CIM标准是由名为DMTF(Distributed Management Task Force)的组织所制定的,该组织制定的标准主要针对企业及互联网的IT环境下的系统管理。作为一个开放性组织,DMTF成立于1992年,其成员包括 企业、其他组织与个人。截止2005年,DMTF包括了200个企业和组织约3500人,其中不乏IBM、Oracle、HP、Cisco、Intel、 Microsoft这些IT巨头。
CIM标准包含CIM基础架构规格描述(CIM Infrastructure Specification)和CIM概要描述(CIM Schema)。在Wikipedia上对两者的介绍如下:
* CIM Infrastructure Specification
The CIM Infrastructure Specification defines the architecture and concepts of CIM, including a language by which the CIM Schema (including any extension schema) is defined, and a method for mapping CIM to other information models, such as SNMP. The CIM architecture is based upon UML, so it is object-oriented: The managed elements are represented as CIM classes and any relationships between them are represented as CIM associations. Inheritance allows specialization of common base elements into more specific derived elements.
* CIM Schema
The CIM Schema is a conceptual schema which defines the specific set of objects and relationships between them that represent a common base for the managed elements in an IT environment. The CIM Schema covers most of today’s elements in an IT environment, for example Computer systems, Operating systems, Networks, Middleware, Services and Storage. The CIM Schema defines a common basis for representing these managed elements. Since most managed elements have product and vendor specific behavior, the CIM Schema is extensible in order to allow the producers of these elements to represent their specific features seamlessly together with the common base functionality defined in the CIM Schema.