Glossary

This glossary offers brief descriptions of terms that appear in the discussion of the Solstice Enterprise Agents documentation, either because they are used in the industry or because they have specific meanings in the Solstice environment.

agent: Also called Network Management Agent. A module residing in a managed resource on a network, capable of reporting the status of the resource and/or responding to inquiries about it. Described in standards documents X.701 | ISO/IEC 10040. In a general sense, software running on a managed object that responds to and reports to the management application with current information about the object. See also Proxy Agent.
agent/subagent SDK: The Software Development Kit has multiple components. It includes agent/subagent libraries, a MIB compiler, and sample subagents.
API: Application Programming Interface. An API is a set of software routines that enables an applications developer to access and use the features of a product.
ARP: Address Resolution Protocol. A procedure for finding the network hardware address corresponding to an internet address (RFC 826).
ASN.1: Abstract Syntax Notation One. A specification understood by network management protocols and used for encoding information between a manager and agents in a machine and network-independent manner.
attribute: An attribute is the building block of MIF. An attribute describes a single characteristic of a manageable product, or component. For example, the clock speed of a processor chip is an attribute of that chip. A set of related attributes constitutes a MIF group.
child: A subordinate object contained in an instance of a class and directly below that class instance. [C]
CI: Component Interface. Describes access to management information and enables a component to be managed.
class: The formal description of a set of objects. In the OSI world, objects with similar attributes and behavior are grouped into classes. In C++, the rules governing a set of data structures (that are said to be instances of the class) and the methods (also called member functions) that give access to an instance's data.
class instance: A collection of attribute instance values that specifies one example of a class. For example, if the class comprised port information for a router port, you could specify an instance of the class by providing a router board and port number for a particular port. The information you provide to specify a class instance is called the instance identifier. Other related terms are instance string, Relative Distinguished Name (RDN), Index, and Named Object.
common group: A MIF group that has been proposed to and accepted by the DMTF special interest group and that describes common attributes applicable to all, or most, manageable products. Examples of common groups include Field Replaceable Unit (FRU) and Operational State.
component: Any hardware or software product that is part of or attached to a desktop system or server. For example, a modem, a printer, a network interface card, a spreadsheet program, and an operating system could all be considered components.
dispatching: The communication of a management request from the Master Agent to one or more subagents. Dispatching is performed according to the Master Agent's current view of registered subtrees and an explicitly stated algorithm.
DCE: Distributed Computing Environment. This is provided by OSF (Open System Foundation) DCE allows development of applications based on client-server architecture.
DMI: Desktop Management Interface. The Desktop Management Interface is a set of interfaces and a service provider that mediate between management applications and components residing in a system. The DMI is a free-standing interface that is not tied to any particular operating system or management process.
DMTF: Data Management Task Force. The Desktop Management Task Force was formed in May of 1992 as a cooperative effort of eight companies: Digital Equipment Corporation, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Novell, SunSoft and SynOptics.
duplicate registration: An attempt by one subagent to register a subtree that exactly matches a subtree already registered by another subagent.
entities: Systems, components, and applications.
enumerations: Enumerations are lists of possible values for a given attribute. They may be global or local. Global enumerations named may be used by other attributes within a component. A local enumeration is unnamed and may only be used by the attribute containing it.
events: Events consist of unsolicited information sent from a component to the Service Provider detailing an unusual circumstance or notable event. Events trigger indications from the Service Provider to management applications. Events may be sent, for instance, when an error occurs or when a new version of a piece of software is installed. Component manufacturers determine that events will be related to their product and what information will be passed about the event.
filter: The use of a Boolean expression to test a set of attributes in order to select the objects where a network management command is addressed. Object instances that successfully pass the filtering tests become those where a management operation is performed. Defined by the CMIS specification (ISO/IEC 9595), filtering capabilities help reduce the network traffic overhead of a management protocol. See also scoping. This usage of "filter" is distinct from the usage in UNIX systems, where a filter is a program that accepts input from one stream and supplies output in another, so that it may be piped to other functions as needed. See Network Management Forum.
gateway: A computer that interconnect two networks and routes packets from one to the other. A gateway has more than one network interface.
group: A group is a set of related attributes for a given component. The DMTF group has standardized MIFs at the group level as well as at the component level.
indications: Indications are information sent from the Service Provider to management applications when an event is received by the Service Provider or when a component is installed or removed from the MIF database. Indications triggered by events include information about the event and the component sending the event.


