Web Based Enterprise Management
Web Based Enterprise Management (WBEM) is an initiative of the Distributed Management Task Force (DTMF) with the objective to enable the management of complex IT environments. It defines a set of management and internet standard technologies in order to unify the management of complex IT environments.
The WBEM initiative is composed of three main conceptual
elements:
- Common Interface Model (CIM)
- CIM is a formal object-oriented modeling language that is used to describe the management aspects of systems.
- xmlCIM
- This is the grammar to describe CIM declarations and messages used by the CIM protocol.
- Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP)
- HTTP is used as a way to enable communication between a management application and a device that both use CIM.
The WBEM architecture defines the following elements:
- CIM Client
- The CIM Client is a management application like IBM Spectrum Control that uses CIM to manage devices. A CIM Client can reside anywhere in the network, because it uses HTTP to talk to CIM Object Managers and Agents.
- CIM Managed Object
- A Managed Object is a hardware or software component that can be managed by a management application by using CIM.
- CIM Agent
- A CIM Object Manager that includes the provider service for a limited set of resources. An agent may be embedded or hosted and can be an aggregator for multiple devices.
- CIM Provider
- A CIM Provider is the element that translates CIM calls to the device-specific commands. A provider is always closely linked to a CIM.
- CIM Object Manager (CIMOM)
- The central component of the CIM Server responsible for the communication between the CIM server components.
- CIM Server
- A server that receives and processes CIM Operation Message Requests and issues CIM Operation Message Responses.