The example management agent interface 510 of the illustrated example of FIG. 5 implements a REST (Representational State Transfer) API (Application Programming Interface) that is responsive to requests from the management agent 350 for indications of instructions in the instruction queue 530. In some examples, the example management agent interface 510 handles incoming requests from management agent(s), and identifies an instruction stored in the instruction queue 530 to be executed by the management agent from which the request was received. The example management agent interface 510 responds to the request with an indication of the instruction to be executed. In some examples, the indication of the instruction to be executed is formatted as an extensible markup language (XML) document that identifies, for example, a name of the instruction to be executed (e.g., “perform_upgrade.ps1”), a location from which the instruction is to be retrieved, one or more parameter (e.g., command line parameters) that are to be used and/or specified when executing the instruction, an expected result of the instruction, and/or any other information to facilitate execution of the instruction at the component server 330. Of course, any other type and/or format for the indication of the instruction to be executed may additionally or alternatively be used.
