Systems Management Protocols

CIM

In response to the lack of a single management model, the Web-based Enterprise Management (WBEM) initiative was formed. It began as a plan to apply the standards-based interoperability and security of Web technology to systems and network management.

As WBEM matured within the DMTF, three key components have emerged:

The Common Information Model (CIM), a collection of object-oriented schemas for management information

HTTP, the universal transport protocol for Web-based information

Extensible Markup Language (XML), a simple yet powerful method for creating information payloads for HTTP to carry from one application to another, from a browser to an application, or from a browser to a managed object

Just as the data structure associated with SNMP is the MIB and the data structure for DMI is the MIF, CIM uses a data structure known as a MOF (Management Object File). The MOF is an ASCII file that contains the formal definition of a CIM schema.

The purpose of CIM is to standardize the format used to describe management data. It enables other management schemas - including SNMP's MIBs, and the DMI's MIFs - to be mapped to its data structures. CIM can be thought of as a data dictionary for systems and network management, providing labels for entities, attributes, relationships, and actions, and documenting how these properties are interconnected.

CIM is a data model. It isn't tied to any particular programming language or protocol, or to any particular vendor. In fact, one of its principal strengths is the fact that practically every vendor of network devices, servers, business desktops, operating systems, peripherals, and management applications has committed to the CIM standard via the DMTF.

CIM provides models for both systems management and instrumentation. CIM facilitates the common understanding and integration of management information from other protocols. CIM works with SNMP and DMI, rather than replacing them. CIM does not require any particular instrumentation or repository data format. As a data model, it uses an object-oriented format to unify information from any number of sources.