Types of Providers

Providers are categorized according to the types of requests the providers handle. Client programs communicate with the CIMOM and access WBEM data through the client API. The CIMOM maps the provider methods to the corresponding client methods in the client API. However, the argument lists and return values of corresponding methods might differ. See file:/usr/sadm/lib/wbem/doc/index.html.

• If a provider stores data in the CIM Object Manager Repository, then the provider accesses the Repository using handles to the CIMOM. These handles call the methods of the client API. See Implementing the Provider Interfaces.

• If a provider needs to create instances or associations in the CIM Object Manager Repository, then it uses an internal provider. The provider calls methods of Instance or Associator Providers that are internal to WBEM. See Implementing the Provider Interfaces.

Ensure that your argument list and return type are correct for the method and class used.

The Solaris WBEM SDK provider types are shown in the following table.

Table 6–1 Provider Types

Type	Class Name	Description
Instance	CIMInstanceProvider	Supply dynamic instances of a given class, and support instance retrieval, enumeration, modification, and deletion
Method	MethodProvider	Supply methods of one or more classes
Associator	CIMAssociatorProvider	Supply instances of dynamic association classes
Indication	EventProvider	Handle indications of CIM events
Authorizable	None	A marker interface that indicates to the CIMOM that the provider does its own authorization check

A single provider can act as one or more of the provider types by registering and implementing the relevant methods.

Provider Naming Conventions

You can include providers in a single Java class file or store each provider in a separate class. The provider name identifies the Java class that serves as the provider for the class. Currently, the CIMOM supports only providers that are written in the Java language.

Provider and class names must follow these rules:

• The class name must be a valid CIM class. The name must contain a prefix of characters, followed by an underscore, followed by more characters.

  For example, green_apples and red_apples are valid CIM class names, whereas apples, apples_, and _apples are not.

• The provider name that is specified in the MOF file must match the name of the provider class file.

  For example, SimpleCIMInstanceProvider is the provider and Ex_SimpleCIMInstanceProvider is the class.

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Note –

You must prepend “java:” to every provider qualifier to notify the CIMOM that the provider is written in the Java language.

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Follow standard Java class and package naming conventions to create your provider names. The prefix of a package name is written in lowercase ASCII letters and must be one of the top-level domain names (com, edu, gov, mil, net, org), or one of the English two-letter country codes specified in ISO Standards 3166, 1981.

Subsequent components of the package name can vary according to your organization's internal naming conventions. Such conventions might specify that certain directory name components are division, department, project, machine, or login names. For example, the provider name java:com.sun.wbem.cimom indicates the following information:

• java: – Language used to write the provider

• com – Top-level domain name

• sun – Company name

• wbem – Product name

• cimom – Type of class files that implement the CIMOM