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Brocade SMI Agent User’s Guide 1
53-1001778-01
Chapter
1
Overview
In this chapter
•Common Information Model (CIM). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
•Brocade SMI-S Initiative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
•Brocade SMI Agent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Common Information Model (CIM)
The Common Information Model (CIM) is a conceptual, object-based information model defined by
the Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF) for describing management, which is not bound to
a particular implementation. This allows for the interchange of management information between
management systems and applications.
CIM consists of two parts:
• CIM Specification
• CIM Schema
The CIM Specification describes the language, naming, metaschema, and mapping techniques to
other management models, such as SNMP MIBs and FC-GS. The metaschema is a formal definition
of the model that defines the terms used to express the model and their usage and semantics. The
elements of the metaschema are classes, properties, and methods. The metaschema also
supports indications and associations as types of classes and references as types of properties.
The CIM Schema provides the actual model descriptions. The CIM Schema supplies a set of
classes with properties and associations that provide a well-understood conceptual framework
within which it is possible to organize the available information about the managed environment.
The CIM Schema itself is structured into three distinct layers:
• Core Schema
• Common Schema
• Extension Schema
The Core Schema defines basic classes, such as a managed element or an association. The
Common Schema provides a set of foundation classes that can be used as the super-class to
describe other devices, such as a system, a device, or a network. The Extension Schema allows
users to expand the definitions in the Common Schema to describe specific device types, such as a
Brocade FC switch.
The formal definition of the CIM Schema is expressed in a managed object format (MOF) file, which
is an ASCII file that can be used as input into a MOF editor, parser, or compiler to generate code for
use in a provider or client application.
Web-Based Enterprise Management (WBEM) is a set of management and internet standard
technologies to unify management of an enterprise. It includes CIM, CIM Schemas, CIM operations
over HTTP, and CIM-XML encoding.