A method that includes, in a network, in each of a plurality of compute
nodes, maintaining a local store of services, the local store of services
including at least a service name, a service functionality and statistics
defining a historical performance of the service on each compute node,
receiving a request for a service from a client syste, and compiling a
list of compute nodes matching the service request, the list having
service names ranked according to the service functionality and the
statistics for each compute node.