Computer management system and associated management information base

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A method of managing, using a management application running on a management console, a plurality of networked manageable devices which include at least one file server using a constructed management information base, said at least one file server having a system board, a drive array subsystem associated with said file server and a server manager installed in said file server for monitoring said system board, comprising the steps of:

collecting a plurality of objects describing said system board in a first subMIB;

collecting a plurality of objects describing said drive array subsystem in a second subMIB;

collecting a plurality of objects describing said server manager in a third subMIB;

assembling said first subMIB containing said plurality of objects describing said system board, said second subMIB containing said second plurality of objects describing said drive array subsystem and said third subMIB containing said plurality of objects describing said server manager into a management information base ("MIB"); and

managing said file server from said management console using said assembled MIB by monitoring performance of said system board, said drive array subsystem and said server manager using said plurality of objects describing said system board, said drive array subsystem and said server manager respectively contained in said first subMIB, said second subMIB and said third subMIB.

2. A method of managing a plurality of networked manageable devices according to claim 1 wherein said system board is comprised of a plurality of components and has a software management agent installed therein to interface with said management console networked therewith and wherein the step of collecting said plurality of objects describing said system board into a first subMIB further comprises the step of organizing said first subMIB into two child groups, said first child group containing selected ones of said plurality of objects which describe a revision level of said software management agent installed on said system board and said second child group containing selected ones of said plurality of objects describe said components of said system board and wherein the step of managing said file server from said management console using said assembled MIB by monitoring performance of said system board, said drive array subsystem and said server manager using said plurality of objects describing said system board, said drive array subsystem and said server manager respectively contained in said first subMIB, said second subMIB and said third subMIB further comprises the steps of:

monitoring said revision level of said software management agent installed on said system board using said plurality of objects contained in said first child group of said first subMIB; and

monitoring said components of said system board using said plurality of objects contained in said second child group of said first subMIB.

3. A method of managing a plurality of networked manageable devices according to claim 1 wherein said system board is comprised of a plurality of components and wherein the step of collecting a plurality of objects describing said system board in a first subMIB further comprises the step of organizing said collected plurality of objects into said first subMIB and a fourth subMIB, said first subMIB and said fourth subMIB each containing selected ones of said plurality of objects describing said system board, said first subMIB containing objects describing components installed on said system board other than those described in said fourth subMIB and said fourth subMIB containing objects which describe those components specific to a manufacturer and wherein the step of managing said file server from said management console using said assembled MIB by monitoring performance of said system board, said drive array subsystem and said server manager using said plurality of objects describing said system board, said drive array subsystem and said server manager respectively contained in said first subMIB, said second subMIB and said third subMIB further comprises the steps of:

monitoring said components installed on said system board which are specific to a manufacturer using said plurality of objects contained in said first subMIB; and

monitoring said components installed on said system board which are not specific to a manufacturer using said plurality of objects contained in said fourth subMIB.

4. A method of managing a plurality of networked manageable devices according to claim 1 wherein a software management agent is installed in said system board to interface with said management console networked therewith and wherein the step of collecting said plurality of objects describing said system board into said first subMIB and a fourth subMIB further comprises the step of:

organizing said first subMIB into two child groups, said first child group containing selected ones of said plurality of objects describing a revision level of said software management agent installed on said system board and said second child group containing selected ones of said plurality of objects which describe said components of said system board other than those described in said fourth subMIB; and

organizing said second subMIB into two child groups, said first child group containing selected ones of said plurality of objects which describe a revision level of said software management agent installed on said system board and said second child group containing selected ones of said plurality of objects which describe those components specific to a manufacturer;

wherein the step of managing said file server from said management console using said assembled MIB by monitoring performance of said system board, said drive array subsystem and said server manager using said plurality of objects describing said system board, said drive array subsystem and said server manager respectively contained in said first subMIB, said second subMIB and said third subMIB further comprises the step of:

monitoring said revision level of said software management agent installed on said system board using said plurality of objects contained in said first child group of said first subMIB and said plurality of objects contained in said first child group of said fourth subMIB.

