Patent ID: 6947547

Claim:
A management system configured to perform operation, administration, and maintenance (OAM) functions for a telecommunications switch, said telecommunications switch having a first network interface card, a first processor card, and a second processor card, the management system comprising: a protocol unit residing on the first processor card for receiving a management request relating to at least one of the OAM functions; a first request unit residing on the first processor card for creating a first request object in response to the received management request; a second request unit residing on the second processor card for creating a second request object in response to the received management request, and a first action unit residing on the first network interface card for executing the received management request in response to an instruction from the first request object; and wherein, the protocol unit includes a first resource broker for receiving utilization information on the first and second processor cards from the first and second request units and is operable to select, in dependence upon the utilization information, one of the request units to which to send the received management request.