A system comprising: a fabric comprising a data-tier application components layer hosting fabric definitions of data-tier application components DACs, each of the data-tier application components including a logical representation of a collection of database elements (510, 512, 514) and serving as a single unit of management, a runtimes layer providing a view of database runtime resources within the fabric, the database runtime resources hosting the set of DACs (622, 624, 626), and a host resources layer representing computing and storage capacity used by elements in the fabric, the computing resources being used by the database runtime resources to host the DACs (622, 624, 626), wherein each layer in the fabric contains four types of entities: containers, elements, resources and mappings, wherein a container is a top-level entity within a given layer of the fabric and provides an intuitive unit of management and identity, an element is a unit in the fabric that resides in a container, a resource is a special type of element that has a finite capacity and has properties which determine a capacity of the resource, and a mapping represents the relationship between two entities of the fabric, wherein mappings at the data-tier application components layer describe the relationship between a data-tier application component and a database runtime resource, mappings at the runtimes layer describe a relationship between a particular database instance runtime and physical resources allocated to the particular database instance runtime and mappings at the host resources layer describe relationships between physical resources; and a management point to receive a fabric policy, wherein one or more actions of the fabric policy are automatically applied to affected entities identified by the fabric to bring one or more fabric elements into compliance with the fabric policy, wherein the one or more actions of the fabric policy include one or more of allocating a subset of one or more resources to a particular application in accordance with a first resource governing rule, re-allocating hardware resources of a first computer system in accordance with a second resource governing rule, and moving a software application and files associated with the software application to a second computer system in accordance with a third resource governing rule, wherein resource utilization policies can be set and evaluated across the Fabric and the DACs to avoid over-utilization and under-utilization of resources, so that based on the evaluation, fabric resources are adjusted. a fabric comprising a data-tier application components layer hosting fabric definitions of data-tier application components DACs, each of the data-tier application components including a logical representation of a collection of database elements (510, 512, 514) and serving as a single unit of management, a runtimes layer providing a view of database runtime resources within the fabric, the database runtime resources hosting the set of DACs (622, 624, 626), and a host resources layer representing computing and storage capacity used by elements in the fabric, the computing resources being used by the database runtime resources to host the DACs (622, 624, 626), wherein each layer in the fabric contains four types of entities: containers, elements, resources and mappings, wherein a container is a top-level entity within a given layer of the fabric and provides an intuitive unit of management and identity, an element is a unit in the fabric that resides in a container, a resource is a special type of element that has a finite capacity and has properties which determine a capacity of the resource, and a mapping represents the relationship between two entities of the fabric, wherein mappings at the data-tier application components layer describe the relationship between a data-tier application component and a database runtime resource, mappings at the runtimes layer describe a relationship between a particular database instance runtime and physical resources allocated to the particular database instance runtime and mappings at the host resources layer describe relationships between physical resources; and a management point to receive a fabric policy, wherein one or more actions of the fabric policy are automatically applied to affected entities identified by the fabric to bring one or more fabric elements into compliance with the fabric policy, wherein the one or more actions of the fabric policy include one or more of allocating a subset of one or more resources to a particular application in accordance with a first resource governing rule, re-allocating hardware resources of a first computer system in accordance with a second resource governing rule, and moving a software application and files associated with the software application to a second computer system in accordance with a third resource governing rule, wherein resource utilization policies can be set and evaluated across the Fabric and the DACs to avoid over-utilization and under-utilization of resources, so that based on the evaluation, fabric resources are adjusted.