Methods and apparatus for using tags to control and manage assets

A method for using tags to manage virtual machines, the method comprising:

• storing a plurality of virtual machines in a first location on at least one physical host machine;
• associating a plurality of tags with the plurality of virtual machines, wherein each of the plurality of tags are associated with respective metadata representing a virtual machine characteristic, the plurality of tags including at least one of a dynamic tag and a virtual tag, the at least one of the dynamic tag and the virtual tag including a namespace indicative of (i) a second location storing the respective metadata representing the virtual machine characteristic, wherein the second location is outside the plurality of virtual machines in the first location, and (ii) a call to at least one of a program and a database at the second location to obtain the respective metadata representing the virtual machine characteristic from the second location;
• and
• storing the plurality of tags in a third location, wherein the third location is (i) outside the plurality of virtual machines in the first location and (ii) separate from the second location storing the respective metadata representing the virtual machine characteristic, and wherein the tags associated with the plurality of virtual machines allows the plurality of virtual machines to be queried using a tag-based query language, wherein the tag-based query language uses Boolean algebra to find all sets of tags which, when combined with the query, results in a truth value of true.