# Managed objects

All components (board plug-ins and EMCs) logically exist as managed objects within NMS OAM. NMS OAM records parameters for each object in a configuration database. A managed object is the logical representation of a managed component to NMS OAM.

Boards are also logically represented as managed objects. A board must exist as a managed object in order for NMS OAM to configure or start it.

NMS OAM can have managed objects that do not correspond to active or present managed components in the system. For example, you can have a managed object for an NMS board that is not in the chassis, although an error results if an attempt is made to start that component. Conversely, not all NMS resources in the system necessarily exist as managed objects within NMS OAM.

The NMS OAM Supervisor has a managed object. You can access the Supervisor managed object to query and configure various system-level parameters. For more information, refer to Supervisor keyword summary.

The following illustration shows the managed objects and components:

## Configuration database

NMS OAM maintains a configuration database to facilitate the management of the components under its control. Each hardware and software managed object has its own record in the database containing configuration parameters and parameter values.

The following illustration shows the OAM configuration database:

In the database, each parameter and value is expressed as a keyword name/value pair (for example, AutoStart = YES). You can use the NMS OAM service to query or modify keyword values for any managed object.