computing Computing is any goal-oriented activity requiring, benefiting from, or creating computing machinery. It includes the study and experimentation of algorithmic processes, and development of both hardware and software. Computing has scientific, ...

, Web-Based Enterprise Management (WBEM) comprises a set of systems-management technologies developed to unify the management of

distributed computing A distributed system is a system whose components are located on different networked computers, which communicate and coordinate their actions by passing messages to one another from any system. Distributed computing is a field of computer sci ...

environments. The WBEM initiative, initially sponsored in 1996 by BMC Software, Cisco Systems, Compaq Computer, Intel, and Microsoft, is now widely adopted. WBEM is based on

Internet standard In computer network engineering, an Internet Standard is a normative specification of a technology or methodology applicable to the Internet. Internet Standards are created and published by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). They allow ...

s and

Distributed Management Task Force Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF) is a 501(c)(6) nonprofit industry standards organization that creates open manageability standards spanning diverse emerging and traditional IT infrastructures including cloud, virtualization, network, s ...

(DMTF)

open standard An open standard is a standard that is openly accessible and usable by anyone. It is also a prerequisite to use open license, non-discrimination and extensibility. Typically, anybody can participate in the development. There is no single definitio ...

s: * Common Information Model (CIM) infrastructure and

schema The word schema comes from the Greek word ('), which means ''shape'', or more generally, ''plan''. The plural is ('). In English, both ''schemas'' and ''schemata'' are used as plural forms. Schema may refer to: Science and technology * SCHEMA ...

** CIM-

XML Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a markup language and file format for storing, transmitting, and reconstructing arbitrary data. It defines a set of rules for encoding documents in a format that is both human-readable and machine-readable. ...

** CIM operations over

HTTP The Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is an application layer protocol in the Internet protocol suite model for distributed, collaborative, hypermedia information systems. HTTP is the foundation of data communication for the World Wide Web, ...

* WS-Management for web services *CIM Operations over RESTful Services Although the name labels WBEM as "web-based", it is not necessarily dependent on any particular

user interface In the industrial design field of human–computer interaction, a user interface (UI) is the space where interactions between humans and machines occur. The goal of this interaction is to allow effective operation and control of the machine f ...

(see below). Other systems-management approaches include remote shells, proprietary solutions and

IETF The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) is a standards organization for the Internet and is responsible for the technical standards that make up the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP). It has no formal membership roster or requirements and ...

standardized network-management architectures like the

SNMP Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) is an Internet Standard protocol for collecting and organizing information about managed devices on IP networks and for modifying that information to change device behaviour. Devices that typically ...

and netconf.

Features

WBEM allows the management of any element in a standard and inter-operable manner. WBEM provides the technology underlying different management initiatives in

information technology Information technology (IT) is the use of computers to create, process, store, retrieve, and exchange all kinds of data . and information. IT forms part of information and communications technology (ICT). An information technology system ...

: * desktop management ( DASH) *

network management Network management is the process of administering and managing computer networks. Services provided by this discipline include fault analysis, performance management, provisioning of networks and maintaining quality of service. Network manageme ...

( NetMan) **There is a DMTF page that shows a number of DSP pdfs that are the published profiles of the NetMan Initiative * storage management ( SMI) * systems management (

SMASH Smash may refer to: People * Smash (wrestler) (born 1959), professional wrestler * Moondog Rex, another professional wrestler who briefly wrestled as the original Smash, before being replaced by the above. * DJ Smash, DJ and music producer A ...

) * virtualization management ( VMAN) **There is a DMTF page that shows a number of DSP pdfs that are the published profiles of the VMAN Initiative

Architecture

To understand the WBEM architecture, consider the components which lie between the operator trying to manage a device (configure it, turn it off and on, collect alarms, etc.) and the actual hardware and software of the device: # the operator will invoke some form of

graphical user interface The GUI ( "UI" by itself is still usually pronounced . or ), graphical user interface, is a form of user interface that allows User (computing), users to Human–computer interaction, interact with electronic devices through graphical icon (comp ...

(GUI),

Browser User Interface A browser user interface (or BUI) is a method of interacting with an application, typically hosted on a remote device, via controls presented within a web browser. This is an alternative to providing controls via a separate application with a dedic ...

