1. A distributed computing system comprising: a plurality of application nodes interconnected via a communications network; and a control node that comprises: a set of one or more applications to be executed on the application nodes; an application matrix that includes parameters for controlling the deployment, undeployment, and execution of the applications within the distributed computing system; and an automation infrastructure having one or more rule engines that provide autonomic control of the application nodes and the applications in accordance with a set of one or more rules and the application matrix.