Each element in a management pack requires an ID that can only include letters and numbers and also period (.) and underscore (_) characters. The ID cannot contain spaces. The ID for an element must be unique for the whole management group that the management pack is installed in. If two elements in different management packs have the same ID, the management packs cannot be installed in the same management group.

The most common strategy to ensure that all management pack elements have a unique name is to use the name of the product or the management pack as a prefix for the name of all elements. This is often referred to as the namespace. Because two management packs with the same name cannot be installed in the same management group, elements in different management pack cannot have the same name. The Authoring console supports this strategy by providing a default name with the management pack name as the prefix for all new elements.

The following table shows examples of element IDs from the Windows Server 2008 Operating System (Discovery) and Windows Server 2008 Operating System (Monitoring) management packs. All these use the prefix Microsoft.Windows.Server.2008 which is the product name that these management packs monitor.

Monitoring elements created by the Operations console are automatically assigned an ID. This ID includes a GUID to ensure that it is unique. This can make management packs opened in the Authoring console difficult to read. Because the Authoring console does not let you rename elements, the only way to modify these names and to make the management pack more readable is to open the .xml file in a text editor.

ID created by Operations console

The Operations console uses the display name for all management pack elements whenever one is available. The only time the ID is displayed to the user is if a display name is not available. The Authoring console enforces the requirement for a display name when a management pack element is created or modified, but the display name is not required if the management pack is modified with an XML editor.

The following diagram shows the ID and display name in the Authoring console and the Operations console for the Active Directory Domain Controller Server 2008 Computer Role class. In the Authoring console, you can define both, whereas the Operations console displays only the display name.

ID and Display Name in Authoring console and Operations console

Displayed text in the Operations console is stored in a language pack in the management pack. A language pack includes the following:

• Display names for each management pack element
• String resources such as alert descriptions
• Product knowledge for each management pack element

A single management pack has one or more language packs with one specified as the default. When a display string is displayed in the Operations console, the language pack uses the language that corresponds to the language of the user’s operating system. If a language pack for this language is not available, the display string from the default language pack is displayed. If no diff381318.fb5b0de8-f168-4c39-93a4-9e2493a31fcf(en-us,TechNet.10).gif" alt="ID and Display Name" />

Displayed text in the Operations console is stored in a language pack in the management pack. A language pack includes the following:

• Display names for each management pack element
• String resources such as alert descriptions
• Product knowledge for each management pack element

A single management pack has one or more language packs with one specified as the default. When a display string is displayed in the Operations console, the language pack uses the language that corresponds to the language of the user’s operating system. If a language pack for this language is not available, the displsplay string is specified in the default management pack, the ID of the management pack element is displayed.

The Authoring console includes a text box for the display name and a tab for the product knowledge for each management pack element. These display and let you edit the display names in the default language pack for the management pack. You can edit other language packs from the Language Packs pane where each element in the management pack is listed.