Patent ID: 7958241

Claim:
A distributed data processing system, comprising: a server operable to allocate a service in the distributed data processing system, said server including: a probe operable to collect a set of performance data representative of a set of physical characteristics of the distributed data processing system to form a collection of a set of performance data, a module operable to provide, using said collection of a set of performance data, cluster data that identifies a plurality of node clusters in said distributed data processing system, wherein a node cluster comprises an aggregation of nodes; an engine operable to correlate at least one property of each of the identified plurality of node clusters with at least one performance rule required for supporting the service to determine a compliance of each of the plurality of node clusters to the at least one performance rule for supporting said service; a mechanism for showing each node cluster of the plurality of node clusters that complies with the at least one performance rule for supporting the service; and a mechanism for allocating the service to one of the node clusters that complies with the at least one performance rule, wherein the mechanism for showing each node cluster of the plurality of node clusters that complies with the at least one performance rule for supporting the service, comprises a mechanism for showing a map of each node cluster of the plurality of node clusters that complies with the at least one performance rule for supporting the service, and wherein the mechanism for allocating the service to one of the node clusters that complies with the at least one performance rule, comprises a mechanism for allocating the service to one of the node clusters that complies with the at least one performance rule based on the map.