The Managed Object Relationships View

This View describes how managed objects can be considered in terms of their relationships to each other. Managed object classes and instances do not exist in isolation; they always have some bearing on other objects. The purpose of this View is to describe the relationships which can exist between managed resources and how the corresponding managed objects represent these relationships. Managed object relationships are normally described as applying to instances. However, for each relationship between instances, there may be a corresponding relationship between classes which specifies a general rule for relating instances. For example, managed object instances may be related by the ;SPM_quot;is-connected-to;SPM_quot; relationship, and there may be rules defining which classes are allowed to have instances related in this way (i.e. be connected together). Just like managed objects are abstractions or views or resources, managed object relationships are views of relationships between resources. Therefore, a managed object relationship reflects the significant aspects and leaves out the unimportant (from a management standpoint) aspects of a relationship. The variety of managed object relationships mirrors the variety of real world relationships between resources. There is a large number of possible relationships. Two kinds of relationships merit special discussion, because of their importance: inheritance and containment.