The rapidly increasing complexity of computing systems is driving the movement towards autonomic systems that are capable of managing themselves without the need for human intervention. Without autonomic technologies, many conventional systems suffer reliability degradation and compromised security. Autonomic management techniques reverse this trend. This study describes the roles and functions of various autonomic components, and systematically reviews past and current approaches that have

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... /are being developed to address specific areas of the autonomic computing environment that focus on improving system dependability including both reliability and security concerns. Analyzing past research can lead to the design of a more advanced, dependable autonomic computing system. A novel and promising prototypical system that is a work-in-progress will be presented finally.