(BUI), or command-line interface (CLI). The WBEM standard has nothing to say about this interface (although the definition of a CLI for specific applications has started): WBEM operates independently of the human interface, since human interfaces can change without the rest of the system needing to note such changes. # the GUI, BUI or CLI will interface with a WBEM client through a small set of application programming interfaces (APIs). This client will find the WBEM server for the managed device (typically on the device itself) and construct an XML message containing the request. # the client will use the HTTP (or

) protocol to pass the request, encoding it in CIM-XML, to the WBEM server # the WBEM server will decode the incoming request, perform the necessary authentication and authorization checks and then consult the previously defined model of the managed device to see how to handle the request. This model provides the power of the architecture: it represents the pivot point of the transaction, with the client simply interacting with the model and the model interacting with the real hardware or software. The model uses the Common Information Model standard; the

DMTF Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF) is a 501(c)(6) nonprofit industry standards organization that creates open manageability standards spanning diverse emerging and traditional IT infrastructures including cloud, virtualization, network, s ...

has published many models for commonly managed devices and services: IP routers, storage servers,

desktop computer A desktop computer (often abbreviated desktop) is a personal computer designed for regular use at a single location on or near a desk due to its size and power requirements. The most common configuration has a case that houses the power supply ...

s, etc. # for most operations, the WBEM server determines from the model that it needs to communicate with the actual hardware or software. So-called "providers" handle the interaction: small pieces of code interface between the WBEM server (using a standardised interface known as CMPI) and the real hardware or software. Because the interface is well-defined and the number of types of call is small, it is normally easy to write providers. In particular, the writer of the provider knows nothing of the GUI, BUI, or CLI used by the operator.

WBEM specifications

*Mappings ** URI (WBEM URI Mapping Specification 1.0) **

(xmlCIM as used in CIM-XML) **

(WS-CIM as used in WS-Management) **

UML The Unified Modeling Language (UML) is a general-purpose, developmental modeling language in the field of software engineering that is intended to provide a standard way to visualize the design of a system. The creation of UML was originally ...

*Protocols ** CIM-XML ** WS-Management ** CIM-RS *Discovery ** SLP (WBEM Discovery using SLP; SLP Template) *Query Language ** CQL (CIM Query Language 1.0) ** FQL (Filter Query Language 1.0)

Implementing support

So, which pieces of this does a device manufacturer or service provider have to write? * Firstly the model. :This is normally done by extending as necessary one of the standard models published by the

. * Then the BUI, GUI, or CLI. :The client and server usually do not need to be written because there are many open-source and commercial implementations available (see

External links An internal link is a type of hyperlink on a web page to another page or resource, such as an image or document, on the same website or domain name, domain. Hyperlinks are considered either "external" or "internal" depending on their target or ...

below) * Then the providers :In summary, the WBEM architecture allows the manufacturer of a device or developer of a service to provide a standards-compliant management interface to that device simply and cheaply.

Implementations

WBEM in operating systems

* Apple Inc. uses an implementation of WBEM in its Apple Remote Desktop management tool, and Mac OS X clients ship with support for Remote Management. *

Hewlett Packard The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard ( ) or HP, was an American multinational information technology company headquartered in Palo Alto, California. HP developed and provided a wide variety of hardware components ...

has included WBEM Services CORE Product in the

HP-UX HP-UX (from "Hewlett Packard Unix") is Hewlett Packard Enterprise's proprietary implementation of the Unix operating system, based on Unix System V (initially System III) and first released in 1984. Current versions support HPE Integrit ...

operating system (with all operating environments) since version 11iv1 and

OpenVMS OpenVMS, often referred to as just VMS, is a multi-user, multiprocessing and virtual memory-based operating system. It is designed to support time-sharing, batch processing, transaction processing and workstation applications. Customers using Ope ...

V8.3-1H1 and V8.4 * IBM ships support in

z/OS z/OS is a 64-bit operating system for IBM z/Architecture mainframes, introduced by IBM in October 2000. It derives from and is the successor to OS/390, which in turn was preceded by a string of MVS versions.Starting with the earliest: ...

and AIX. *

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation, multinational technology company, technology corporation producing Software, computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at th ...

has developed the WMI technology and has included it in Microsoft Windows * Red Hat ships OpenPegasus as part of

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is a Commercial software, commercial Open-source software, open-source Linux distribution developed by Red Hat for the commerce, commercial market. Red Hat Enterprise Linux is released in server versions for x86-6 ...

Oracle An oracle is a person or agency considered to provide wise and insightful counsel or prophetic predictions, most notably including precognition of the future, inspired by deities. As such, it is a form of divination. Description The wor ...

has WBEM-Services for the Solaris operating environment * Ubuntu ships with an updated CIM instrumentation stack, powered by the latest version of the lightweight CIMOM, SBLIM SFCB.

WBEM implementations

* WS-Management * OpenPegasus, open-source client and server written in C++ * Open Management Infrastructure, open-source client and server written in C * SBLIM (pronounced "sublime") Standards Based Linux Instrumentation for Manageability, C, C++, Java * Pywbem, open-source WBEM library written in Python * WBEM Solutions J WBEM Server and SDK

References

External links

Official WBEM page
a
DMTF (Distributed Management Task Force)
including standards documents {{DMTF Standards DMTF standards Network management Management systems Web technology