A system is disclosed for managing configuration drift of computing resource instances, including instructions to (1) receive a definition of a plurality of functional roles to be played by resource instances within a multi-resource computing system; (2) select, for each of the roles, a designated exemplar from the group of resource instances playing that role; (3) capture characteristics of that designated exemplar and assign the captured characteristics to a functional role template; and (4) during operation, measure configuration drift by comparing resource instances for each functional role to the functional role template associated with that role, such measuring being independent of any comparing to resource instances in the functional role.