5. A method of managing a plurality of networked manageable devices according to claim 4 wherein the step of organizing said fourth subMIB to include a child group containing selected ones of said plurality of objects which describe those components of said system board specific to a manufacturer further comprises the step of organizing said child group into a plurality of children groups, said children groups including an interface child group which contains selected ones of said plurality of component objects which contain information specific to said software management agent, an asset management child group which contains selected ones of said plurality of component objects which contain asset management information, a security child group which contains selected ones of said plurality of component objects which contain information describing security features specific to said manufacturer and a system board child group which contains selected ones of said plurality of component objects which contain object instances describing said system board and wherein the step of managing said file server from said management console using said assembled MIB by monitoring performance of said system board, said drive array subsystem and said server manager using said plurality of objects describing said system board, said drive array subsystem and said server manager respectively contained in said first subMIB, said second subMIB and said third subMIB further comprises the steps of:

monitoring said software management agent installed on said system board using said plurality of objects contained in said interface child group of said fourth subMIB;

monitoring asset management information for said system board using said plurality of objects contained in said asset management child group of said fourth subMIB;

monitoring security information for said system board using said plurality of objects contained in said security child group of said fourth subMIB; and

monitoring said components of said system board using said plurality of objects contained in said system board child group of said fourth subMIB.

6. A method of managing a plurality of networked manageable devices according to claim 1 wherein said drive array subsystem is comprised of a plurality of components and has a software management agent installed therein to interface with said management console networked therewith and wherein the step of collecting said plurality of objects describing said drive array subsystem into a second subMIB further comprises the step of organizing said second subMIB into three child groups, said first child group containing selected ones of said plurality of objects which describe a revision level of said software management agent installed on said drive array subsystem, said second child group containing selected ones of said plurality of objects which describe said components of said drive array subsystem and said third child group containing selected ones of said plurality of objects which describes traps generated by said drive array subsystem and wherein the step of managing said file server from said management console using said assembled MIB by monitoring performance of said system board, said drive array subsystem and said server manager using said plurality of objects describing said system board, said drive array subsystem and said server manager respectively contained in said first subMIB, said second subMIB and said third subMIB further comprises the steps of:

monitoring said revision level of said software management agent installed on said drive array subsystem using said plurality of objects contained in said first child group of said second subMIB;

monitoring said components of said drive array subsystem using said plurality of objects contained in said second child group of said second subMIB;

monitoring said traps generated by said drive array subsystem using said plurality of objects contained in said third child group of said second subMIB.

7. A method of managing a plurality of networked manageable devices according to claim 6 wherein said drive array subsystem further comprises at least one controller and/or accelerator card and logical, physical and spare drives and wherein the step of organizing said second subMIB to include said second child group containing selected ones of said plurality of objects describing said components of said drive array subsystem further comprises the steps of:

organizing said second child group into a plurality of sub-child groups, said sub-child groups including an interface child group which contains selected ones of said plurality of component objects which contain information specific to said software management agent, a controller child group which contains selected ones of said plurality of component objects which contain information specific to said controllers and/or accelerator cards, a logical drive child group which contains selected ones of said plurality of component objects which contain information specific to said logical drive, a physical drive group which contains selected ones of said plurality of component objects which contain information specific to said logical drive and a spare drive child group which contains selected ones of said plurality of component objects which contain information specific to said spare drive and wherein the step of managing said file server from said management console using said assembled MIB by monitoring performance of said system board, said drive array subsystem and said server manager using said plurality of objects describing said system board, said drive array subsystem and said server manager respectively contained in said first subMIB, said second subMIB and said third subMIB further comprises the steps of:

monitoring said software management agent using said plurality of component objects contained in said interface child group;

monitoring said controllers and/or accelerator cards using said plurality of component objects contained in said controller child group;

monitoring said logical drive using said plurality of component objects contained in said logical drive child group;

monitoring said physical drive using said plurality of component objects contained in said physical drive child group; and

monitoring said spare drive using said plurality of component objects contained in said spare drive child group.

8. A method of managing a plurality of networked manageable devices according to claim 1 wherein said server manager is comprised of a plurality of components and has a software management agent installed therein to interface with said management console networked therewith and wherein the step of collecting said plurality of objects describing said server manager into a third subMIB further comprises the step of organizing said third subMIB into three child groups, said first child group containing selected ones of said plurality of objects which describe a revision level of said software management agent installed on said server manager, said second child group containing selected ones of said plurality of objects which describe said components of said server manager and said third child group containing selected ones of said plurality of objects which describe traps generated by said server manager and wherein the step of managing said file server from said management console using said assembled MIB by monitoring performance of said system board, said drive array subsystem and said server manager using said plurality of objects describing said system board, said drive array subsystem and said server manager respectively contained in said first subMIB, said second subMIB and said third subMIB further comprises the steps of:

monitoring said revision level of said software management agent installed in said server manager using said plurality of objects contained in said first child group of said third subMIB;

monitoring said components of said server manager using said plurality of objects contained in said second child group of said third subMIB; and

monitoring said traps generated by said server manager using said plurality of objects contained in said third child group of said third subMIB.

