To enable concurrent access by multiple management applications, the DMI allows more than one pass through a list of Set commands. The first pass is a call to reserve the attributes. This reserve command tests a component to verify that a set operation on a given attribute can occur and asks the component instrumentation to validate a set operation without performing the set operation. The component instrumentation must validate the parameters of the call and reserve any resources that would be required if the set command were issued.

A positive response from the reserve command indicates that the component instrumentation has validated the parameters and reserved any resources that might be required to perform the set operation. A negative response from the command indicates that the component instrumentation is unable to perform the set operation.

If all the attributes in the list returned successfully from the reserve operation, the management application typically issues a Set command for each attribute.

If a reserve fails, the management application might want to release each of the attributes it previously reserved. Releasing attributes allows the component instrumentation to deallocate any resources it had acquired. The task of setting attributes back to their previous values is the responsibility of the management application.

There are three Set commands: