The OSI communication software management function is one of a set of systems management function standards, and may be used by an application process to support the various requirements for the management of OSI communication software within OSI environment.
The software management function supports user's requirements for distribution, installation, reversion, enquiry, removal, replication and validation of the OSI communication software. Different versions of a communication software may exist in an OSI system to provide better communication services. The relationship between different versions of a software can not be represented as a fallback relationship or backup relationship as currently defined in the Relationship Management Function. This thesis proposes a version relationship between OSI communication softwere in order to manage the software in a consistent manner as configuration management. The version relationship meets the requirement for providing the ability to replace from one OSI software version to certified alternate OSI software version by the execution of a minimum management operations.
