documentation/papers/wbem.txt

WBEM, CIM and the world of defined standards... 
===============================================

ajm4, 29/10/2000

What is all this? 
-----------------

Web-Based Enterprise Management (WBEM) is an initiative 
based on a set of management and Internet standard 
technologies developed to unify the management of enterprise 
computing environments. WBEM provides the ability for the 
industry to deliver a well-integrated set of standard-based 
management tools leveraging the emerging technologies such 
as CIM and XML. 

The Common Information Model is a common data model of an 
implementation-neutral schema for describing overall 
management information in a network/enterprise environment. 
CIM is comprised of a Specification and a Schema. The 
Specification defines the details for integration with other 
management models (i.e. SNMP's MIBs or the DMTF's MIFs) 
while the Schema provides the actual model descriptions. 

The above are quite clearly lifted from the glossary on the 
DMTF website.  Mainly because they give the best definition.

How can we use them? 
--------------------

One of the main topics of conversations that seems to have 
come up time and again is how are the "hosts" going to 
communicate with the main system.  CIM and WBEM provide a 
well defined standard of passing objects of data throughout 
a system.  This means that the data undergoes no translation 
at any stage, the "hosts" sources the data, wraps it in XML 
in the CIM Schema and passes it to the main system.  This 
can then be passed so alter mechanisms, or can even be 
attached a CIM object that has a metaschema that allows 
alerts, though this is very advanced.  The main point is 
that it allows a universal representation of data that can 
be interpreted by all parts of the system as well as 
external systems.

Why should we use them? 
-----------------------

Once of the communications methods frequently suggested by 
the group is the use of SNMP.  SNMP has been around many 
years now and is well established.  However it is a heavy 
and dated protocol, heaving under extensions and 
modifications that have been made to it over the years.  The 
DMTF or Distributed Management Task Force have been trying 
to use SNMP as a basis for dragging systems management into 
the new millenium.  They have gathered together people who 
understand the shortfalls of SNMP and have (and still are) 
developed a system that will in the long term replcae SNMP.

Many companies have already taken and implemented the 
standards such as WBEM that DMTF have produced.  Indeed, few 
motherboards today are not DMI (Distributed Management 
Interface - another DMTF standard) compliant.

As the main part of our backend system is possibly (well, 
probably) going to be predominantly Java based, it is 
perhaps good to mention that Sun have been on the DMTF 
bandwaggon for some time. This has two main advantage, 1) 
There is a Solaris SDK for WBEM - quite what use that will 
be I don't know 2) There are Java API extensions in the form 
of JMX - java mangement extentions, which implement the WBEM 
and CIM standards. Microsoft, Cisco, IBM and many others 
have all implemented WBEM in various forms.

So where do we start? 
---------------------

I don't know.

I have read the introductory information, seen some 
presentations and read a tutorial and some white papers.  It 
is big, but no bigger than a standard such as SNMP. The 
system should certainly be investigated by all members of 
the group, we should endevour to help each other understand 
it.  However it may be better to simply ignore this until 
such a stage that we feel we are "on top of" the project and 
that we can spare time to investigate this route.

One of the things that has been discussed is "protocols", 
these are unimportant at this early stage.  Indeed we could 
implement the framework without really bothering about the 
protocol (just use some simple method).  As long as the data 
encapsulation is seperated enough from the function then we 
have no real problem.  The system can operate, calls can be 
fired and the system can work, then at a later stage the 
classes that deal with the data communication and storage 
can be replaced and updated (in line with the implementation 
phases).  However this still means that a concertated effort 
needs to be made into deciding *what* data will be used, 
*how* it will be used and what interfaces will the various 
components need (ie, accessors, mutators and other methods - 
think java interfaces, not GUI).


Online Resources
----------------

There is little more that can be said on this subject until 
a stage when we choose to pursue it further.  Some useful 
online resources are:

The home of all the information that is specific to the 
standards group.

http://www.dmtf.org

Sun's Java API that implements the standards (JMX).

