Specifying associations among attributes of entities in a data center, the data center comprising a facility that houses computers and equipment supporting computer operations, the entities including the computers and the equipment, some attributes associated with a resource domain, the resource domain composed of a physical characteristic shared by some of the computers and equipment, including inducing, by a management module within the data center, a change in a value of a first attribute of a first entity; monitoring, by the management module within the data center, a change in a value of a second attribute of a second entity; determining whether the monitored change in the second attribute correlates with the induced change in the first attribute; and, if the monitored change in the second attribute correlates with the induced change in the first attribute, specifying an association among the first attribute, the second attribute, and the resource domain.