9. A method of managing a plurality of networked manageable devices according to claim 8 wherein said components of said server manager innately monitor said system board to collect objects for processing thereby, said server manager further comprises at least one asynchronous port for performing off-the-network alerting and wherein the step of organizing said third subMIB to include a second child group containing all of said plurality of objects describing said components of said server manager further comprises the step of organizing said child group into a plurality of sub-child groups, said sub-child groups including an interface child group containing selected ones of said plurality of component objects which contain information specific to said software management agent, a controller child group containing selected ones of said plurality of component objects which contain configuration information specific to said server manager, an object child group containing selected ones of said plurality of objects whose values represent objects innately monitored by said server manager and objects containing information describing said server manager, an asynchronous communication child group containing selected ones of said plurality of objects which contain information describing status of said asynchronous communication ports installed on said server manager and an alert child group containing selected ones of said plurality of objects which contain information on the off-the-network alerting capabilities of said server manager and wherein the step of managing said file server from said management console using said assembled MIB by monitoring performance of said system board, said drive array subsystem and said server manager by monitoring performance of said system board, said drive array subsystem and said server manager using said plurality of objects describing said system board, said drive array subsystem and said server manager respectively contained in said first subMIB, said second subMIB and said third subMIB further comprises the steps of:

monitoring said software management agent using said plurality of component objects contained in said interface child group;

monitoring said configuration of said server manager using said plurality of component objects contained in said controller child group;

monitoring operations of said server manager using said plurality of component objects contained in said object child group which describes said server manager and said plurality of component objects in said object child group related to objects innately monitored by said server manager;

monitoring said status of said asynchronous communication port of said server manager using said plurality of component objects contained in said asynchronous communication child group; and

monitoring said off-the-network alerting capabilities of said server manager using said plurality of component objects contained in said alert child group.

10. A method of managing, using a management application running on a management console, a plurality of networked manageable devices which include at least one file server using a constructed management information base, said at least one file server having a system board, a drive array subsystem associated with said file server and a server manager installed in said file server for monitoring said system board, comprising the steps of:

collecting a plurality of objects describing said system board;

collecting a plurality of objects describing said drive array subsystem;

collecting a plurality of objects describing said server manager;

assembling said plurality of objects describing said system board, said drive array subsystem and said server manager into a management information base ("MIB") having first, second, third and fourth subMIBs, said first subMIB organized to contain selected ones of said plurality of objects which describe said system board, said second subMIB containing selected ones of said plurality of objects which describe manufacturer specific components of said system board, said third subMIB containing selected ones of said plurality of objects which describe said drive array subsystem, and said fourth subMIB containing selected ones of said plurality of objects which describe said server manager; and

managing said file server from said management console using said assembled MIB by monitoring performance of said system board, said drive array subsystem and said server manager using said plurality of objects describing said system board, said manufacturer specific components of said system board, said drive array subsystem and said server manager respectively contained in said first subMIB, said second subMIB, said third subMIB and said fourth subMIB.

11. For a file server having a system board, a drive array subsystem associated with said file server and a server manager installed in said file server for monitoring said system board, a management system for managing said file server comprising:

a bus;

a management information base ("MIB") coupled to said bus, said MIB comprised of:

a first subMIB containing a plurality of objects describing said system board;

a second subMIB containing a plurality of objects describing said drive array subsystem; and

a third subMIB containing a plurality of objects describing said server manager;

a first software management agent installed in said system board and coupled to said bus, said first software management agent supporting said first subMIB by transporting said plurality of objects describing said system board to said first subMIB;

a second software management agent installed in said drive array subsystem and coupled to said bus, said second software management agent supporting said second subMIB by transporting said plurality of objects describing said drive array subsystem to said second subMIB;

a third software management agent installed in said server manager and coupled to said bus, said third software management agent supporting said third subMIB by transporting said plurality of objects describing said server manager to said third subMIB; and

a management application coupled to said system bus, said file server being managed by monitoring, using said management application, performance of said system board, said drive array subsystem and said server manager using said plurality of objects describing said system board, said drive array subsystem and said server manager respectively contained in said first subMIB, said second subMIB and said third subMIB.

