Method and system for extending functionality of a management console

This invention relates generally to operating systems, and more particularly to a management console that uses snap-ins to provide management functionality. A method and system for extending the functionality of a management console uses a data object as a carrier to pass context information of an extended snap-in of the management console to an extension snap-in to enable the extension snap-in to provide extension functionality. The extension snap-in is registered with an information store as an extension of the extended snap-in. When the extended snap-in is invoked to provide management behavior, it creates a data object that exposes the context information using pre-selected clipboard formats. The extension snap-in is identified by referring to the information store, and the data object is passed to the extension snap-in. The extension snap-in obtains the context information from the data object using the pre-selected clipboard formats and performs its management behavior according to the received context information.