Patent ID: 7676475

Claim:
A method for gathering management information about an asset comprising: receiving a first request for the management information about the asset, wherein the first request complies with an information model format; translating the first request from the information model format to a data acquisition (DAQ) format to create a translated request; identifying a DAQ definition based on the translated request, wherein the DAQ definition is in the DAQ format, wherein the DAQ definition is particular to a type of asset, wherein the DAQ definition comprises a DAQ method and a cache hint, wherein the DAQ definition is a runtime binding of a native asset interface (NAI) definition, wherein the NAI definition is defined for the type of asset, wherein the cache hint is a runtime image of a cache definition in the NAI definition, and wherein the cache definition defines how to cache management information for the type of asset; triggering a protocol handler according to the DAQ method to obtain the management information about the asset; receiving a result comprising the management information from the protocol handler based on triggering the protocol handler; and updating, using a processor, a cache entry with the result based on the cache hint, wherein the asset is at least one selected from a group consisting of a hardware component and software executing on a computer.