Overview
ISO/IEC 10164-2:1993 - Information technology: Open Systems Interconnection - Systems Management: State Management Function (Part 2) defines a standardized systems-management function used by application processes to represent, query, control and be notified of the management state of resources (managed objects) in an OSI-based environment. Positioned at the OSI application layer and aligned with CMIS/CMIP concepts, this part establishes user requirements, service and generic definitions, a protocol specification and conformance rules for state management without prescribing implementation details.
Key topics and technical requirements
- State management model: Standardizes the management view of a resource’s availability using a common model of state attributes (operability, usage, administration).
- Primary state attributes: Defines the operational state (enabled/disabled), usage state (idle/active/busy) and administration-related controls - including handling of unknown status when state can’t be reflected.
- Generic attributes and notifications: Specifies generic attribute types, notification types and parameters (mapped to CMIS service primitives) to report state changes and status updates.
- Service definitions and protocol: Describes the services provided by the function (read, change, report of state attributes), service primitives, abstract syntax and the Management Application Protocol Data Unit (MAPDU) necessary to implement the services.
- Functional units and negotiation: Defines functional units, elements of procedure and negotiation of capabilities between manager and agent.
- Relationships and conformance: Defines how the state management function interacts with other systems-management functions and sets conformance/compliance requirements for standards that reuse these generic definitions.
- Scope limits: Does not define internal implementation, how management associations are established/released, or the specific managed object classes - it defines the management interface and semantics only.
Practical applications and users
- Network and systems management tool developers implementing OSI-based management (CMIS/CMIP).
- Vendors of managed devices and network elements that must expose standardized state information for centralized or distributed management.
- Integrators and operations teams needing consistent metrics for availability, operability and usage across heterogeneous systems.
- Standards committees and architects mapping OSI systems management concepts to newer management frameworks or interoperability profiles.
Related standards (important references)
- ISO/IEC 10164 (other parts: Object Management, Alarm Reporting, Event Reporting, etc.)
- ISO/IEC 9595 / 9596 (CMIS / CMIP)
- ISO/IEC 7498-4 (Management framework)
These relationships are essential when implementing ISO/IEC 10164-2:1993 within a complete OSI-based systems management environment.
Keywords: ISO/IEC 10164-2:1993, state management function, systems management, OSI, CMIS, CMIP, managed object, operational state, usage state, management notifications, conformance.