IT service management architecture and autonomic computing

The IT Infrastructure Library® defines a set of best practices to align information technology (IT) services to business needs and constitutes the framework for IT service management (ITSM). This framework helps organizations manage their IT services using standard design patterns and the requisite customization. In this paper, we discuss critical contributions that autonomic computing offers to the definition and implementation of an ITSM architecture and infrastructure. We first introduce key architectural patterns and specifications of autonomic computing as they relate to an ITSM logical architecture. We then show how autonomic computing delivers value through a set of ITSM-based case studies that address problem determination, impact assessment, and solution deployment.