12. A management system according to claim 11 wherein said drive array subsystem further comprises a plurality of components, wherein said second subMIB further comprises a first child group containing selected ones of said plurality of objects which describe a revision level of said second software management agent installed in said drive array subsystem, a second child group containing selected ones of said plurality of objects which describe said components of said drive array subsystem and a third child group containing selected ones of said plurality of objects which describe traps generated by said drive array subsystem, said file server being further managed by monitoring, using said management application, said revision level of said second software management agent, said components of said drive array subsystem and said traps generated by said drive array subsystem using said plurality of objects contained in said first, second and third child groups, and further comprising an alert log listing said traps generated by said drive array subsystem.

13. A management system according to claim 12 wherein said drive array subsystem further comprises at least one controller and/or accelerator card and logical, physical and spare drives and wherein second child group further comprises a first sub-child group containing selected ones of said plurality of component objects containing information specific to said second software management agent, a second sub-child group containing selected ones of said plurality of component objects containing information specific to said controllers and/or accelerator cards, a third sub-child group which contains selected ones of said plurality of component objects containing information specific to said logical drive, a fourth sub-child group which contains selected ones of said plurality of component objects containing information specific to said physical drive and a fifth sub-child group which contains selected ones of said plurality of component objects containing information specific to said spare drive, said file server being further managed by monitoring, using said management application, said second software management agent, said controllers and/or accelerator cards, said logical drive, said physical drive and said spare drive using said plurality of component objects contained in said first, second, third, fourth and fifth sub-child groups.

14. A management system according to claim 11 wherein said server manager further comprises a plurality of components, wherein said third subMIB further comprises a first child group containing selected ones of said plurality of objects which describe a revision level of said third software management agent installed in said server manager, a second child group containing selected ones of said plurality of objects which describe said components of said server manager and a third child group containing selected ones of said plurality of objects which describe traps generated by said server manager, said file server being further managed by monitoring, using said management application, said revision level of said third software management agent, said components of said server manager and said traps generated by said server manager using said plurality of objects contained in said first, second and third child groups, and further comprising an alert log listing said traps generated by said server manager.

15. A management system according to claim 14 wherein said server manager further comprises at least one asynchronous communication port and wherein said second child group further comprises a first component child group containing selected ones of said plurality of component objects which contain information specific to said server manager's software management agent, a second component child group containing selected ones of said plurality of component objects which contain objects which describe the configuration of said system manager, a third component child group containing selected ones of said plurality of component objects whose values represent objects innately monitored by said server manager and objects containing information describing said server manager, a fourth component child group containing selected ones of said plurality of component objects which contain information related to said asynchronous communication port of said server manager, and a fifth component child group containing selected ones of said plurality of component objects which contain information related to the off-the-network alert capabilities of said server manager, said file server being further managed by monitoring, using said management application, said third software management agent, said configuration, said server manager, said status of said asynchronous communication port and said off-the-network alert capabilities of said server manager using said plurality of component objects contained in said first, second, third, fourth and fifth component child groups.

16. A method of managing a plurality of networked manageable devices according to claim 10 wherein the step of assembling said plurality of objects describing said system board, said drive array subsystem and said server manager into a management information base ("MIB") having first, second, third and fourth subMIBs further comprises the step of organizing said third subMIB to include a traps child group which contains selected ones of said plurality of objects which describes traps generated by said drive array subsystem and wherein the step of managing said file server from said management console using said assembled MIB by monitoring performance of said system board, said drive array subsystem and said server manager using said plurality of objects describing said system board, said drive array subsystem and said server manager respectively contained in said first subMIB, said second subMIB, said third subMIB and said fourth subMIB further comprises the step of:

transporting traps generated by said drive array subsystem to said management application; and

notifying a network administrator located at said management consol of said traps transported from said drive array subsystem to said management application.

17. A method of managing a plurality of networked manageable devices according to claim 16 wherein a memory subsystem is coupled to said management application and further comprising the steps of:

transporting said objects which describes traps generated by said drive array subsystem transported to said management application to said memory subsystem; and

assembling said objects transported to said memory subsystem as an alert log.

