Patent ID: 8255915

Claim:
A computer system comprising: computing resources including hardware processors; containers in which computer workloads are run using said processors and to which said resources can be allocated, said containers being arranged in a container hierarchy; a workload manager for allocating computer resources to said containers as a function of aggregate characteristics of groups of workloads running in said containers, wherein a first group of said groups does not conform to said container hierarchy; and wherein said container hierarchy includes: a least-common ancestor container for said first group, said least-common ancestor containing all workload members of said first group, said least-common ancestor not having a child container that contains all members of said first group; and at least a first base-level container containing exactly one workload member of said first group, said first base-level container not being a child of said least-common ancestor and not being a sole base-level descendant of a child of said least-common ancestor.