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RAN1#126-bis · SA2#177

Glossary term · Management

MOC

Managed Object Class

Management →

MOC is a Managed Object Class that defines the schema for a Managed Object by specifying its attributes, relationships, actions, notifications, and constraints within the 3GPP management information model.

Introduced
Rel-8
Where
Management
Specifications
92 specs
MOC Description Purpose What changed Neighbours Specifications

Description

A Managed Object Class (MOC) is the schema definition for a Managed Object (MO). It describes what kind of network resource or management entity can be instantiated, which attributes it must or may contain, how it relates to other MOCs, what actions it supports, and what notifications it can emit. In 3GPP management, MOCs are the building blocks of the Management Information Model (MIM). They allow standards to define reusable, consistent object templates without specifying every individual instance in the network. Architecturally, MOCs are defined in specifications and used by management systems to create MOs. A MOC may inherit from a more general MOC, adding or refining attributes and relationships. This inheritance supports common management patterns: a generic network element MOC can define basic identity and state attributes, while a specific radio node or core network function MOC can add domain-specific parameters. The MOC also defines naming rules, often through Relative Distinguished Name (RDN) attributes, so that instantiated MOs can be uniquely addressed. Relationships in the MOC specify allowed containment and association links, producing a navigable management tree or graph. How it works: When a network function is deployed, an element manager or OSS creates an MO instance from a MOC. The MOC provides the allowed attribute names and data types, while the MO stores actual values. Management operations are validated against the MOC: a set operation may be rejected if an attribute is read-only, if a value is outside an allowed range, or if a required relationship is missing. Notifications defined in the MOC tell the management system which events can be reported, such as configuration changes, alarms, or state transitions. Actions defined in the MOC represent operations beyond simple attribute modification, such as resetting a component or triggering a diagnostic procedure. The role of MOCs is to standardize the contract between managed resources and management clients. By defining classes separately from instances, 3GPP enables multi-vendor interoperability, schema evolution, and automation. A management system can discover supported MOCs, understand their attributes, and operate on MOs without vendor-specific assumptions. This is essential for configuration management, performance management, fault management, and network slicing, where many related resources must be modeled consistently. MOCs also support validation, because constraints can be attached to classes and inherited by instances. In practice, MOCs appear in management information models for radio access, core network, services, and security functions. They may define attributes such as identifier, administrative state, operational state, configuration parameters, performance counters, alarm thresholds, and capability flags. They may also define relationships to neighboring cells, sessions, subscribers, policies, or network slices. As networks become service-based and cloud-native, MOCs help represent logical functions and services as manageable objects, preserving the same management abstraction across physical, virtual, and containerized deployments. MOCs also provide a basis for versioning and extensibility. When new capabilities are introduced, specifications can add new MOCs or refine existing ones while preserving the relationship between class and instance. This allows management systems to support backward compatibility where possible and to discover new attributes or actions when they are available. The class-instance separation therefore makes the management model scalable, testable, and suitable for long-lived network deployments.

Purpose & Motivation

MOCs exist to separate the definition of manageable resources from their concrete instances. In early management systems, data models were often tightly coupled to specific equipment or protocols, making integration and evolution difficult. 3GPP introduced standardized MOCs to provide reusable class definitions that can be instantiated as MOs across many network elements. This class-based approach allows the same management framework to describe diverse resources, from physical nodes to logical services, without changing the underlying management operations. The main problem solved is schema ambiguity. Without MOCs, each vendor might expose different parameter names, types, and relationships, preventing automated configuration and cross-domain correlation. MOCs define a common vocabulary and constraints, enabling OSS and EM systems to validate operations, navigate relationships, and interpret notifications consistently. They also support extensibility: new releases can add MOCs or refine existing ones while preserving the object model. This makes MOCs foundational for scalable network management, automation, and service assurance in complex 3GPP networks. MOCs also improve testability. Because a class defines expected attributes, actions, and notifications, conformance testing can verify that an implementation supports the required management behavior. This reduces integration risk and helps operators compare multi-vendor solutions against a common baseline. In large deployments, MOCs make it possible to manage many instances with consistent rules, reducing operational error and enabling automated lifecycle processes.

What changed in its specifications

The latest release-to-release comparison of specifications that define MOC. Each summary describes the whole specification, not only this term.

TS 28.622Rel-18 → Rel-19

Rel-19 added external management data IOCs, discovery, notification retrieval, and single notifications. It added network slice lists in Area Scope, measurement conditions, and new data types for selecting instances via DNs, GeoAreas, or TAIs.