18. A method of managing a plurality of networked manageable devices according to claim 10 wherein the step of assembling said plurality of objects describing said system board, said drive array subsystem and said server manager into a management information base ("MIB") having first, second, third and fourth subMIBs further comprises the step of organizing said fourth subMIB to include a traps child group which contains selected ones of said plurality of objects which describes traps generated by said server manager and wherein the step of managing said file server from said management console using said assembled MIB by monitoring performance of said system board, said drive array subsystem and said server manager using said plurality of objects describing said system board, said drive array subsystem and said server manager respectively contained in said first subMIB, said second subMIB, said third subMIB and said fourth subMIB further comprises the step of:

transporting traps generated by said server manager to said management application; and

notifying a network administrator located at said management consol of said traps transported from said server manager to said management application.

19. A method of managing a plurality of networked manageable devices according to claim 18 wherein a memory subsystem is coupled to said management application and further comprising the steps of:

transporting said objects which describes traps generated by said server manager and transported to said management application to said memory subsystem; and

assembling said objects transported to said memory subsystem as an alert log.

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The invention relates to a computer management system and, more particularly, to a computer management system having plural instrumentation agents for querying manageable devices to collect object data and an associated enterprise management information base (or "MIB") for storing object data in accordance with a specified MIB architecture.

2. Description of Related Art

The Internet community has defined an organizational framework of data and provides a naming authority allowing any company or group to define information within the framework in a way that allows any or all of this data to coexist. Under the control of the International Telegraph and Telephone Consultative Committee (or "CCITT") and the International Organization for Standardization (or "ISO"), the organizational framework has been constructed as a tree. The root of the tree is managed by CCITT and ISO. Extending from the root of the tree are a series of branches defined by CCITT and ISO. However, while the branch is initially defined by the managing authority, authority for the branch may then be given to another organization for defining the child branches for that branch. FIG. 1 illustrates the structure of the organizational framework defined by the Internet community and is included here so that the relationship of the enterprise MIB subject of the present application and the remainder of the Internet community will be clear.

Every piece of information within the organizational framework is configured in a formal grammar and referred to by its full name so that it can be unambiguously specified, thereby making information transfers within an interoperable network system possible. A series of dotted decimal notations, each separated by periods, specifies all of the branches needed to reach a particular item. For example, all items originating in a private enterprise would be headed by the notation "1.3.6.1.4.1". From a specific private enterprise, an item would be identified using the name 1.3.6.1.4.1.XXX.YY where "XXX" is an identifier assigned to that enterprise by the ISO and "YY" is an identifier assigned to that particular item by enterprise "XXX" under the authority of the ISO.

Simple Network Management Protocol (or "SNMP") is a protocol widely used within the Internet community for interoperable network management The SNMP protocol defines a set of commands that a management application may use to retrieve or change the value of items that a management agent is making available. The Internet community also maintains a series of documents which describe the communication protocols used by the community. These documents are called "Request for Comments" and are commonly referred to as "RFCs". Each RFC is assigned a number to identify the document. For example, RFC 1212 defines the formal grammar for a SNMP MIB.

A MIB is a data base that describes a set of items that management applications and agents use to report and control managed devices. A description of a MIB starts with a line that states the name of the MIB being defined. Typically, the name of the MIB is followed by an import statement which allows the MIB writer to specify information from other well known MIBs that are referred to in the MIB being defined. Within a MIB is a structure for organizing managed items. To form the structure, the MIB defines a group or groups for organizing related pieces of information. A group is defined by stating a name for the group and showing how the group fits into the tree. Typically, all group definitions are placed immediately following the IMPORTS statement. Groups may contain information in the form of items or "objects", sub-groups, or a combination of the two. Similarly, each sub-group is configured like a group.

Within a group or sub-group, data may be organized in one of two basic methods. A scalar item is a single piece of information that is within a group. For example, the total memory in a server is a scalar item. A table is a structure for organizing data that requires more information to uniquely identify a single data item within a group of similar items. An example of an item that is best organized in a table is an EISA board ID. It is necessary for someone requesting an EISA board ID to specify the EISA board to which they are referring.

