Autonomic control of a distributed computing system in accordance with a hierarchical model

A distributed computing system comprising:

• a plurality of application nodes interconnected via a communications network, wherein each application node comprises one or more programmable processors for executing software instructions;
• a database storing data that defines a model for a hierarchical organization of the distributed computing system;
• and
• a control node comprising:
• one or more programmable processors;
• a monitoring subsystem that collects status data from the application nodes,
• wherein the status data represents an actual state for the application nodes;
• a business logic tier that presents a user interface that allows an expected state of the application nodes to be defined;
• and
• an automation subsystem comprising:
• a sensor subsystem that receives the status data from the monitoring subsystem and aggregates the status data in accordance with the hierarchical organization defined by the model;
• and
• one or more forward-chaining rule engines that provide autonomic control of the application nodes in accordance with a set of one or more rules and the hierarchical organization defined by the model,
• wherein the forward-chaining rule engines receive expected state data representative of the expected state of the application nodes from the business logic tier, analyze the aggregated status data from the sensor subsystem, and apply the set of rules to produce action requests to the business logic tier to control the application nodes to reduce any difference between the actual state and the expected state,
• wherein each of the one or more forward-chaining rule engines comprises a working memory that includes one or more local objects,
• wherein each rule in the set of one or more rules includes a match condition and an implied action, wherein the set of one or more rules is compiled into a discrimination network that includes a translation of the match conditions of the set of one or more rules such that at least one redundant test is avoided during rule execution, and
• wherein each of the one or more forward-chaining rule engines further comprises an execution engine that matches the set of one or more compiled rules within the discrimination network against the one or more local objects within the working memory.