Comparison criteria for management information models (MIMs): a way of analyzing MIMs

The paper presents a set of criteria which can be used for comparing, and in general analyzing, GDMO-based management information models (MIMs) designed for network configuration modeling. The criteria have been obtained by applying three selected MIMs, namely the NMF network model, the ITU-T M.3100 model and the ETSI GOM model, to a simple example SDH network. This process has highlighted similarities and differences between those MIMs which have been then summarized as comparison criteria. Those criteria can be used for assessing the difficulty of integrating management systems implementing different MIMs and hence having MIBs of different structure, for designing new MIMs and upgrading existing ones, and for choosing the most appropriate MIM for a given network and a given modeling case