Incorporating Manageability into Distributed Software
Ritu Chadha, Sze-Ying Wuu · 1997
In today’s world, where software applications have evolved from mainframe-based applications to client/server-based distributed systems, the need for effective, easy to develop, and open management systems is becoming painfully evident. The goal of this work is to develop cost-effective methods and tools for managing software in a manner analogous to the way in which network elements are managed in today’s networks. In order to provide a flexible, interoperable, standards-compliant solution to this problem, we have developed an infrastructure that conforms to the Telecommunications Management Network (TMN) suite of standards. The TMN is based on the OSI/CMISE systems management standards. Although telecommunications providers, both in the domestic and international markets, have been pressing equipment and operations systems suppliers to start developing TMN-compliant products, the supplier community has been reluctant to move towards OSI/CMISE management systems, largely due to the difficulty and expense of implementing OSI/ CMISE interfaces to management applications.This document gives a description of the components of an infrastructure that provides a middleware layer which shields software developers from much of the complexity of OSI/CMISE management implementation. It presents techniques that can be used to simplify the process of implementing TMN-compliant interfaces. This layer will considerably ease the process of incorporating standards-based management interfaces into software components for the purpose of management.