Distributed system management via elastic servers

Most distributed management applications are implemented as client server systems. The traditional client server paradigm fixes the functionality and interfaces provided by server processes at compile time. We propose the use of a more flexible paradigm: management by delegation to elastic servers. Elasticity, the ability to dynamically add and remove functionality of a server while it is executing is necessary for many distributed system management applications. An example application which utilizes elastic servers to compress large amounts of real-time operational data and to accomplish autonomous management decisions is described