Object-based computer system management

An object-based management system server comprising:

• a user interface component that allows a user to author a MO definition for a managed element, assign the MO definition to at least one machine, and specify an action for the MO definition, the MO definition comprises a unique identifier and a detection logic;
• a data store storing the MO definition, the assignment information, and the specified action;
• and
• a server MO manager component that deploys the MO definition to the at least one machine.

An object-based management system client comprising:

• an MO policy/definition system component that downloads MO definitions from a server, and stores the downloaded MO definitions in a data store, each MO definition corresponding to a managed element;
• a client MO manager component that retrieves from the data store a first MO definition, determines a desired action for the first MO definition, determines whether valid results of performing the desired action are in a cache;
• and upon determining that valid results of performing the action are not in the cache, invoking an appropriate MO handler to perform the action, and storing the results of performing the action in the cache, wherein the client MO manager component is invoked by the MO policy/definition system component subsequent to storing the downloaded MO definitions in the data store;
• and
• a plurality of MO handlers, each MO handler configured to execute one or more actions for one or more MO definitions.