Distributed systems are now used in a variety of environments and at different levels within business organizations, both in offices and factories. As the number of devices attached to these systems grows, and as the systems become internetworked together, management tools become increasingly essential to retain control of the complete distributed system. A distributed systems management model is presented which is suitable for implementation in the real world. A key feature of this model is its construction from independently managed domains. The DSM functionality is distributed in operation, and overall control is achieved through the cooperation of individual domain management systems, in which human managers make use of management tools provided to control their own domain of responsibility. Another feature of the design is the use of management databases, one per domain. A commercially available database has been used to demonstrate the feasibility of the design. DSM processes are used to query and update the MDBs, and human managers having the appropriate authority may also directly access the MDBs. Monitored management information on all managed objects within a domain is processed and stored in that domain's MDB. The idea for the MDB is derived from the concept of a management information base described in the International Organization for Standardization Open Systems Interconnection management standards. However, whereas the OSI MIB is a virtual concept, the MDB is a physical realization, and it is not intended to be a direct implementation of the MIB as such.