Management of data services in a distributed computer system is provided by a three-tiered system. The lowest, or agent, tier comprises Common Information Model (CIM) provider objects that can make method calls on the low-level kernel routines in the host providing the data service. The middle, or logic, tier is a set of management facades and federated Java beans. The federated Java beans include a general configuration bean for data services and configuration and health monitor service beans for each individual data service. The upper, or presentation, tier of the inventive system comprises web-based presentation programs that provide a first view go of the services provided by the federated beans for policy-based management and a second view of the data management facades for element-based management.