Overview
ISO/IEC 10165-1:1993 - "Information technology - Open Systems Interconnection - Structure of management information: Management Information Model" defines the logical information model used for systems management in the OSI framework. It specifies how managed objects, their attributes, operations and notifications are modeled and named so they can be identified and accessed by management protocols. The part is published identically as CCITT Recommendation X.720 and provides the modelling foundations for Management Information Bases (MIBs) and other parts of the ISO/IEC 10165 series.
Key topics and technical requirements
- Managed object concepts: Object‑oriented modelling of managed objects, including classes, instantiation and the notion of an object’s actual class and allomorphic classes.
- Class relationships: Rules for inheritance, multiple inheritance, specialization (subclassing), allomorphism and containment.
- Naming principles: Definition of the naming tree, name structure, distinguished names and relative distinguished names to uniquely identify managed objects and their attributes.
- Attributes and packages: Attribute types, attribute groups, attribute identifiers, permitted/required value sets, and modular package concepts (mandatory and conditional).
- Operations and notifications: Specification of systems management operations, actions, notifications and behavior visible through the management boundary (encapsulation).
- Interoperability: Principles to ensure compatibility of management information across implementations and platforms.
- Supporting constructs: Filters, name bindings, naming schemas and the formal relation to ASN.1 types for protocol encoding.
Practical applications
- Designing and defining Management Information Bases (MIBs) for networked systems and devices.
- Establishing a consistent naming schema and object class hierarchy for systems management implementations.
- Guiding vendors and system integrators when modelling managed resources so different management tools interoperate.
- Serving as the conceptual basis for management protocol mappings and for formal definitions encoded with ASN.1.
- Applying to both systems management and, where relevant, layer management definitions.
Who uses this standard
- Systems architects and network management designers defining MIBs and management schemas.
- Protocol engineers implementing management protocols and encoding (ASN.1).
- Product vendors creating manageable networked devices and services.
- Standards authors and integrators aligning management information for cross‑vendor interoperability.
Related standards
Keywords: ISO/IEC 10165-1, management information model, OSI, managed objects, MIB, naming tree, managed object classes, systems management, ASN.1, interoperability.