Patent ID: 8751283

Claim:
A computer-implemented method of facilitating configuration of an information technology (IT) environment, the computer-implemented method comprising: obtaining, by a processor, a template for the IT environment, said template representing a pattern of resource types and relationship types between those resource types; obtaining, by the processor, a resource graph representing a customer's topology of the IT environment, wherein the resource graph has a plurality of nodes including one or more source nodes and one or more destination nodes: forming a management artifact of the IT environment, the formed management artifact comprising at least one of a group of resources and one or more relationships between resources of the group of resources, the forming comprising applying the pattern of the template to automatically generate by the processor a recommendation as to one or more resources or one or more relationships to be included in the management artifact, wherein the applying comprises: searching, by the processor, the template to determine whether a resource type of a current node of the plurality of nodes exists in the pattern of the template; evaluating by the processor, when the resource type of the current node does not exist in the template, another of the plurality of nodes of the customer's topology for matching the resource type with the template until there are no more nodes of the plurality of nodes to evaluate; traversing by the processor, when the resource type of the current node exists in the template, relationships of the current node to determine whether there are matches between the template and the customer's topology, wherein the matches include one or more of: a resource type of a source node, a resource type of a destination node, a relationship type between source and destination nodes, property values on a source node, or property values on a destination node; based on there being one or more matches, marking the one or more matches in the customer's topology as matched; and when at least one match does not exist in the pattern of the template, providing a user with an option to extend a definition of the template to include the unmatched relationship and node; and providing a result of the searching, the result to be used in determining whether one or more instances of one or more resources or one or more relationships that match the pattern are to be included in the management artifact; and employing the formed management artifact to manage the IT environment to a quantifiable management goal.