The interoperable interface is the physical counterpart of the shared
conceptual schema. It is the formally-defined set of protocols, procedures,
message and
formats and semantics used to communicate between management systems.
The interoperable interface reflects all aspects of the shared conceptual
schema which are necessary for meaningful communication. Any real open system
which is capable of communicating using this interoperable interface is known
as a conformant management entity OS. Any OSs wishing to communicate
must have a shared conceptual schema among them, and they interoperate
across the interoperable interface.
It is important to note that although the shared conceptual schema (in
particular, definitions of managed object classes) may appear to describe
aspects of a management system that are ;SPM_quot;beyond;SPM_quot; the interoperable interface,
it is the interoperable interface itself (e.g. the messages about the managed
objects) that determines conformance. Thus, implementors are not constrained
to implement any aspect of the shared conceptual schema in their systems, as
long as they provide the appropriate image of the schema in the interoperable
interface.
As described in the other viewpoint, the shared conceptual schema is
centred around the concept of the managed object. The interoperable interface
consists of two components which enable communication between OSs about
these managed objects:
-
A 'P' component, which represents a set of management-specific OSI
functional profiles, and
-
an 'M' component, which represents the complete range of messages
necessary to carry management information between OSs.
Note: The interface between two OSs is physically provided by the ;SPM_quot;P+M;SPM_quot;
interface. The messages which flow across this interface refer to managed
objects. The definition of each message is a part of the definition of a
managed object class, although there are generic messages which are used
identically in many managed object classes.
A OS must conform to the interoperable interface, but is otherwise
unconstrained in design. The hardware and software which implements the
interoperable interface may be combined with other aspects of the management
solution, or may be separate.
A management solution may be provided in one or more discrete physical units,
depending on the size of the managed network, existing configurations, or
other design factors.