Editing Web-Based Enterprise Management

{{Short description|Systems management standards}}
{{Infobox technology standard
| title             = Web-Based Enterprise Management
| status            = Published
| year_started      = {{Start date and age|1996}}
| organization      = [[Distributed Management Task Force]]
| base_standards    = [[Common Information Model (computing)|CIM]] and [[WS-Management]]
| abbreviation      = WBEM
| domain            = [[Systems management]]
| website           = {{URL|http://www.dmtf.org/standards/wbem}}
}}
In [[computing]], '''Web-Based Enterprise Management''' ('''WBEM''') comprises a set of [[systems management |systems-management]] technologies developed to unify the management of [[distributed computing]] environments. The WBEM initiative, initially sponsored in 1996 by [[BMC Software]], Cisco Systems, Compaq Computer, Intel, and Microsoft, is now widely adopted.<ref name=Todd>{{cite web|last1=Todd|first1=Greg|title=What is WBEM?|url=http://windowsitpro.com/systems-management/what-wbem|website=Windows IT Pro|accessdate=13 November 2015|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20151113060813/http://windowsitpro.com/systems-management/what-wbem|archivedate=13 November 2015|date=June 30, 1998|url-status=live|quote=In 1996, BMC Software, Cisco Systems, Compaq Computer, Intel, and Microsoft sponsored the Web-Based Enterprise Management (WBEM) initiative, an effort to provide a unifying mechanism for describing and sharing management information.}}</ref> WBEM is based on [[Internet standard]]s and [[Distributed Management Task Force]] (DMTF) [[open standard]]s: 

* [[Common Information Model (computing)|Common Information Model]] (CIM) infrastructure and [[CIM Schema|schema]]
** CIM-[[XML]]
** CIM operations over [[HTTP]]
* [[WS-Management]] for [[web services]]
*CIM Operations over RESTful Services<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.dmtf.org/sites/default/files/standards/documents/DSP-IS0201_1.0.0.pdf|title="CIM Operations over RESTful Services" (PDF).}}</ref>

Although the name labels WBEM as "web-based", it is not necessarily dependent on any particular [[user interface]] (see below). Other systems-management approaches include [[remote shell]]s, proprietary solutions and [[IETF]] standardized [[network management | network-management]] architectures like the [[Simple Network Management Protocol|SNMP]] 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]]:

* Desktop management ([[Desktop and mobile Architecture for System Hardware|DASH]])
* [[Network management]] ([[Network management|NetMan]])
**There is a DMTF page that shows a number of DSP pdfs that are the published profiles of the NetMan Initiative<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.dmtf.org/standards/netman|title=DMTF NetMan page}}</ref>
* Storage management ([[Storage Management Initiative – Specification |SMI]])
* Systems management ([[Systems Management Architecture for Server Hardware|SMASH]])
* Virtualization management ([[Virtualization Management Initiative |VMAN]])
**There is a DMTF page that shows a number of DSP pdfs that are the published profiles of the VMAN Initiative<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.dmtf.org/standards/vman|title=DMTF VMAN webpage}}</ref>

==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]] (GUI), [[Browser User Interface]] (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 interface]]s (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 [[https|HTTPS]]) 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 [[Distributed Management Task Force|DMTF]] has published many models for commonly managed devices and services: [[multilayer switch|IP routers]], [[file server|storage servers]], [[desktop computer]]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 standardized interface known as [[Common Manageability Programming Interface|CMPI]])<ref>
[http://www-01.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/linuxonibm/liaav/cmpi-overview.pdf The Common Manageability Programming Interface]
</ref> 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
**[[Uniform Resource Identifier|URI]] (WBEM URI Mapping Specification 1.0)
**[[XML]] (xmlCIM as used in CIM-XML)
**[[XML]] (WS-CIM as used in WS-Management)
**[[Unified Modeling Language|UML]]
*Protocols
**[[CIM-XML]]
**[[WS-Management]]
**[[CIM-RS]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.dmtf.org/sites/default/files/standards/documents/DSP-IS0201_1.0.0.pdf|title="CIM Operations Over RESTful Services" (PDF).}}</ref>
*Discovery
**[[Service Location Protocol|SLP]] (WBEM Discovery using SLP; SLP Template)
*Query Language
**[[CIM_Query_Language|CQL]] (CIM Query Language 1.0)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.dmtf.org/sites/default/files/standards/documents/DSP0202_1.0.0.pdf|title="DSP0202 - CIM Query Language Specification" (PDF).}}</ref>
**[[Filter_Query_Language|FQL]] (Filter Query Language 1.0)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.dmtf.org/sites/default/files/standards/documents/DSP0212_1.0.1.pdf|title="DSP0212 - Filter Query Language" (PDF).}}</ref>

==Implementing support==
{{tone|date=June 2020}}
The implementation of the management system requires three components:
* The model
:Normally done by extending as necessary one of the standard models published by the [[DMTF]]. 
* 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|External links]] below)
* The providers
: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]] has included WBEM Services CORE Product in the [[HP-UX]] operating system (with all operating environments) since version 11iv1 and [[OpenVMS]] V8.3-1H1 and V8.4
* [[IBM]] ships support in [[z/OS]] and [[AIX]].
* [[Microsoft]] has developed the [[Windows Management Instrumentation|WMI]] technology and has included it in [[Microsoft Windows]].
*[[Red Hat]] ships OpenPegasus as part of [[Red Hat Enterprise Linux]]
* [[Oracle Corporation|Oracle]] has WBEM-Services for the [[Solaris (operating system)|Solaris]] operating environment<ref>[http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E19683-01/816-4813/] Solaris WBEM Developer's Guide</ref>
* [[Ubuntu (operating system)|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,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://pywbem.readthedocs.io/en/latest/|title=Pywbem Documentation}}</ref> open-source WBEM library written in [[Python (programming language)|Python]]
* WBEM Solutions J WBEM Server and SDK

==See also==
* [[SMI-S]], Storage Management Initiative - Specification.  Based on WBEM, used for SAN devices
* [[JSR-48]], Java API for developing WBEM Clients and WBEM Providers
* [[Common_Manageability_Programming_Interface|CMPI]], C provider API for developing WBEM Providers

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.dmtf.org/standards/wbem Official WBEM page] at [http://www.dmtf.org/ DMTF (Distributed Management Task Force)], including standards documents

{{DMTF Standards}}

[[Category:DMTF standards]]
[[Category:Network management]]
[[Category:Management systems]]
[[Category:Web technology]]