Autonomic computing refers to computing systems designed to manage themselves in response to changing conditions while reducing operational complexity for humans. Such systems may configure, optimize, heal, and protect themselves using policies, monitoring, and adaptive control mechanisms.
The self-managing characteristics of distributed computing resources, adapting to unpredictable changes while hiding intrinsic complexity to operators and users. Initiated by IBM in 2001, this initiative ultimately aimed to develop computer systems capable of self-management, to overcome the rapidly growing complexity of computing systems management, and to reduce the barrier that complexity poses to further growth.