Efficient management data acquisition and run-time control of DCE applications using the OSI management framework

The goal of a management system in a distributed computing environment (DCE) is to provide a centralized and coordinated view of an otherwise distributed and heterogeneous collection of hardware and software resources. The management software required to achieve this goal will, within a policy framework, monitor, analyze and control network resources, system services and distributed application programs. In our research, we are investigating the use of the Open System Interconnection (OSI) network management standards as a basis for a generic architecture around which such management systems can be built. We are particularly interested in the suitability and flexibility of the OSI standards in the context of managing application programs. The work described in this paper focusses on the efficiency and dynamic control of management data acquisition and on the run-time control of application programs. We describe a prototype management system which has been developed to explore these issues in the management of DCE applications.