lowest adjusted cost based on component values

A system for selecting a target server for a workload, comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a decision support application executing on the processor, the decision support application adapted to:
• identify a plurality of candidate servers that have the ability to process a workload, wherein the plurality of candidate servers include a plurality of different architectures;
• identify a plurality of qualitative and quantitative properties associated with the plurality of candidate servers;
• modify the plurality of qualitative and quantitative properties based on user-defined criteria for decision making;
• and
• analyze the modified qualitative and quantitative information using a Cost-Value Matrix to identify a target server.

A computer program product for selecting a target server for a workload, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having program code embodied therewith, the program code executable by a computer to perform a method comprising:

• receiving a request to move a first workload from a server;
• determining whether the first workload is supported by a plurality of candidate servers with different architectures;
• if the first workload is supported by the plurality of candidate servers with different architectures, determining that a selected workload is the first workload;
• if the first workload is not supported by the plurality of candidate servers with the different architectures, determining that the selected workload is a second workload that is an alternative to the first workload, wherein the second workload is supported by the plurality of candidate servers with the different architectures;
• determining components of the plurality of candidate servers;
• collecting statistics for the components;
• determining component values of the components based on the statistics;
• if the components impact performance of the selected workload, setting weights for the components that impact the performance to be a percentage impact of the components on the selected workload;
• calculating functions of the component values and the weights to yield results;
• processing the results of the functions to costs of the plurality of candidate servers to yield a plurality of adjusted costs of the plurality of candidate servers;
• and
• moving the selected workload from the server to a target server that is one of the plurality of candidate servers with a lowest of the plurality of adjusted costs.