Manager-Agent and Remote Operation: Two Key Patterns for Network Management Interfaces

Developing network management interfaces (NMIs) is a challenging task involving multiple software layers, application programming interfaces (APIs), specification languages and tools. In order to ease the job of NMI developers, we have developed Layla, a prototype application framework supporting Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) NMIs. Layla is based on a heterogeneous yet coherent system of design patterns that includes previously published patterns, new patterns taken from NMI standards, and a couple of Layla-specific patterns relevant in Layla’s API. The paper gives a brief overview of the pattern language underlying the Layla framework and discusses in detail two key patterns of the pattern language, the Manager-Agent and the Remote Operation patterns. The former pattern captures the regrouping of resources under the supervision and control of a responsible entity, whereas the latter encompasses clients that need to invoke operations on remote objects as if they were local.