The definition is a description of
the managed object.
Usually this is a broad description of the scope and purpose of the
managed object and perhaps some indication of the resource that the
managed object represents.
The behaviour definition describes
the semantics of the managed object. It describes how the attributes of
the managed objects may change and how and when the notifications are
emitted as a result of changes to the managed object. This can include
relationships, state change behaviour, and other interactions with the
resources.
The Network
Management Forum and ISO/ITU-T
recommend that the behaviour definition is represented in terms of pre-conditions,
post-conditions and invariants which are employed in several
object oriented programming systems. However, very few specifications
contain explicit behaviour statements in these terms. In more recent
specifications these principles have become more widely accepted.
There are proposals that have been widely
accepted by the standards bodies to represent behaviour in terms of more
formal specification techniques such as Z or LOTOS, but these techniques
are not yet widely applied, probably because of they are not generally
well understood.
The example above shows a typical Network
Management Forum defined managed object
