Device Method Level

Beneath the high-level commands (including the cfgmgr Configuration Manager program) is a set of functions called device methods. These methods perform well-defined configuration steps, including these five functions:

• Defining a device in the configuration database
• Configuring a device to make it available
• Changing a device to make a change in its characteristics
• Unconfiguring a device to make it unavailable
• Undefining a device from the configuration database

Understanding Device States discusses possible device states and how the various methods affect device state changes.

The high-level device commands (including cfgmgr) can use the device methods. These methods insulate high-level configuration programs from kernel-specific, hardware-specific, and device-specific configuration steps. Device methods can invoke low-level commands.