Patent ID: 8255355

Claim:
An autonomic management method for self-configuring subject entities of a data processing system, the configuration of the subject entities being defined by rules each one for a category of subject entities being specified by at least one attribute, wherein the method includes the steps of: publishing a set of resource rules each one defining a target state of at least one resource; creating a set of scanner rules each one defining the installation of at least one scanner for evaluating a corresponding attribute, the scanner rules being created according to the categories specified in the resource rules, a scanner being a tool for evaluating an attribute of a subject entity, the attribute representing one of (i) logical, (ii) physical, and (iii) logical and physical characteristic of the subject entity; publishing the scanner rules; and applying each rule on each subject entity belonging to the category specified in the rule to enforce the installation of the at least one scanner defined in each scanner rule and the target state of the at least one resource defined in each resource rule.