US Patent 9860303 Data center growth control

A cloud computing environment in which a plurality of data centers are populated through the launching of resources in a controlled manner. Parameters such as current usage, future projected usage and a future maximum capacity can be used decide in which data center to launch a resource. A data center can be chosen so as to minimize a possibility that the data center becomes constrained at a future point in time. Selection is such that an equal percentage of future capacity is maintained across data centers.