Object Data Manager (ODM) is a database management system and device configuration integrated into IBM's AIX operating system. The ODM is unique to AIX compared to other UNIX operating systems. Data being managed by ODM is stored and maintained as objects with associated attributes. Interaction of C programming language applications with ODM is performed via application programming interface (API) library; shell scripts and users are provided with command-line utilities such us odmshow, odmadd, odmchange and odmdelete to deal with it.

Example of information stored in the ODM database are:

  • Network configuration
  • Logical volume management configuration
  • Installed software information
  • Devices that AIX has drivers for
  • Logical devices or software drivers 
  • Physical hardware device installed
  • Menus, screens and commands that SMIT uses