A Novel Approach for Mapping the OSI-SM / TMN Model to ODP / OMG CORBA

Over the last years, OMG CORBA has been emerging as the ubiquitous technology for building distributed systems. Since the TMN is a distributed system, a lot of research has addressed the issue of using CORBA as its base technology. Most solutions have concentrated mainly on interoperability aspects between OSI-SM and CORBA, assuming that OSI-SM will be used at the TMN element and element management level. In this paper we examine the issues behind a native CORBA-based TMN, trying to achieve a solution that maintains the full OSI-SM expressive power while it is at the same time scaleable and performant. While elements of other solutions are used, e.g. the JIDM GDMO to IDL mappings, a number of aspects in this proposal are novel. In particular, CMIS-like access aspects through scoping and filtering are kept separate from managed objects. In addition, managed objects are not required to have distinct IDL interfaces but agents may become computational entities with CMIS-like IDL interfaces. The approach has been partly validated through implementation while relevant CORBA-based applications were used in field trials.