1.1 Manager/Agent Model

The Site/SunNet/Domain Manager design is based on the manager/agent model in the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) management framework. The manager is a process started by the user (for example, the Console). The agent is a process that collects data from the managed object and reports it to the manager. Figure 1-1 shows the manager and agent relationshipr.

The Manager/Agent Services libraries provide the management infrastructure and handle the communication services. The agent and manager need not be concerned with the underlying networking involved in their communication. The agent process need be concerned only with collecting data from the managed object. The manager and agent processes make use of the Services through Application Programming Interfaces (APIs).

Figure 1-1 Manager/Agent Model

1.2 Manager Services

Managers can do many different kinds of things, depending on the goal of the application. These include keeping a database of network elements and their capabilities, sending and receiving requests for information, interacting with the user, and so on.

The Manager Services library provides services needed to support the manager-agent communication model. These services are provided to relieve the application writer of the burden of managing connections, encoding/decoding network data, etc. It also lays the groundwork for a standard mechanism where manager and agent applications can communicate without prior agreements.

As such, the Manager Services library simplifies the job an application programmer needs to do to send requests to agents and collect data and event reports. It does not help the manager support a database of network elements and requests and does not provide any support for user interaction. Manager application libraries will become available for these functions in the future.

Applications interact with the Manager Services library in several different functional areas. These areas are:

• Registering for data and event reports
• Getting data and event reports
• Requesting data and event reports, or setting attributes
• Stopping requests
• Handling error reports
• Unregistering the application
• Miscellaneous topics

Not all activities pertain to every manager application. For example, a trouble-ticketing application might only be interested in getting event reports, which would mean registering for them, getting them, and finally unregistering on application exit. In this case application will not need to start/stop requests, handle data reports, and so on.

The remaining chapters in Part 1 describe each area in detail.

1.3 Default File Locations

This section lists the default locations for files and directories that are mentioned in this guide, such as configuration and sample source code files.

1.3.1 API Examples Source Code

The default location for the example manager applications is indicated in Table 1-1.

Table 1-1

SNM 2.3 version	Directory
for Solaris 1.x	/usr/snm/src/API_examples
for Solaris 2.x	/opt/SUNWconn/snm/src/API_examples

There is a README file in this directory that explains its contents.

Throughout the rest of this guide we will refer to this location as simply "the API_examples directory."

1.3.2 Header Files

At various points in this guide we make reference to header files that you can include in your programs. Table 1-2 indicates the location of these files.

Table 1-2

SNM 2.3 version	Directory
for Solaris 1.x	/usr/snm/include/netmgt
for Solaris 2.x	/opt/SUNWconn/snm/include/netmgt

1.3.3 Default Locations for Various Files

In addition to the API examples and header files, a number of additional files referred to in this guide have different default directory locations in the Solaris 2.4 version than in the Solaris 1.1.1 version. Table 1-3 lists the default location for these files for both the Solaris 1.1.1 and Solaris 2.4 versions of Site/SunNet/Domain Manager 2.3.

Table 1-3

Files	Default Location for Solaris 1.1.1 version	Default Location for Solaris 2.4 version	Description
inetd.conf	/etc	/etc	Internet servers database
libnetmgt library files	/usr/snm/lib	/opt/SUNWconn/snm/lib	Manager Services libraries
na.logger	/usr/snm/agents	/opt/SUNWconn/snm/agents	Agent logs data reports launched by snm_cmd
Sample agent	/usr/snm/src/sample	/opt/SUNWconn/snm/src/sample	Source code files
rpc file	/etc	/etc	Lists RPC numbers associated with network applications
snm.conf	/etc	/etc/opt/SUNWconn/snm	Configuration file used by agents and daemons
snm.glue	/usr/snm/struct	/opt/SUNWconn/snm/struct	Starting definitions for Console

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Note - If you install any of the files mentioned in this section into non-default locations, then you will need to make appropriate modifications to the path names used in examples in this guide.

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