The Four Stages of Autonomic Computing

By Maria Trombly | Securities Industry News | Mar. 3, 2003

Stage 1: Computer, Know Thyself!
Before a system can manage itself, it has to know what's out there. A virtual map of the computer system needs to be created, with accurate and up-to-date information about hardware and software configurations.

Stage 2: Analyze This
Monitoring the behavior of a system in real time gives IT managers a virtual dashboard, letting them see at a glance which servers are down, which applications need more memory, and which users need patches and updates.

Stage 3: Make an Offer They Can't Refuse
Why should the system wait for the IT manager to come around and notice that something needs to be done? With all the computing power at our disposal, we can have the computer spot the problem, figure out the solution, and drag that IT manager out of lunch, or dinner, or bed, to fix it.

Stage 4: Good evening, Dave. Everything's running smoothly.
Everything's running smoothly until something strange and unexpected happens, and human intervention is once again required.