The History of Autonomic Computing

In 2001, IBM Research Labs introduced the concept of Autonomic Computing as a vision wherein complex computing systems would be characterized by self-managing attributes. Specifically, they would be self-configuring, self-healing, self-optimizing and self-protecting. The benefits of such systems are undeniable: reduced maintenance costs, increased application availability and resiliency, not to mention the ability to manage an entirely new level of system complexity that could then support a completely new paradigm of business initiatives.

IBM identified five key functions a system must possess in order to provide autonomics in a comprehensive fashion. Four of these functions are Monitoring, Analysis, Planning and Execution. These four are commonly known as the MAPE chain. The fifth function or element is a knowledgebase through which the MAPE functions share information. 

Optinuity:  Enabling Practical Autonomics
Oasis™ is the world’s only product that, in a single comprehensive system, allows IT organizations to achieve the benefits of autonomic computing.  Optinuity uses the term Autonomic Policy Management (APM) to mean the IT management theory of taking each critical business system and applying an Autonomic Policy unique to the vagaries of that system to make the system self-managed. This process applies to legacy systems as well as future systems.  Autonomic Computing is a more general term that implies automation to achieve self-management and is not specific in its perspective.  In other words, Autonomic Policy Management applies specifically to the business application (i.e., system) while Autonomic Computing can apply at the component level (i.e., single server), an infrastructure group level (i.e., server farm or SAN cluster) or the business application level.