	Glossary This glossary offers brief descriptions of terms that appear in the discussion of the Solstice Enterprise Agents documentation, either because they are used in the industry or because they have specific meanings in the Solstice environment. agent Also called Network Management Agent. A module residing in a managed resource on a network, capable of reporting the status of the resource and/or responding to inquiries about it. Described in standards documents X.701 \| ISO/IEC 10040. In a general sense, software running on a managed object that responds to and reports to the management application with current information about the object. See also Proxy Agent. agent/subagent SDK The Software Development Kit has multiple components. It includes agent/subagent libraries, a MIB compiler, and sample subagents. API Application Programming Interface. An API is a set of software routines that enables an applications developer to access and use the features of a product. ARP Address Resolution Protocol. A procedure for finding the network hardware address corresponding to an internet address (RFC 826). ASN.1 Abstract Syntax Notation One. A specification understood by network management protocols and used for encoding information between a manager and agents in a machine and network-independent manner. attribute An attribute is the building block of MIF. An attribute describes a single characteristic of a manageable product, or component. For example, the clock speed of a processor chip is an attribute of that chip. A set of related attributes constitutes a MIF group. child A subordinate object contained in an instance of a class and directly below that class instance. [C] CI Component Interface. Describes access to management information and enables a component to be managed. class The formal description of a set of objects. In the OSI world, objects with similar attributes and behavior are grouped into classes. In C++, the rules governing a set of data structures (that are said to be instances of the class) and the methods (also called member functions) that give access to an instance's data. class instance A collection of attribute instance values that specifies one example of a class. For example, if the class comprised port information for a router port, you could specify an instance of the class by providing a router board and port number for a particular port. The information you provide to specify a class instance is called the instance identifier. Other related terms are instance string, Relative Distinguished Name (RDN), Index, and Named Object. common group A MIF group that has been proposed to and accepted by the DMTF special interest group and that describes common attributes applicable to all, or most, manageable products. Examples of common groups include Field Replaceable Unit (FRU) and Operational State. component Any hardware or software product that is part of or attached to a desktop system or server. For example, a modem, a printer, a network interface card, a spreadsheet program, and an operating system could all be considered components. dispatching The communication of a management request from the Master Agent to one or more subagents. Dispatching is performed according to the Master Agent's current view of registered subtrees and an explicitly stated algorithm. DCE Distributed Computing Environment. This is provided by OSF (Open System Foundation) DCE allows development of applications based on client-server architecture. DMI Desktop Management Interface. The Desktop Management Interface is a set of interfaces and a service provider that mediate between management applications and components residing in a system. The DMI is a free-standing interface that is not tied to any particular operating system or management process. DMTF Data Management Task Force. The Desktop Management Task Force was formed in May of 1992 as a cooperative effort of eight companies: Digital Equipment Corporation, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Novell, SunSoft and SynOptics. duplicate registration An attempt by one subagent to register a subtree that exactly matches a subtree already registered by another subagent. entities Systems, components, and applications. enumerations Enumerations are lists of possible values for a given attribute. They may be global or local. Global enumerations named may be used by other attributes within a component. A local enumeration is unnamed and may only be used by the attribute containing it. events Events consist of unsolicited information sent from a component to the Service Provider detailing an unusual circumstance or notable event. Events trigger indications from the Service Provider to management applications. Events may be sent, for instance, when an error occurs or when a new version of a piece of software is installed. Component manufacturers determine that events will be related to their product and what information will be passed about the event. filter The use of a Boolean expression to test a set of attributes in order to select the objects where a network management command is addressed. Object instances that successfully pass the filtering tests become those where a management operation is performed. Defined by the CMIS specification (ISO/IEC 9595), filtering capabilities help reduce the network traffic overhead of a management protocol. See also scoping. This usage of "filter" is distinct from the usage in UNIX systems, where a filter is a program that accepts input from one stream and supplies output in another, so that it may be piped to other functions as needed. See Network Management Forum. gateway A computer that interconnect two networks and routes packets from one to the other. A gateway has more than one network interface. group A group is a set of related attributes for a given component. The DMTF group has standardized MIFs at the group level as well as at the component level. indications Indications are information sent from the Service Provider to management applications when an event is received by the Service Provider or when a component is installed or removed from the MIF database. Indications triggered by events include information about the event and the component sending the event.