Software Components

Solaris WBEM Services software consists of software components that function at three layers: Application, Management, and Provider. These components interact with the operating system and hardware layers. Figure 1-1 shows the software components and their interaction at each layer.

Figure 1-1 Solaris WBEM Services Architecture

• Application Layer - WBEM clients process and display data from managed resources. Solaris WBEM Services includes the following applications.

  • Sun WBEM User Manager and Solaris Management Console (SMC) Users Tool - Applications that allow system administrators to add and delete authorized users and to set their access privileges to managed resources.

  • Solaris Management Console (SMC) Log Viewer - An application that displays log files. Using the log viewer, a user can view details of a log record, including the name of the user who issued a logged command and the client computer on which a logged event occurred.

  • Managed Object Format (MOF) Compiler - Program that parses a file containing MOF statements, converts the classes and instances defined in the file to Java classes, and then adds the Java classes to the CIM Object Manager Repository, a central storage area for management data.

    MOF is a language for defining CIM classes and instances. MOF files are ASCII text files that use the MOF language to describe CIM objects. A CIM object is a representation, or model, of a managed resource, such as a printer, disk drive, or CPU.

    Many sites store information about managed resources in MOF files. Because MOF can be converted to Java, applications that can run on any system with a Java Virtual Machine can interpret and exchange this information. You can also use the mofcomp command to compile MOF files at any time after installation. For more information about MOF, see the DMTF web page at http://www.dmtf.org.

• Management Layer - Components at this layer provide services to connected WBEM clients.

  • Common Information Model (CIM) Object Manager - Software that manages CIM objects on a WBEM system. CIM objects are stored internally as Java classes. The CIM Object Manager transfers information between WBEM clients, the CIM Object Manager Repository, and managed resources.

  • CIM Object Manager Repository - Central storage area for CIM class and instance definitions.

  • Client and CIM Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) - WBEM client applications use these Java interfaces to request operations, such as creating or viewing classes or instances of managed resources, from the CIM Object Manager.

  • Provider Interface - Providers use these interfaces to transfer information about managed resources to the CIM Object Manager. The CIM Object Manager uses the provider interfaces to transfer information to locally installed providers.

• Provider Layer - Providers act as intermediaries between the CIM Object Manager and one or more managed resources. When the CIM Object Manager receives a request from a WBEM client for data that is not available from the CIM Object Manager Repository, it forwards the request to the appropriate provider.

  • Solaris Provider - Provides the CIM Object Manager with instances of managed resources in the Solaris operating environment. Providers get and set information on managed devices. A native provider is a machine-specific program written to run on a managed device. For example, a provider that accesses data on a Solaris system will most likely include C functions to query the Solaris system. The Java Native Interface (JNI) is the native programming interface for Java that is part of the JDK. By writing programs using the JNI, you ensure that your code is completely portable across all platforms. The JNI allows Java code that runs within a Java Virtual Machine (VM) to operate with applications and libraries written in other languages, such as C, C++, and assembly.

  • Solaris Schema - A collection of classes that describe managed objects in the Solaris operating environment. The CIM and Solaris Schema classes are stored in the CIM Object Manager Repository. The CIM Schema is a collection of class definitions used to represent managed objects that occur in every management environment.

    The Solaris Schema is a collection of class definitions that extend the CIM Schema and represent managed objects in a typical Solaris operating environment. Users can also use the MOF compiler (mofcomp) to add CIM Schema, Solaris Schema, or other classes to the CIM Object Manager Repository.

• Operating System Layer - The Solaris provider allows management applications to access information about managed resources (devices and software) in the Solaris operating environment.

• Hardware Layer - A management client can access management data on any supported Solaris platform.