http://java.sun.com/products/JavaManagement/

Sun's central WBEM site

http://www.sun.com/software/solaris/wbem/


About
-----

This document was written by Alex Moore [ajm@i-scream.org] for 
use by the team working on a 3rd year Computer Science 
project called "i-scream". More details can be found on the 
project website;

http://www.i-scream.org


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#	Content
1	WBEM, CIM and the world of defined standards...
2	===============================================
3
4	ajm4, 29/10/2000
5
6	What is all this?
7	-----------------
8
9	Web-Based Enterprise Management (WBEM) is an initiative
10	based on a set of management and Internet standard
11	technologies developed to unify the management of enterprise
12	computing environments. WBEM provides the ability for the
13	industry to deliver a well-integrated set of standard-based
14	management tools leveraging the emerging technologies such
15	as CIM and XML.
16
17	The Common Information Model is a common data model of an
18	implementation-neutral schema for describing overall
19	management information in a network/enterprise environment.
20	CIM is comprised of a Specification and a Schema. The
21	Specification defines the details for integration with other
22	management models (i.e. SNMP's MIBs or the DMTF's MIFs)
23	while the Schema provides the actual model descriptions.
24
25	The above are quite clearly lifted from the glossary on the
26	DMTF website. Mainly because they give the best definition.
27
28	How can we use them?
29	--------------------
30
31	One of the main topics of conversations that seems to have
32	come up time and again is how are the "hosts" going to
33	communicate with the main system. CIM and WBEM provide a
34	well defined standard of passing objects of data throughout
35	a system. This means that the data undergoes no translation
36	at any stage, the "hosts" sources the data, wraps it in XML
37	in the CIM Schema and passes it to the main system. This
38	can then be passed so alter mechanisms, or can even be
39	attached a CIM object that has a metaschema that allows
40	alerts, though this is very advanced. The main point is
41	that it allows a universal representation of data that can
42	be interpreted by all parts of the system as well as
43	external systems.
44
45	Why should we use them?
46	-----------------------
47
48	Once of the communications methods frequently suggested by
49	the group is the use of SNMP. SNMP has been around many
50	years now and is well established. However it is a heavy
51	and dated protocol, heaving under extensions and
52	modifications that have been made to it over the years. The
53	DMTF or Distributed Management Task Force have been trying
54	to use SNMP as a basis for dragging systems management into
55	the new millenium. They have gathered together people who
56	understand the shortfalls of SNMP and have (and still are)
57	developed a system that will in the long term replcae SNMP.
58
59	Many companies have already taken and implemented the
60	standards such as WBEM that DMTF have produced. Indeed, few
61	motherboards today are not DMI (Distributed Management
62	Interface - another DMTF standard) compliant.
63
64	As the main part of our backend system is possibly (well,
65	probably) going to be predominantly Java based, it is
66	perhaps good to mention that Sun have been on the DMTF
67	bandwaggon for some time. This has two main advantage, 1)
68	There is a Solaris SDK for WBEM - quite what use that will
69	be I don't know 2) There are Java API extensions in the form
70	of JMX - java mangement extentions, which implement the WBEM
71	and CIM standards. Microsoft, Cisco, IBM and many others
72	have all implemented WBEM in various forms.
73
74	So where do we start?
75	---------------------
76
77	I don't know.
78
79	I have read the introductory information, seen some
80	presentations and read a tutorial and some white papers. It
81	is big, but no bigger than a standard such as SNMP. The
82	system should certainly be investigated by all members of
83	the group, we should endevour to help each other understand
84	it. However it may be better to simply ignore this until
85	such a stage that we feel we are "on top of" the project and
86	that we can spare time to investigate this route.
87
88	One of the things that has been discussed is "protocols",
89	these are unimportant at this early stage. Indeed we could
90	implement the framework without really bothering about the
91	protocol (just use some simple method). As long as the data
92	encapsulation is seperated enough from the function then we
93	have no real problem. The system can operate, calls can be
94	fired and the system can work, then at a later stage the
95	classes that deal with the data communication and storage
96	can be replaced and updated (in line with the implementation
97	phases). However this still means that a concertated effort
98	needs to be made into deciding what data will be used,
99	how it will be used and what interfaces will the various
100	components need (ie, accessors, mutators and other methods -
101	think java interfaces, not GUI).
102
103
104	Online Resources
105	----------------
106
107	There is little more that can be said on this subject until
108	a stage when we choose to pursue it further. Some useful
109	online resources are:
110
111	The home of all the information that is specific to the
112	standards group.
113
114	http://www.dmtf.org
115
116	Sun's Java API that implements the standards (JMX).
117
118	http://java.sun.com/products/JavaManagement/
119
120	Sun's central WBEM site
121
122	http://www.sun.com/software/solaris/wbem/
123
124
125	About
126	-----
127
128	This document was written by Alex Moore [ajm@i-scream.org] for
129	use by the team working on a 3rd year Computer Science
130	project called "i-scream". More details can be found on the
131	project website;
132
133	http://www.i-scream.org
134
135
136
137