Domains and entities

The NCIM topology database models network domains and entities within those domains.

Domains
A domain is a scoped set of entities that are discovered and managed by an application, such as Network Manager. NCIM holds entity data related to multiple domains.
Entities
A Network Manager discovery returns many different types of entity. If you understand the entities that you might encounter, you can more easily restrict your queries to return only required information.
entityData table and entity view
Information on entities is held in the entityData table in Network Manager versions 3.9 and later. This table replaces the entity table used in earlier versions. To ensure backward compatibility an entity view has been created to hold the same data as the entity table from earlier versions.
Protocol-specific data
Device entities, usually interfaces, can be associated with protocol-specific data. One example is the association of a device interface with the IP addressing data. Ports and interfaces can also be associated with other data, including ATM, BGP and OSPF protocol endpoints.
Technology-specific data
NCIM models a range of different network technologies, including IP, VLANs, and MPLS VLANs.

Parent topic: Topology data