Abstract: A system and method for visually rendering resource policy usage information are provided. The system and method make use of policy performance data and relative weighting values of policies to generate, for each system resource, a graphical representation of the system resource with regard to the affect of policies on their behavior within the IT infrastructure. The resulting visual depiction of the IT infrastructure provides a visual representation that quickly communicates to the user which resources have the most/least policies guiding their behavior and the frequency of evaluation of these policies. For example, a large graphical element with a negative color may alert the user that the system resource is heavily affected by policies but that the policies are not being evaluated frequently enough.

Abstract: A policy is restricted from assuming certain states. A list of possible states for the policy is defined, and which of the defined states the policy is allowed to assume are specified. A policy enforcement point or selected enforcement points disallow the policy from assuming any state other than the specified allowable states. Specifying the allowable states may include defining an allowable states parameter, and assigning one or more values to the allowable states parameter indicative of the allowable states.

Abstract: A method to distribute policies may include transmitting one of an identification (ID) assigned to a policy template or the policy template associated with each policy to an enforcement point or selected enforcement points for enforcement. The method may also include transmitting one set of parameters to be used in each policy template to the enforcement point.