Preface

The Sun WBEM SDK Developer's Guide describes the Sun WBEM Software Developer's Toolkit, that enables software developers to create standards-based applications that manage WBEM-enabled objects. Developers can also use this software to write providers, programs that communicate with managed objects to access data.

Who Should Use This Book

This book is intended for two types of developers:

• System and Network Application Developers

  Programmers who write applications that manage the information stored in CIM classes and instances will find this guide useful. These developers typically use the Sun WBEM APIs to get and set the properties of predefined CIM instances and classes.

• Instrumentation Engineers

  Instrumentation engineers provide resources such as processors, memory, routers, and other manageable devices. These developers need to communicate device information in a standard CIM format to the CIM Object Manager, typically through a piece of software called a provider. These users use the WBEM APIs to create classes, instances, and properties.

  Instrumentation engineers might work with class and schema designers, who describe new groups of managed resources (CIM classes) or a collection of CIM classes, called schema. Schemas describe the managed objects in a particular system environment, for example, Microsoft Windows 32 or the Solaris operating environment.

Before You Read This Book

This book describes how to use the Sun WBEM SDK components and tools to write management applications.

This book requires knowledge of the following:

• Object-oriented programming concepts

• Java programming

• A solid understanding of Common Information Model (CIM) concepts

If you are unfamiliar with these areas, you might find the following references useful:

• Java^TM How to Program

  H. M. Deitel and P. J. Deitel, Prentice Hall, ISBN 0–13–263401–5

• The Java Class Libraries, Second Edition, Volume 1, Patrick Chan, Rosanna Lee, Douglas Kramer, Addison-Wesley, ISBN 0–201–31002–3

• CIM Tutorial, provided by the Distributed Management Task Force

The following Web sites are useful resources when working with WBEM technologies.

• Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF)

  See this site at www.dmtf.org for the latest developments on CIM, information about various working groups, and contact information for extending the CIM Schema.

• Rational Software

  See this site at www.rational.com/uml for documentation on the Unified Modeling Language (UML) and the Rose CASE tool.

How This Book Is Organized

Chapter 1, Overview of WBEM introduces Web-Based Enterprise Management (WBEM), the Common Information Model (CIM), Sun WBEM SDK, and Solaris WBEM Services.

Chapter 2, CIM WorkShop describes how to use CIM WorkShop to manipulate CIM classes, instances, methods, and properties.

Chapter 3, Application Programming Interfaces provides an overview of the client APIs and examples of how to use them to create and manipulate CIM objects.

Chapter 4, Writing Client Applications explains how to use the Client APIs to write client applications.

Chapter 5, Writing a Provider Program provides an overview of the provider APIs and explains how to write a provider, classes that mediate between managed objects and the CIM Object Manager.

Chapter 6, Handling CIM Events This chapter describes the CIM event model and explains how providers generate CIM events and how applications subscribe to be notified of the occurrence of CIM events.

Chapter 7, Using Sun WBEM SDK Examples explains how to run the code examples provided with the Sun WBEM SDK.

Chapter 8, Error Messages explains error messages returned by Sun WBEM SDK APIs.

Appendix A, Common Information Model (CIM) Terms and Concepts describes general CIM terms and concepts.

Glossary presents a list of words and phrases found in this book and their definitions.

Related Information

The Solaris WBEM Services Administrator's Guide explains Common Information Model (CIM) concepts and describes how to administer Web-based Enterprise Management (WBEM) services in the Solaris^TM operating environment.

See the online Javadoc reference pages for the WBEM Application Programming Interfaces in /usr/sadm/lib/wbem/doc/index.html. Also see the online Javadoc reference pages for the CIM and Solaris Schema classes in /usr/sadm/lib/wbem/doc/mofhtml.

Ordering Sun Documents

Fatbrain.com, an Internet professional bookstore, stocks select product documentation from Sun Microsystems, Inc.

For a list of documents and how to order them, visit the Sun Documentation Center on Fatbrain.com at http://www1.fatbrain.com/documentation/sun.

Accessing Sun Documentation Online

The docs.sun.com^SM Web site enables you to access Sun technical documentation online. You can browse the docs.sun.com archive or search for a specific book title or subject. The URL is http://docs.sun.com.

Typographic Conventions

The following table describes the typographic changes used in this book.

Table P–1 Typographic Conventions

Typeface or Symbol	Meaning	Example
AaBbCc123	The names of commands, files, and directories; on-screen computer output	Edit your .login file. Use ls -a to list all files. machine_name% you have mail.
AaBbCc123	What you type, contrasted with on-screen computer output	machine_name% su Password:
AaBbCc123	Command-line placeholder: replace with a real name or value	To delete a file, type rm filename.
AaBbCc123	Book titles, new words, or terms, or words to be emphasized.	Read Chapter 6 in User's Guide. These are called class options. You must be root to do this.

Shell Prompts in Command Examples

The following table shows the default system prompt and superuser prompt for the C shell, Bourne shell, and Korn shell.

Table P–2 Shell Prompts

Shell	Prompt
C shell prompt	machine_name%
C shell superuser prompt	machine_name#
Bourne shell and Korn shell prompt	$
Bourne shell and Korn shell superuser prompt	#