Patent ID: 6965932

Claim:
A framework for a network management device, comprising: an object repository having a set of at least one object class definition, each object class definition containing information needed to retrieve instances of an object defined by the corresponding object class definition and configured to maintain data regarding at least one managed device on a network; an object manager configured to retrieve at least one object class definition from the object repository and initiate at least one class function of the retrieved objects to retrieve at least one class instance; and an interface configured to retrieve data from the class instances and forward it to a user of the network management device; wherein said object repository is configured to accept provider plug-in modules configured to hold at least one of said object class definitions; the object manager is further configured to scan a provider list and recognize objects needed to fulfill data requests regarding remote network devices from a remote front end device; and the object manager is yet further configured to utilize multiple objects recognized from different provider lists and the interface to retrieve data to fulfill the data requests.