Patent ID: 7237243

Claim:
In a data center computer network, a method for controlling a plurality of computer systems from a controller, the method comprising: an act of maintaining a plurality of unique sets at a controller, each unique set differentiated by operational capability, customer association or application running, and comprising a grouping of at least one computing device configured to process jobs; an act of determining that a computing device of at least one of the unique sets has finished a portion of the jobs assigned to the computing device; an act of providing at the controller a new job corresponding to at least one operation to perform on a computing device of the plurality of unique sets; an act of receiving a command to redeploy the computing device that finished a portion of the assigned jobs, the redeploying comprising assigning the computing device to a new unique set; an act of sending a message from the controller to each computing device in the new unique set, including the redeployed computing device, the message instructing each computing device that receives the message to execute the new job; and at the controller, an act of storing results of the new job from each computing device in the new unique set; wherein providing at the controller the job comprises providing data corresponding to a script to run on the unique set.