The Cisco Open NX-OS Model-Driven Programmability (MDP) architecture is an object-oriented software framework aimed at development of management systems. The MDP object model is an abstract representation of the capabilities, configuration and operational state of elements and features on a Cisco Nexus switch. The object model consists of various classes that represent different functions and their attributes on the switch.

As an example, a switch has physical network interfaces, and those interfaces have characteristics. These characteristics include the mode of operation (Layer 2 or Layer 3), speed, and connector type(s). Some of these characteristics are configurable while others are read-only. The object model is responsible for representing each element's state and hierarchy.

The Cisco Open NX-OS MDP framework provides users with many advantages:

• Ability to automate network configuration using a programmatic method
• Backed by a data model with abstraction suitable for network programmability
• Support for a variety of management agents
• Ability to extract configuration and operational data from devices
• Security through Role-Based Access Control (RBAC)

This section will provide an overview of the data management engine, managed objects, and object relationships and dependencies.