MO Managed Object

Managed Object (MO) is a fundamental concept in the field of network management and telecommunications. In essence, a MO represents an entity or object within a managed system that can be monitored and controlled through a network management system (NMS). A MO typically contains information about the configuration, status, and performance of the entity it represents. MOs are used extensively in a variety of network management protocols and systems, including Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP), Common Information Model (CIM), and Java Management Extensions (JMX).

At a high level, a MO is a structured data object that represents a particular aspect of a managed system. A MO is typically defined using a schema or object model that specifies the attributes, operations, and relationships associated with the object. The schema defines the structure of the MO and specifies how it can be manipulated and queried. This provides a standard way for different management systems to interoperate, allowing network administrators to use a single management console to manage heterogeneous networks.

MOs are organized into a hierarchical structure that reflects the topology of the managed system. At the top of the hierarchy is the root MO, which represents the entire managed system. Each subsequent level in the hierarchy represents a subset of the managed system, with MOs representing physical entities such as network devices, logical entities such as virtual circuits or VLANs, and functional entities such as services or applications.

The attributes of a MO provide information about its configuration, status, and performance. These attributes can be either read-only or read-write, depending on the capabilities of the managed system and the permissions granted to the user. For example, a network device MO might have attributes such as its IP address, hostname, operating system version, and current CPU utilization. A service MO might have attributes such as its name, status, and the number of clients currently connected.

MOs also have operations associated with them that allow them to be manipulated and controlled. Operations can be either synchronous or asynchronous, and can include actions such as setting a configuration parameter, restarting a service, or initiating a diagnostic test. The operations available on a MO are typically defined by the schema that defines the object.

MOs can also have relationships with other MOs. Relationships define how MOs are related to each other within the managed system. For example, a network device MO might have relationships with the interface MOs that represent its physical network interfaces, and with the VLAN MOs that represent its logical network segments. These relationships allow management systems to understand the dependencies between different entities within the managed system.

MOs are used extensively in network management protocols such as SNMP, which is a widely-used protocol for managing network devices. In SNMP, a managed system is represented as a collection of MOs, each with its own unique identifier called an Object Identifier (OID). SNMP management systems can retrieve and manipulate the attributes of MOs by sending SNMP requests to the managed system. SNMP also defines a set of standard MOs that are commonly used to represent network devices and their associated configurations.

In conclusion, Managed Objects (MOs) are essential in the field of network management and telecommunications. They are structured data objects that represent entities within a managed system, and provide information about their configuration, status, and performance. MOs are organized into a hierarchical structure that reflects the topology of the managed system, and can have relationships with other MOs. They are used extensively in network management protocols such as SNMP, and provide a standard way for different management systems to interoperate.