Configuration Manager Operating Model

4/8/2010

The following components show how configuration requests are managed using OMA Client Provisioning.

Server
A provisioning server sends XML configuration requests over the air to the device over a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) Short Message Service (SMS) wireless network that uses the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) push gateway.

For information about how the SMS router, push router, and Configuration Manager work together, see Managing Windows Mobile Devices.

For more information about the methods available for OTA delivery, see General Provisioning Architecture.

Security Note:

Configuration data is not encrypted when sent over the air (OTA). Be aware of this potential security risk when sending sensitive configuration data, such as passwords.

Security Note:
Configuration data is not encrypted when sent over the air (OTA). Be aware of this potential security risk when sending sensitive configuration data, such as passwords.

Push Router
The central location for receiving, authenticating, and forwarding all of the incoming push provisioning messages. The Push Router is responsible for determining the type of incoming push message and for passing the message to the matching client application to run the provisioning file. For more information, see Push Router.

Configuration Manager
The Configuration Manager component accepts a configuration request from the Push Router and the Settings control panels. All requests to Configuration Manager are made in XML documents. Windows Mobile devices use, as a guideline, the document type definition (DTD) described in the OMA specification: Provisioning Content (OMA-WAP-ProvCont-v1_1-20050428-C) available from this OMA Web site. For the extended provisioning DTD, see Provisioning Concepts.

Configuration Manager parses and splits a request into different sections depending on the top-level characteristic elements defined in it. The characteristic elements specify which Configuration Service Providers will handle particular sections. The relevant sections are then passed to the appropriate Configuration Service Providers in the form of queries or configuration sets in XML documents. The Configuration Service Providers implement the queries and configuration sets on the device. The XML documents include language that provides metadata to assist in building the Settings control panels on the user interface (UI).

Configuration Service Provider
Configuration Service Providers execute configuration requests by changing or querying the values of settings. For more information, see Configuration Service Providers.

Control Panel Engine
Control Panel Engine is used to generate and manage the Settings control panel application. It sends an XML document to Configuration Manager that queries the settings, uses the response to generate the UI. After changes, it sends back an XML document that details the new values that need to be set, which Configuration Manager then executes. For more information, see Control Panel Engine for Windows Mobile Standard.

See Also