The DME has the potential to create a standard mechanism for initial
software installation. This is the case when one has just
purchased a workstation and there is nothing on the disk. Right now,
each vendor has their own installation procedure and
many management tools, such as package, require that the vendor's installation
tools are used until the point that the local
management can take over. Often this transition is not very smooth
and requires modification to the vendor's installation
system. Other times, the management system is restricted by the initial
load system. For instance, while SunOS offers an
initial network installation procedure, it makes it difficult to do
more than one installation at a time.
Some architectural problems of the DME deserve some attention. First,
there is the sheer bulk of the system. It is quite
possible that in order to use the DME, it is necessary for one to have
all the supporting infrastructure, such as the DCE. This
may significantly limit the number of machines that can use it, as
well as greatly increase the time and resources required to
install and use the DME. Secondly, the OSF process makes the DME more
vulnerable to the problems that occur when
anything is designed by committee: a product that can do everything,
but can do nothing well.
Two aspects of the DME apply to this document: the "object-oriented"
management environment and the software
distribution and installation component. The only references that are
currently available are more marketing than technical. As
a result, the two following sections are mostly summaries of the two
references listed above.
The Object Oriented Management Scheme
The management model for tracking and maintaining the workstations in
the management environment takes an object
oriented approach. The OSF defines an object in this context as "the
consolidation of data and operations into one entity - a
managed object - which represents the resource or service to be managed."
Thus, all management operations are done
through communications with the management objects.
The implementation of this system involves creating a three-tiered approach.
At the bottom of the tier, is the individual node
or workstation. This level allows for any individual customization
and configurations that may occur. This is also to designed
to make the DME useful for smaller sites. The second tier is the "cell"
level. As with DFS [OSF92], this is a management
abstraction to allow different organizations to have independent management
domains for their group of workstations. This
will allow management operations to be made available to entire groups
of machines. The final tier is the "enterprise" level.
This tier does not access the individual workstations but rather sends
management operations to the cell.
Software Distribution and Installation
The information included below is an excerpt of the selection rationale
for the software distribution and installation
component: