An interface for providing monitoring information from any monitored component to a central monitoring system in which an XML document is created according to a DTD conforming to a tree-structured monitoring architecture and then is made available to the central monitoring system either by posting it as an HTTP message or filing it in a designated directory, where it can be periodically polled by the central monitoring system. An initial long-form XML document can be used to completely specify the monitoring tree for the monitored component, and then subsequent short-form XML documents can be posted with current data corresponding to the monitoring tree elements themselves. An XML processor at the central monitoring system converts the XML document contents and applies them to a standard interface which has previously been available directly to fully conforming components.