Configuration management via constraint programming

As the complexity of computer systems has increased, the task of managing those systems has grown to the point where the assistance of the computer itself is required. The diversity of management tasks has, in turn, lead to a diversity of software. Distributed systems expand the realm of configuration management through emphasis on issues such as communication, dynamic reconfiguration, and consistency between information maintained at different sites. The Raven Configuration Management System (RCMS) provides a uniform means for performing many of these tasks. Configuration information is expressed as constraints in first order predicate logic. The constraints indicate acceptable states of the system. When the system enters a prohibited state, an expert system generates a series of commands to correct the situation. The authors offer a preliminary overview of the RCMS, including a sample application and a description of noteworthy implementation issues