| X/Open Guide |
|---|
| Systems Management: Reference Model |
| X/Open Document Number: G207 |
| ISBN: 1-85912-005-9 |
©August 1993, The Open Group All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owners.
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The Open Group is the leading vendor-neutral, international consortium for buyers and suppliers of technology. Its mission is to cause the development of a viable global information infrastructure that is ubiquitous, trusted, reliable, and as easy-to-use as the telephone. The essential functionality embedded in this infrastructure is what we term the IT DialTone. The Open Group creates an environment where all elements involved in technology development can cooperate to deliver less costly and more flexible IT solutions.
Formed in 1996 by the merger of the X/Open Company Ltd. (founded in 1984) and the Open Software Foundation (founded in 1988), The Open Group is supported by most of the world's largest user organizations, information systems vendors, and software suppliers. By combining the strengths of open systems specifications and a proven branding scheme with collaborative technology development and advanced research, The Open Group is well positioned to meet its new mission, as well as to assist user organizations, vendors, and suppliers in the development and implementation of products supporting the adoption and proliferation of systems which conform to standard specifications.
With more than 200 member companies, The Open Group helps the IT industry to advance technologically while managing the change caused by innovation. It does this by:
The Open Group operates in all phases of the open systems technology lifecycle including innovation, market adoption, product development, and proliferation. Presently, it focuses on seven strategic areas: open systems application platform development, architecture, distributed systems management, interoperability, distributed computing environment, security, and the information superhighway. The Open Group is also responsible for the management of the UNIX trademark on behalf of the industry.
This process includes the identification of requirements for open systems and, now, the IT DialTone, development of CAE and Preliminary Specifications through an industry consensus review and adoption procedure (in parallel with formal standards work), and the development of tests and conformance criteria.
This leads to the preparation of a Product Standard which is the name used for the documentation that records the conformance requirements (and other information) to which a vendor may register a product. There are currently two forms of Product Standard, namely the Profile Definition and the Component Definition, although these will eventually be merged into one.
The "X" mark is used by vendors to demonstrate that their products conform to the relevant Product Standard. By use of the Open Brand they guarantee, through the X/Open Trade Mark Licence Agreement (TMLA), to maintain their products in conformance with the Product Standard so that the product works, will continue to work, and that any problems will be fixed by the vendor.
The Open Group publishes a wide range of technical documentation, the main part of which is focused on specification development and product documentation, but which also includes Guides, Snapshots, Technical Studies, Branding and Testing documentation, industry surveys, and business titles.
There are several types of specification:
CAE (Common Applications Environment) Specifications are the stable specifications that form the basis for our Product Standards, which are used to develop X/Open branded systems. These specifications are intended to be used widely within the industry for product development and procurement purposes.
Anyone developing products that implement a CAE Specification
can enjoy the benefits of a single, widely supported industry standard.
Where appropriate, they can demonstrate product compliance through
the Open Brand.
CAE Specifications are published as soon as they are developed,
so enabling vendors to proceed with development of conformant products
without delay.
Preliminary Specifications usually address an emerging area of technology and consequently are not yet supported by multiple sources of stable conformant implementations. They are published for the purpose of validation through implementation of products. A Preliminary Specification is not a draft specification; rather, it is as stable as can be achieved, through applying The Open Group's rigorous development and review procedures.
Preliminary Specifications are analogous to the trial-use
standards issued by formal standards organizations, and
developers are encouraged to develop products on the basis
of them. However, experience through implementation work may
result in significant (possibly upwardly incompatible) changes
before its progression to becoming a CAE Specification. While
the intent is to progress Preliminary Specifications to
corresponding CAE Specifications, the ability to do so depends
on consensus among Open Group members.
The Open Group publishes specifications on behalf of industry consortia. For example, it publishes the NMF SPIRIT procurement specifications on behalf of the Network Management Forum. It also publishes Technology Specifications relating to OSF/1, DCE, OSF/Motif, and CDE.
Technology Specifications (formerly AES Specifications) are often candidates for consensus review, and may be adopted as CAE Specifications, in which case the relevant Technology Specification is superseded by a CAE Specification.
In addition, The Open Group publishes:
This includes product documentation-programmer's guides, user manuals, and so on-relating to the Pre-structured Technology Projects (PSTs), such as DCE and CDE. It also includes the Single UNIX Documentation, designed for use as common product documentation for the whole industry.
These provide information that is useful in the evaluation, procurement, development, or management of open systems, particularly those that relate to the CAE Specifications. The Open Group Guides are advisory, not normative, and should not be referenced for purposes of specifying or claiming conformance to a Product Standard.
Technical Studies present results of analyses performed on subjects of interest in areas relevant to The Open Group's Technical Program. They are intended to communicate the findings to the outside world so as to stimulate discussion and activity in other bodies and the industry in general.
As with all live documents, CAE Specifications require revision to align with new developments and associated international standards. To distinguish between revised specifications which are fully backwards compatible and those which are not:
Readers should note that Corrigenda may apply to any publication. Corrigenda information is published on the World-Wide Web at http://www.opengroup.org/public/pubs.
Full catalogue and ordering information on all Open Group publications is available on the World-Wide Web at http://www.opengroup.org/public/pubs.
This document is a Guide (see above). It provides an architectural overview of the Systems Management Model, identifies the various components of the model, and describes the ways in which they interact.
The X/Open Systems Management Reference Model employs object-oriented specification techniques. Within the model different components perform various roles necessary to provide a fully functional, interoperable systems management architecture. X/Open has an agreement with the OMG to use OMG-compliant specifications for any work programmes where an object-oriented approach is taken. In addition, the OSI Network Management standards exist and have taken a somewhat different object-oriented approach. This document:
This reference model does not go into detailed consideration of the various components (for instance it does not define which managed objects will exist) but addresses the general properties of components within the model, their means of interaction, and the properties of their interfaces.
X/Open® is a registered trademark, and the "X" device is a trademark, of X/Open Company Limited.
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