Optimization method for a computer system

A method for finding an optimized solution for the design and/or operation of a computer system by an iterative procedure, comprising:

• providing a model of the computer system by which the design and/or operation of the computer system is described in terms of parameters, a solution for the design and/or operation of the computer system corresponding to a selection of values for the parameters;
• providing an initial set of solutions obtained by:
• selecting solutions for a preliminary set of solutions, and evaluating the solutions in the selected preliminary set of solutions according to at least one selection criterion;
• analyzing the solutions in a first subset of solutions of the preliminary set of solutions in order to identify at least one common feature of the solutions in the first subset of solutions, wherein the first subset of a set of solutions considered is defined as comprising those solutions of the set of solutions which satisfy at least one criterion to a degree better than a corresponding predefined first threshold, and wherein the at least one criterion is a predefined number of the at least one selection criterion, and wherein a common feature of the first subset of solutions is defined as a value of a parameter in the model such that at least a predefined percentage of the solutions in the first subset of solutions exhibit the value of the parameter or a sufficiently similar value, with a first value and a second value being considered sufficiently similar if the first and second values are within a predefined percentage of the value of the parameter from each other or within a predefined absolute maximum distance from each other;
• deriving a set of deployment rules which specify which solutions out of all possible solutions will be considered in the method, from the at least one common feature, by specifying that a solution will be considered if it exhibits a predefined fraction of features identified as common features of the first subset of solutions analyzed in the analyzing step;
• and,
• choosing the initial set of solutions according to the deployment rules:
• modifying the initial set of solutions;
• evaluating the initial set of solutions according to at least one optimization criterion;
• and,
• repeating the steps of modifying and evaluating until the at least one optimization criterion is met by at least one solution in the initial set of solutions, wherein the at least one solution is then considered an optimized solution for the design and/or operation of the computer system.