Full comparison in TS 28.622 →

Release Timeline

Evolution Across Releases

An overview written from the defining specifications, not a verified change history. For the exact text, open the specifications listed below.

Defining Specifications

3GPP specifications that define or reference MOC, with the latest known release. Sourced from the 3GPP document catalog — see methodology.

SpecificationTitleRelease
TS 28.606 vc10 CN and non-3GPP interworking NRM IRP Solution Sets Rel-12 read
TS 28.616 vj00 EPC and non-3GPP access NRM IRP SS definitions Rel-19 read
TS 28.622 vk40 Generic Network Resource Information Service Rel-20 read
TS 28.629 vj00 SON Policy NRM IRP Solution Set Definitions Rel-19 read
TS 28.632 vj00 Inventory Management NRM Integration Reference Point Rel-19 read
TS 28.653 vj00 UTRAN NRM IRP Solution Set Definition Rel-19 read
TS 28.656 vj00 GERAN NRM IRP Solution Set Definitions Rel-19 read
TS 28.659 vk00 E-UTRAN NRM Solution Set Definitions Rel-20 read
TS 28.663 vj10 Generic RAN NRM IRP Solution Set definitions Rel-19 read
TS 28.673 vj00 HNS NRM IRP Solution Set Definitions Rel-19 read
TS 28.676 vj00 HeNS NRM IRP Solution Set Definitions Rel-19 read
TS 28.701 vj00 Core Network NRM IRP Requirements Rel-19 read
TS 28.703 vj00 Core Network NRM IRP Solution Set Definitions Rel-19 read
TS 28.706 vj00 IMS NRM IRP Solution Set definitions Rel-19 read
TS 28.707 vj00 EPC NRM IRP Requirements Rel-19 read
TS 28.709 vj00 EPC NRM IRP Solution Set Definitions Rel-19 read
TS 28.733 vj00 TN NRM IRP Solution Set Definitions Rel-19 read
TS 28.736 vj00 STN Interface NRM IRP Solution Set Definitions Rel-19 read
TS 28.752 vj00 SuM NRM IRP Information Service Rel-19 read
TR 29.949 vj00 VoLTE IMS Roaming Architecture & Procedures Rel-19 read
TS 32.111 vj00 Fault Management Alarm IRP Solution Sets Rel-19 read
TS 32.150 vj00 IRP Concept and Definitions Rel-19 read
TS 32.153 vj00 IRP Technology-Specific Templates Specification Rel-19 read
TS 32.172 vb00 SuM NRM IRP: Information Service Rel-11 read
TS 32.240 vk10 3GPP Charging Architecture and Principles Rel-20 read
TS 32.250 vj00 Circuit Switched Offline Charging Rel-19 read
TS 32.272 vj00 Charging for Push-to-Talk over Cellular (PoC) Rel-19 read
TS 32.293 vj00 Proxy Function in Domestic Service Provider Rel-19 read
TS 32.300 vj00 3GPP Network Resource Naming Convention Rel-19 read
TS 32.306 vj00 Configuration Management Notification IRP Solution Set Rel-19 read
TS 32.333 v900 Notification Log IRP CORBA Solution Set Rel-9 read
TS 32.336 vj00 Notification Log IRP Solution Set Definitions Rel-19 read
TS 32.413 v900 PM IRP: CORBA Solution Set (SS) Rel-9 read
TS 32.416 vj00 PM IRP Solution Set Definitions Rel-19 read
TS 32.443 v910 Trace Management IRP CORBA Solution Set Rel-9 read
TS 32.446 vj00 Trace Management IRP Solution Set Definitions Rel-19 read
TS 32.523 v930 SON Policy NRM IRP CORBA Solution Set Rel-9 read
TS 32.526 vb70 SON Policy NRM IRP Solution Set definitions Rel-11 read
TS 32.600 vj00 3GPP Configuration Management Specification Rel-19 read
TS 32.601 vj00 Basic Configuration Management IRP Requirements Rel-19 read
TS 32.602 vj00 Basic Configuration Management IRP Information Service Rel-19 read
TS 32.603 v910 Basic CM IRP CORBA Solution Set Rel-9 read
