A distributed resource manager for managing resources among a plurality of networked computers, e.g., computer blades. The resource manager executes on two or more of the computers, e.g., substantially concurrently, collecting data related to usage, performance, status, and/or load, for a component, process, and/or attribute of one or more computers, and evaluating operation rules based on the collected data to determine one or more resource management operations, e.g., re-configuring, activating/deactivating, and/or switching and/or swapping computers, for more efficient allocation of resources. Each executing resource manager transmits the determined resource management operations to the other executing resource managers, receives respective determined resource management operations from them, and resolves conflicts between the determined resource management operations and the received respective determined resource management operations, thereby generating a modified one or more resource management operations. The modified resource management operations may be performed with or without human input.