Each item, either scalar or part of a table, defined in a MIB includes a description which explains the item. Typically, the description includes SYNTAX, ACCESS, STATUS and DESCRIPTION clauses. The SYNTAX clause specifies the type of information which the item contains. Information types typically specified by the SYNTAX clause include INTEGER, OCTET STRING, Counter and DisplayString. INTEGER specifies that the value of the item should be interpreted as a number. OCTET STRING specifies that the value of the item should be interpreted as a string of octets, each having a value between 0 and 255. Counter specifies that the item is an INTEGER that has an implied range of zero to FFFFFFFF. DisplayString specifies that the item is an OCTET STRING where each octet is restricted to a printable ASCII character.

The ACCESS clause specifies the ways the item may be used and shows the actions which the agent may support for the item. ACCESS may be read-only, read-write or not-accessible. Read-only means that the value of the item may be retrieved by a management application but may not be altered. Read-write means that the item may be read and/or altered by a management application. Not-accessible is given as the access for organizational constructs that do not represent data items. Not-accessible is used only for table features and should not be used for a scaler item. The STATUS clause specifies whether the item is required for an agent that supports the defined group. A STATUS of mandatory means that the item will always be present if the defined group is supported by the agent. A STATUS of optional means that a particular implementation has the option of supporting the item. The DESCRIPTION clause contains a double quote delimited text description of the item. Finally, the item definition ends by specifying how the item fits into the MIB tree. The group the item belongs to is given, followed by the unique branch number within the group for the item.

To organize a table requires the use of two additional operators, the SEQUENCE operator and the SEQUENCE OF operator. The SEQUENCE operator allows the definition of a new type that consists of several standard types in a specific order. The SEQUENCE OF operator allows the definition of a list of zero or more of the same type of elements. A table is formed by defining a SEQUENCE, typically called a table entry. A table is defined as a SEQUENCE OF the table entry type. As there is no data that is uniquely referred to by the name of the table or entry, the STATUS of the table and the table entry is not-accessible. The INDEX clause specifies the items that can be used to uniquely identify an element in the table.

A MIB may also contain trap definitions. A trap is a notification sent by the SNMP agent to a management console. The trap is sent to inform the management console about an event that has occurred on the managed system. The trap definition begins with the name of the trap, followed by the term TRAP-TYPE. An ENTERPRISE clause follows to indicate the MIB in which the trap is defined. An optional VARIABLES clause may also be included to specify additional information that will be sent in the trap. Typically, the additional information contained in the VARIABLES clause will be items defined in the MIB identified in the ENTERPRISE clause. A DESCRIPTION clause which explains the significance of the trap and the conditions that would cause it to be sent follows. Finally, the trap is given a number to identify it. The number will be unique within the scope of the ENTERPRISE. Both the enterprise name and the trap number are used by the management station to uniquely determine the identity of a received trap.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In one embodiment, the present invention is of a method of managing a plurality of networked manageable devices which include at least one file server having a system board, a drive array subsystem associated with the file server and a server manager installed in the file server for monitoring the system board from a manager console using a management information base or "MIB". First, second and third plurality of objects which describe the system board, the drive array subsystem and the server manager, respectively, are collected and assembled into a MIB. The assembled MIB is then used to manage the file server. In further aspects of this embodiment of the invention, the collected plurality of objects are organized into a first subMIB containing selected ones of the objects which describe components of the system board, a second subMIB containing selected ones of the plurality of objects which describe those components specific to a manufacturer, a third subMIB containing selected ones of the objects which describe a drive array subsystem associated with the file server and a fourth subMIB containing selected ones of the objects which describe a server manager installed on the system board. Various ones of the subMIBs may be further organized to contain a first child group which contains selected ones of the plurality of objects which describe a revision level of a software management agent installed on the system board, drive array subsystem or server manager, respectively, a second child group containing selected ones of the plurality of objects which describe components of the system board, drive array subsystem, or server manager, respectively, and a third child group containing selected ones of the plurality of objects which describes traps generated by the drive array subsystem or the server manager, respectively.

In further aspects of this embodiment of the invention, the manufacturer specific component child group of the system board may be further organized to include an interface child group which contains selected ones of the plurality of component objects which contain information specific to a software management agent installed in said system board, an asset management child group which contains selected ones of the plurality of component objects which contain asset management information, a security child group which contains selected ones of the plurality of component objects which contain information describing security features specific to the manufacturer and a system board child group which contains selected ones of the plurality of component objects which contain object instances describing the system board.

In still further aspects of this embodiment of the invention, the drive