TS 32.606 vj00 Basic CM IRP Solution Set for CORBA/SOAP Rel-19 read
TS 32.607 v910 Basic CM IRP SOAP Solution Set Rel-9 read
TS 32.611 vj00 Bulk CM IRP Requirements Rel-19 read
TS 32.612 vj00 Bulk Configuration Management IRP: Information Service Rel-19 read
TS 32.613 v910 Bulk CM IRP CORBA Solution Set Rel-9 read
TS 32.616 vj00 Bulk CM IRP Solution Set Definitions Rel-19 read
TS 32.621 vb00 Generic Network Resources IRP Requirements Rel-11 read
TS 32.622 vb10 Generic Network Resources IRP NRM Rel-11 read
TS 32.623 v900 Generic NRM CORBA Solution Set Rel-9 read
TS 32.626 vb20 Generic Network Resources IRP Solution Set Definitions Rel-11 read
TS 32.631 vb00 Core Network Resources IRP Requirements Rel-11 read
TS 32.633 v920 Core Network Resources IRP CORBA Solution Set Rel-9 read
TS 32.636 vb00 CM Core Network Resources IRP Solution Set Rel-11 read
TS 32.641 vb00 UTRAN Network Resources IRP Requirements Rel-11 read
TS 32.643 v930 UTRAN Network Resources IRP: CORBA Solution Set Rel-9 read
TS 32.646 vc00 UTRAN NRM IRP Solution Set Definitions Rel-12 read
TS 32.651 vb00 GERAN Network Resources CM IRP Requirements Rel-11 read
TS 32.653 v920 GERAN Network Resources IRP CORBA Solution Set Rel-9 read
TS 32.656 vc00 GERAN NRM IRP Solution Set Definitions Rel-12 read
TS 32.661 vj00 Kernel Configuration Management IRP Requirements Rel-19 read
TS 32.662 vj00 Configuration Management (CM); Kernel CM IRP Rel-19 read
TS 32.663 v900 Kernel CM IRP CORBA SS Rel-9 read
TS 32.666 vj00 Kernel CM IRP Solution Set Definitions Rel-19 read
TS 32.667 v900 Kernel CM IRP SOAP Solution Set Rel-9 read
TS 32.690 vj00 Inventory Management IRP Requirements Rel-19 read
TS 32.691 vb00 Inventory Management IRP Requirements Rel-11 read
TS 32.692 vb00 Inventory Management NRM IRP Specification Rel-11 read
TS 32.711 vb00 TN Interface NRM IRP Requirements Rel-11 read
TS 32.713 v900 TN Interface NRM IRP: CORBA Solution Set Rel-9 read
TS 32.716 vb00 TN NRM IRP Solution Set Definitions Rel-11 read
TS 32.721 vb00 Repeater Network Resources IRP Requirements Rel-11 read
TS 32.723 v900 Repeater NRM CORBA Solution Set Rel-9 read
TS 32.726 vb00 Repeater NRM IRP Solution Set Definitions Rel-11 read
TS 32.733 v910 IMS NRM IRP CORBA Solution Set Rel-9 read
TS 32.736 vb00 IMS NRM IRP Solution Set Definitions Rel-11 read
TS 32.741 vb00 STN Interface NRM IRP Requirements Rel-11 read
TS 32.743 v900 STN NRM IRP CORBA Solution Set Rel-9 read
TS 32.746 vb00 STN NRM IRP Solution Set Definitions Rel-11 read
TS 32.751 vb00 EPC NRM IRP Requirements Rel-11 read
TS 32.753 v920 EPC NRM IRP CORBA Solution Set Rel-9 read
TS 32.756 vb00 EPC NRM IRP Solution Set Definitions Rel-11 read
TS 32.763 v950 E-UTRAN NRM IRP CORBA Solution Set Rel-9 read
TS 32.766 vb90 E-UTRAN NRM IRP Solution Set Definitions Rel-11 read
TS 32.773 v900 HNS NRM IRP CORBA Solution Set Rel-9 read
TS 32.776 vb00 HNS NRM IRP Solution Set Definitions Rel-11 read
TS 32.783 v900 HeNS NRM IRP CORBA Solution Set Rel-9 read
TS 32.786 vb00 3GPP TS 32.786: HeNS NRM IRP Solution Set Rel-11 read
TS 32.796 vc00 Generic RAN NRM IRP Solution Set Definitions Rel-12 read
TS 32.849 vd00 IMS Roaming Charging Study Rel-13 read
TS 52.402 vj00 GSM Performance Management Measurements Rel-19 read