Web-Based Enterprise Management - Architecture

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:

  1. the operator will presumably be presented with some form of graphical user interface (GUI), Browser User Interface (BUI), or command line interface (CLI). The WBEM standard really has nothing to say about this interface (although a CLI for specific applications is being defined): in fact it is one of the strengths of WBEM that it is independent of the human interface since human interfaces can be changed without the rest of the system needing to be aware of the changes.
  2. the GUI, BUI or CLI will interface with a WBEM client through a small set of application programming interfaces (API). This client will find the WBEM server for the device being managed (typically on the device itself) and construct an XML message with the request.
  3. the client will use the HTTP (or HTTPS) protocol to pass the request, encoding in CIM-XML, to the WBEM server
  4. the WBEM server will decode the incoming request, perform the necessary authentication and authorization checks and then consult the previously-created model of the device being managed to see how the request should be handled. This model is what makes the architecture so powerful: 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 is written using the Common Information Model standard and the DMTF has published many models for commonly-managed devices and services: IP routers, storage servers, desktop computers, etc.
  5. for most operations, the WBEM server determines from the model that it needs to communicate with the actual hardware or software. This is handled by so-called "providers": small pieces of code which 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 provider writer knows nothing of the GUI, BUI, or CLI being used by the operator.

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