Patent ID: 8166552

Claim:
An automated configuration management system (ACMS) for a virtualized ecosystem, comprising an electronic computing device and one or more computer-executable modules stored on one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media accessible to said electronic computing device, said modules, when executed by said electronic computing device, configured to cause said electronic computing device to: monitor and record results of compliance-related operations across resources of the virtualized ecosystem, measure dynamic utilization of the resources of the virtualized ecosystem frequently enough to construct informative profiles of the resources, and capture configuration change information associated with the resources of the virtualized ecosystem, analyze data recorded during monitoring of the compliance-related operations, measurement of the dynamic resource utilization and capture of the configuration change information concerning security and compliance criteria of the resources of the virtualized ecosystem, recommend, according to a desired risk profile and results of said analysis, utilization and configuration changes for the resources of the virtualized ecosystem, wherein the configuration changes include security control changes to achieve compliance goals, and said change recommendations are presented along with risk values associated with a risk of performing a recommended change and a risk reduction value of said recommended change, develop a series of best practices for compliance-related operations and dynamic resource utilization within the virtualized ecosystem through said monitoring and analysis, and share information regarding said best practices with other ACMS installations.