The trend towards distributed applications and heterogeneous networks increases the complexity of systems and network management. The standardization bodies have defined a framework for the specification and open exchange of management information. Conformance, one of the key requirements for the interworking of open management systems, was hardly discussed. Few groups have realized the importance of defining conformance not only for management protocols but also for management information. This paper presents a methodology for management information testing and explains differences with respect to communication protocol testing. It is shown how conformance requirements can be derived and how tests can be performed. An outlook points out the adaptation of an existing TTCN based test tool for the definition and execution of test cases for management information.

In open distributed environments such as in OSI network management, a procedure of conformance testing is essential for increasing the level of confidence that component implementations from different sources actually meet their specifications as a prerequisite for their ability to interact as intended. This applies not only to OSI communication protocols but also to open management information. In particular, this includes relationships between managed objects, an aspect which has been largely ignored so far but which deserves particular attention and which we therefore focus on in this paper. Using the OSI General Relationship Model as a basis, we discuss how respective conformance requirements can be identified which serve as a starting point for the development of test cases.