Patent ID: 8799919

Claim:
A computer implemented method for balancing management loads in a network having a plurality of hardware control points, the computer implemented method comprising: storing, by a first one of the plurality of hardware control points, in a peer control point database a plurality of hardware control point identifiers, each of the plurality of hardware control point identifiers associated with at least one managed system and a plurality of load data, wherein each of the one or more managed systems identifies a different data processing system that is being managed by a particular hardware control point and a particular load data contains information on loads being handled by the particular hardware control point and a percentage of the data processing system being used; responsive to receiving a load message associated with the particular hardware control point, updating, by the first one of the plurality of hardware control points, the load data associated with an identifier of the particular hardware control point in the peer control point database; sending out a service location protocol multicast from a second one of the plurality of hardware control points to identify a new manageable data processing system; responsive to identifying the new manageable data processing system, generating an event message by the second one of the plurality of hardware control point and sending the event message to the first one of the plurality of hardware control points; responsive to receiving the event message indicating that the new manageable data processing system has been discovered, retrieving, by the first one of the plurality of hardware control points, a plurality of load data associated with the plurality of hardware control point identifiers from the peer control database; responsive to retrieving the plurality of load data associated with the plurality of hardware control point identifiers from the peer control database, analyzing loads, by the first one of the plurality of hardware control points, for the plurality of hardware control points to form an analysis; selecting, by the first one of the plurality of hardware control points, a third one of the plurality of hardware control points using the analysis; sending a load message from the first one of the plurality of hardware control points to the third one of the plurality of hardware control points to manage the new manageable data processing system; responsive to receiving the load message, initiating, by the third one of the plurality of hardware control points, discovery of the new manageable data processing system; and initiating, by the third one of the plurality of hardware control points, a management role over the new manageable data processing system after the discovery.