A toolkit for policy enablement in autonomic computing

Developers of policy enabled systems need a common set of basic functionality regardless of their areas of application. This is most conveniently provided in terms of a toolkit from which they can choose those components that are needed for their particular implementations. IBM T J Watson Research Center is developing such a policy toolkit in Java. The toolkit's goal is to accelerate the adoption of policy based technologies in different products and services. The policy toolkit (PTK) is written in Java and consists of a core module plus a set of modules that perform specific functions. The policy toolkit consists of a set of components for supporting the policy enablement of computer applications. As well as providing the necessary basic functionality, it also includes advanced capabilities like policy validation, transformation, and conflict resolution. It also provides patterns for building a variety of policy enabled systems. A number of engagements have been undertaken in order to assess the usefulness of the components provided, and determining what additional capabilities might be needed. We have found that the policy toolkit has made it easier and more convenient for software developers to incorporate policy-based technologies into their applications.