Architecture for distributed computing system and automated design, deployment, and management of distributed applications

A method comprising:

• facilitating design of a virtual data center and a distributed application;
• logically placing parts of the distributed application onto the virtual data center;
• and
• determining whether the placement of the parts of the distributed application is valid.

A software architecture for use in designing, deploying, and managing distributed applications on a distributed computing system, the software architecture comprising:

• a first software layer for tools used to convert machines into servers used in the distributed computing system;
• a second software layer for network management and virtual topology generation of distributed applications;
• a third software layer to maintain a physical model of the distributed computing system;
• a fourth software layer to facilitate allocation of logical resources requested by the distributed application;
• a fifth software layer for a service definition model (SDM) that provides a namespace and context for describing operations processes and an API for application introspection and control of application resources;
• and
• a sixth software layer to define reusable building blocks of a distributed application, which use the SDM APIs for context, naming, and binding;
• and
• a seventh software layer for operational management of the distributed application.