Federated, policy-driven service meshes for distributed software systems

A distributed computing platform providing at least partially automated deployment, operation, and maintenance of a cloud based application, the platform comprising:

• a plurality of Internet addressable physical nodes, the physical nodes including one or more stationary servers or virtual servers, wherein at least some of the physical nodes are instantiated across a plurality of cloud infrastructure service provider facilities, wherein separate domains of authority grant access to computational resources of each of the cloud infrastructure service provider facilities, and the cloud service provider facilities have heterogeneous infrastructure technologies;
• a plurality of message queues and associated services hosted by the physical nodes;
• a policy system including policies defining a system topology of physical nodes, message queues, and services, including at least geographical or logical constraints on locations of physical nodes, message queues, and services;
• a provisioning system that is configured to create the physical nodes on the plurality of cloud infrastructure service provider facilities to form an instantiation of the system topology as defined by one or more of the policies, and is further configured to change an existing system topology in accordance with one or more of the policies, wherein the changing is effected by one or more of modifying one or more associations between physical nodes, message queues, and services, creation or deletion of physical nodes, message queues, and services, and relocation of physical nodes from one cloud infrastructure service provider facility to another cloud infrastructure service provider facility.