The InfiniBand Architecture is a high-performance network technology for the interconnection of processor nodes and I/O devices using a point-to-point switch-based fabric. The InfiniBand specification defines a basic management infrastructure that is responsible for subnet configuration, activation, and fault tolerance. Subnet management entities and functions are described, but the specifications do not impose any particular implementation. This paper presents and analyzes a complete subnet management mechanism for this architecture. This work allows us to anticipate future directions to obtain efficient management protocols.