Patent ID: 7469409

Claim:
In a data processing structure with a distributed architecture including a plurality of subject entities and at last one authority entity, a resource management method for configuring the subject entities, each subject entity belonging to at least one of a plurality of categories and controlling an instance of at least one resource, the at least one authority entity defining a target state of the resources, wherein the method includes the steps of: publishing, under the control of the at least one authority entity, a plurality of rules each one including an indication of the target state of a resource for a category of the subject entities, each subject entity performing a self-configuration of itself by (i) retrieving the rules corresponding to the at least one category of the subject entity, and (ii) applying each retrieved rule to self-configure the subject entity according to the target state indicated in the rule, storing an indication of the rules applied on the subject entity; and periodically re-applying the applied rules, wherein the step of applying each retrieved rule includes: (i) detecting a current state of the instance of the resource indicated in the retrieved rule, (ii) determining at least one management action required to bring the instance of the resource from the current state to the target state indicated in the retrieved rule, and (iii) executing the at least one management action.