3PAR InForm® OS 2.2.4 Concepts Guide (320-200085 Rev B, March 2009)

17.2
About SMI-S
3PAR InForm OS Concepts Guide InForm OS Version 2.2.4
17.2 About SMI-S
SMI-S enables management of Storage Area Networks (SANs) in a heterogeneous multi-vendor
environment. SMI-S uses an object-oriented model based on the Common Information Model
(CIM) to define objects and services which comprise a SAN. By leveraging vendor and
technology independent standards, SMI-S allows management application vendors to create
applications that work across products from multiple vendors.
The SMI-S model is divided into several profiles, each of which describes a particular class of
SAN entities (such as disk arrays). These profiles allow for differences in implementations but
provide a consistent approach for clients to discover and manage SAN resources and facilitate
interoperability across vendor products within the SAN.
SMI-S also defines an automated resource discovery process using Service Location Protocol
version 2 (SLPv2). This allows management applications to automatically find SAN resources
and then probe them to determine which of the SMI-S profiles and features they support.
For more information about SMI-S, refer to the Storage Management Initiative web site at:
http://www.snia.org/smi/home.
17.3 About the WBEM Initiative
SMI-S is based on the Web-Based Enterprise Management (WBEM) Initiative, which is defined
by the Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF). WBEM is a set of management and
Internet standard technologies developed to unify the management of distributed computing
environments.
The DMTF has developed a core set of standards that make up WBEM:
■ The Common Information Model (CIM) standard
The CIM standard is the data model for WBEM. CIM provides a conceptual framework for
describing management data for systems, networks, applications and services, and allows
for vendor extensions. SMI-S uses CIM to model those objects and relationships that
comprise a SAN.