Disclosed is a method for directing a data processing system, the data processing system and an article of manufacture. The data processing system has memory for storing a database. The method directs the data processing system to configuring the database based on a database workload having a performance metric. The method includes selecting a plurality of database characteristics based upon the database workload, each of the database characteristics having an associated estimated performance metric for the database workload, selecting a set of database characteristics from the plurality of database characteristics for which the associated estimated performance metric is lower than the database workload performance metric, and configuring the database using the selected set of database characteristics.