The authors consider some implications of non-linear feedback, due to policy combinatorics, on policy-based management of net-worked services. The authors pay special attention to the case where the monitoring of certain aspects of Service Level Agreements is used to alter future policy dynamically, according to a control feedback scheme. Using two simple models, the authors show that non-linear policies are generally unstable to service provision, i.e. provide no reliable service levels (QoS). Hence the authors conclude that automated control by policy-rule combinatorics can damage quality of service goals.
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