Instruction Manual

OEM External Specification
OEM User’s Guide—520330-001
A-36
Framework Adapter
Framework Adapter
This section describes:
•
Architecture and Design Considerations for Framework Adapters (next)
•
Adapter Request API (OEM to Adapter) on page A-36
•
OEM Callback API (Adapter to OEM) on page A-53
•
Adapter Callback API (Framework to Adapter) on page A-68
Architecture and Design Considerations for Framework Adapters
The Enterprise Management framework adapter (EM Adapter) is responsible for
interfacing with a specific enterprise management framework. Requests received from
the OEM Server are translated to framework-specific operations and passed to the
framework. Subsequent commands received from the framework are translated to
standard OEM Server operations and passed back to the server (and eventually the client
application).
The OEM Server communicates with the adapter using OLE Automation. Therefore, the
adapter must be an OLE ActiveX server, either in-process (DLL) or out-of-process
(EXE).
For an adapter to function properly within the OEM environment, it must:
•
Fully implement the Adapter Request API. For more information, see Adapter
Request API (OEM to Adapter) on page A-36.
•
Use the OEM Callback API to communicate with the OEM Server. For more
information, see OEM Callback API (Adapter to OEM) on page A-53.
In some instances, the framework might not support the full set of features available in
the OEM environment. In this case, the adapter still must implement the complete
Adapter Request API, even if a particular request has no meaning for the framework.
The adapter design should also take into account that some frameworks might take a
significant amount of time to process a request, which blocks the requester as a result. If
this is the case for a particular framework, develop the adapter as an ActiveX EXE so
that it has its own thread of execution. In addition, it should queue requests from the
OEM Server and immediately reply back to it to avoid blocking it while the framework
services the request.
Adapter Request API (OEM to Adapter)
The Adapter Request API defines the interface that the OEM Server uses to
communicate with the EM Adapter.
The examples included in the following descriptions are given using pseudo code
similar to Visual BASIC; they might not be syntactically correct for Visual BASIC or
any other environment.