Abstract: A method of grouping content requests by one or more behaviors is provided. Each content request is labeled. Sessions for various user and service types are defined. The sessions are then modeled to create representative sessions. Each session is then matched with one or more representative sessions.

Abstract: A method is provided for defining a required information delivery system capacity as a function of a user's service quality objectives. An information delivery system behavior is modeled to understand under what conditions the user's service quality objectives are met or not met. Conditions are captured in which the user's service quality objectives are met or not met. Statistical techniques are applied to the conditions captured. A model is induced that describes the conditions in which the user's service quality objectives are met or not met.

Abstract: A method of determining behavior of an information system application is provided. The information system application's behavior for user content requests and load conditions is determined as is a user's quality of service objectives. The information system application's capacity allocation is then prioritized. Changes in the information system application's behavior are detected. The behavior of the information system applications is then updated in response to detecting changes that affect the user's quality of service objectives.

Abstract: A method for accepting a session in an information system server includes generating a representation of the session. The representation includes a first plurality of parameters that define a proposed additional load of the session on the information system server. A determination is made of a current state representation of the information system server. The current state representation is defined by a second plurality of parameters. The current state representation defines a current load on the information system server at a time instant. A determination is made of a headroom representation for the current state of the information system. The headroom representation is defined by a distance between a model surface.

Abstract: Models of capacity of an information system are described. The models may be queried when a new session arrives at the information system, to determine whether to accept the session as is, demand new capacity from an alternate server in order to fulfill the session, or reject the session. The models employ feature vectors to represents states of the information system. Parameters in the feature vectors may include load measurements on CPUs in the information system; load measurements on memory in servers employed in the information system; transactions per second conducted in databases in the information system; rate at which requests arrive from referral URLs to the information system; number of sessions in the information system; CPU utilization in the information system; database utilization in the information system.

Abstract: A method for accepting a session in an information system server includes generating a representation of the session. The representation includes a first plurality of parameters that define a proposed additional load of the session on the information system server. A determination is made of a current state representation of the information system server. The current state representation is defined by a second plurality of parameters. The current state representation defines a current load on the information system server at a time instant. A determination is made of a headroom representation for the current state of the information system. The headroom representation is defined by a distance between a model surface.