1. A computer program product encoding a computer program for executing on a computer system a computer process for optimizing a computer system configuration, the computer process comprising: generating a candidate computer system configuration from a skeleton configuration and a set of one or more parameters that parameterize the skeleton configuration; receiving simulation data generated by a performance simulator based on the candidate computer system configuration; computing an objective based on one or more selected variables from the simulation data; and comparing the objective to a previously computed objective based on a previously simulated computer system configuration to yield an optimum configuration.