The key to understanding SIMS administration is to understand the Java Management Application Programming Interface (JMAPI) concept of managed objects. Managed objects are an abstraction of the actual SIMS component or service they represent. As such, managed objects act as a collection of configurable attributes, for example, a collection of attributes for the directory service component. SIMS managed objects reside on the Administration Server. The configurable attributes that reside on the Administration Server are manipulated by the managed object interfaces on the Administration Console.
For example, imagine that you want to modify the configuration of some aspect of the directory service component. You perform this modification using the Administration Console's graphical user interface. The managed object interface that resides in the Admin Console invokes the specified operation on the managed object that resides in the Administration Server. The managed object in turn calls LDAP to implement the specified operation on the directory component itself.