Patent ID: 7350186

Claim:
An automated method of managing deployment of a plurality of servers in a computing environment based on varying workload levels, the method comprising the steps of: predicting a future workload level based on data associated with the computing environment, wherein the predicting step further comprises forecasting based on a forecast horizon; estimating whether a current deployment of servers is one of insufficient, sufficient, and overly sufficient to satisfy the future workload level; and causing one or more actions to be taken when the current deployment of servers is estimated to be one of insufficient and overly sufficient to satisfy the future workload level; wherein the action causing step further comprises causing the addition of one or more servers to address the future workload level when the current deployment of servers is estimated to be insufficient; wherein the action causing step further comprises causing the removal of one or more servers to address the future workload level when the current deployment of servers is estimated to be overly sufficient; and wherein the forecast horizon is selectively adaptable as a function of a time needed to effectuate at least one of the one or more actions to be taken when the current deployment of servers is estimated to be one of insufficient and overly sufficient to satisfy the future workload level.