Abstract: The present invention is an extensible framework for monitoring the operation of a computing system and, in some implementations, to manage the computer system. The invention includes a method for use in monitoring the operation of a computing system. A monitoring module definition in a predefined syntax is inserted into a configuration file, a monitoring module in accordance with the definition is encoded, and a script directing a read of the configuration file is encoded. The monitoring module definition specifies a module name identifying the location for the monitoring module, a monitoring function to be executed at a period, an event triggering the monitoring function, and an action to be taken depending on the outcome of the event. The monitoring module includes a validation function in the location and the specified monitoring function in the location.