DTJ Number 3 September 1987 - Digital Technical Journals

New ProductsThe data does not change its organizationwhen passing through the collect, store, and distributefunctions. It may change its form (e.g.,from binary to text) , but that is relatively minor.Within that portion of the monitor, the functions '·can be viewed as simple database actions (i.e.,read a record, wdte a record, etc.). As with adatabase, deciding how to organize the data isthe most important decision in the design of thesystem.We found we could organize the data so thatany record could be identified with three keys:the component, the informatiOti."type, and thetime of collection.ComponentsIn a logical sense, components are the variouspieces of the network that must be representedin NMCC. Fundamentally, a DECnet networkconsists of computer systems and the communicationsfacilities (wires) that join them. Thosesystems and wires are the main components modeledby the monitor, and, since it also has to manageitself, some of the monitor's components areincluded as well. In that way, we unified twoseparate functions within a single concept. Figure3 shows the component hierarchy that isbuilt into the monitor. The hierarchical relationshipshown in this Bachman diagram reflects thenaming relationships between the components.Each component located below other componentsin the hierarchy is considered to be part ofthose components. For example, a circuitlocated below a system is part of that system.Information TypeAll the component attributes collected and displayedby the monitor could be viewed as a singledata record. For practial reasons, however,the attributes are distinguished by a number ofdifferent information types'. The Digital NetworkArchitecture (DNA) structure that underlies allDNANETWORKMANAGEMENT..-· ·.-· ··.... .: ... ..., _:...... .. (. .. · .NICE•PROTOCOL••DNANETWORKMANAGEMENTFigure ,2NMCC DECnet Monitor, Top Level StructureDigital Technicaljournal 131No. 3 September 1986