Automated capacity provisioning method using historical performance data

An automated capacity provisioning system, comprising:

• a first module operatively coupled to a computer system having a plurality of processing nodes which provide services to users, the first module configured, by virtue of instructions recorded on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium and executable by at least one processor, to obtain performance data from performing calculations on input data with a statistical analysis algorithm pertaining to the processing nodes, the input data including, for each of the plurality of processing nodes, at least one of a node name, performance rating type, processing power, utilization service level objective, number of time intervals to be assessed, and CPU utilization data for the time intervals, the first module further configured to generate an operational profile based on the performance data, the operational profile characterizing resource usage by the users of the plurality of processing nodes over the time intervals;
• and
• a second module operatively coupled to the first module and the computer system, the second module configured, by virtue of instructions recorded on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium and executable by at least one processor, to obtain service level objectives from the computer system, the service level objectives characterizing a manner in which the services are provided to the users over time, and automatically generate provisioning policies based on the operational profile and the service level objectives, including predicting the providing of future service levels in a manner that satisfies the service level objectives, using the operational profile,
• wherein automatically generate the provisioning policies, the second module includes an algorithm applying what-if scenarios to information in the operational profile to determine an amount of resources to meet a corresponding service level objective at a given workload level, the what-if scenarios including different combinations of workload levels and resource amounts, wherein the algorithm applying the what-if scenarios further determines a smallest number of serves required to meet the corresponding service objective at the given workload level,
• wherein the second module is configured to provision at least some of the processing nodes, based on the provisioning policies,
• wherein the first module and the second module include instructions recorded on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, and wherein the instructions, when executed.