JBoss.org Community Documentation
The JMX specification notes that a complete definition of the distributed services level is beyond the scope of the initial version of the JMX specification. This was indicated by the component boxes with the horizontal lines in Figure 3.2, “The Relationship between the components of the JMX architecture”. The general purpose of this level is to define the interfaces required for implementing JMX management applications or managers. The following points highlight the intended functionality of the distributed services level as discussed in the current JMX specification.
Provide an interface for management applications to interact transparently with an agent and its JMX manageable resources through a connector
Exposes a management view of a JMX agent and its MBeans by mapping their semantic meaning into the constructs of a data-rich protocol (for example HTML or SNMP)
Distributes management information from high-level management platforms to numerous JMX agents
Consolidates management information coming from numerous JMX agents into logical views that are relevant to the end user's business operations
Provides security
It is intended that the distributed services level components will allow for cooperative management of networks of agents and their resources. These components can be expanded to provide a complete management application.