This Recommendation | International Standard describes the Open Distributed Management Architecture (ODMA). ODMA provides an architecture for the specification and development both of systems management as an open distributed application and of the management of open distributed applications. ODMA also provides the architectural framework for the development of the standards needed within the architecture. The management will be of a distributed nature; this implies:

– distribution of the managing activity;
– management of distributed applications; and
– management of resources that may be distributed.

ODMA is compliant with the ODP-RM, so that in a distributed environment OSI Systems Management can be used in combination with other techniques that are engineered and implemented according to ODP principles.

This Recommendation | International Standard is the base document of a (potential) range of standards and Recommendations to be developed within ODMA. Figure 1 provides an overview of the relationship between this Recommendation | International Standard and other standards.

Other standards that may be developed within ODMA are:

− ODMA supports: Based on the General Framework of ODMA, these standards give descriptions of specific systems support of ODMA. For example, the OSI Systems Management and CORBA support of ODMA have been identified.
− ODMA viewpoint notations: These component standards provide standardised notations for describing the ODP viewpoints for ODMA (see for example Annex D). These notations are described in separate documents for the ODMA viewpoint notations.
− ODMA functions: These component standards describe functions that are necessary for the construction of an Open Distributed Management System. Some example functions like the operation dispatcher function or the notification dispatcher function are outlined in this Recommendation | International Standard.
− ODMA inter-domain functions: These component standards describe the interworking between different paradigms providing support for ODMA, for example, between OSI Systems Management and CORBA.

As illustrated in Figure 1 this Recommendation | International Standard only elaborates a subset of supporting ODMA systems but allows for developments of other clauses. As a consequence, this Recommendation | International Standard consists of two sections:

1) General Framework

This clause describes ODMA as a specific interpretation of the Reference Model of Open Distributed Processing for the purpose of management. It introduces general terms that are needed for open distributed management. It may also identify tools for the description of the open distributed management applications.

2) OSI management support for ODMA

This clause describes the OSI management support for ODMA. It relates the current OSI systems management concepts to ODMA concepts. However, it extends the current systems management standards to support the distribution of the management activities and the distribution of resources to be managed. As this specific interpretation reflects the current OSI standards, limitations may be imposed. For instance, only a number of distribution transparencies may be supported by the (extended) OSI management mechanisms.