Distributed Management Task Force

Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF, formerly "Desktop Management Task Force") is an industry organization that develops, maintains and promotes standards for systems management in enterprise IT environments. These standards allow for building systems management infrastructure components in a platform-independent and technology-neutral way. By creating the open industry standards, DMTF helps enable systems management interoperability between IT products from different manufacturers or companies.

Overview

DMTF was founded in 1992. It is a Standards Development Organisation where companies, other organisations and single persons can become members. In 2005, DMTF had more than 3500 participants out of more than 200 organisations and companies (such as AMD, Broadcom, CA, Inc., Cisco, Citrix, EMC, Fujitsu, HP, Huawei, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Oracle, Red Hat, VMware). The DMTF is organized in working groups where the participants jointly develop and maintain the standards. DMTF has alliances with a number of other organisations and with academia.

Standards

DMTF standards include:

• Common Information Model (CIM) – The CIM schema is a conceptual schema that defines how the managed elements in an IT environment (for instance computers or storage area networks) are represented as a common set of objects and relationships between them. CIM is extensible in order to allow product specific extensions to the common definition of these managed elements. CIM uses a model based upon UML to define the CIM Schema. CIM is the basis for most of the other DMTF standards.
• Common Diagnostic Model (CDM) – The CDM schema is a part of the CIM schema that defines how system diagnostics should be incorporated into the management infrastructure.
• Web-Based Enterprise Management (WBEM) – defines protocols for the interaction between systems management infrastructure components implementing CIM, a concept of DMTF management profiles, that allows defining the behavior of the elements defined in the CIM schema, the CIM Query Language (CQL) and other specifications needed for the interoperability of CIM infrastructure.
• Systems Management Architecture for Server Hardware (SMASH) – defines a command line protocol for interacting with CIM infrastructure, and DMTF management profiles for server hardware management.
• System Management BIOS (SMBIOS) – defines how the BIOS interface of x86 architecture systems is represented in CIM (and DMI).
• Alert Standard Format (ASF) – defines remote control and alerting interfaces for OS-absent environments (for instance a system board controller of a PC).
• Directory Enabled Network (DEN) – defines how LDAP directories can be used to provide access to CIM managed elements and defines CIM to LDAP mappings for a part of the CIM schema.
• Desktop Management Interface (DMI) – DMI was the first desktop management standard. Due to the rapid advancement of DMTF technologies, such as CIM, the DMTF defined an "end of life" process for DMI, which ended March 31, 2005.
• Desktop and mobile Architecture for System Hardware (DASH) – a management standard based on DMTF Web Services for Management (WS-Management), for desktop and mobile client systems.
• Configuration Management Database Federation (CMDBf) - CMDBf facilitates the sharing of information between configuration management databases (CMDBs) and other management data repositories (MDRs). The CMDBf standard enables organizations to federate and access information from complex, multi-vendor infrastructures, simplifying the process of managing related configuration data stored in multiple CMDBs and MDRs.
• Virtualization Management Initiative (VMAN) – A suite of specifications based on DMTF’s CIM that helps IT managers: Deploy virtual computer systems, Discover/inventory virtual computer systems, Manage lifecycle of virtual computer systems, Create/modify/delete virtual resources and Monitor virtual systems for health and performance

Within the VMAN initiative, there are several specifications and profiles:

• Open Virtualization Format (OVF) – Standard for packaging and deploying virtual appliances. OVF was adopted by the American National Standards Institute in August, 2010.
• DSP1042 – System Virtualization Profile
• DSP1057 – Virtual System Profile
• DSP1059 – Generic Device Resource Virtualization Profile
• DSP1041 – Resource Allocation Profile
• DSP1043 – Allocation Capabilities Profile

CIM related standards are also developed outside of the DMTF. Some examples are:

• The SNIA – develops and maintains the SMI-S standard that defines DMTF management profiles for Storage Area Networks.
• The Open Group – develops and maintains the CMPI standard that defines a C/C++ API for CIM providers.
• The Java Community Process – currently develops the JSR-48 standard that defines a Java API for CIM client applications.

CIM and WBEM are supported by a large number of products and open source projects. A small list is provided here:

• Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) – Implementation of CIM and WBEM in Microsoft Windows
• SBLIM – Open source project providing an implementation of CIM and WBEM for Linux as well as other CIM and WBEM related components and tools
• OpenPegasus – Open source project providing a CIM Object Manager written in C++ (the central infrastructure component for CIM and WBEM)
• WBEM Services – Open source project providing a CIM Object Manager written in Java
• OpenWBEM – Open source project providing another CIM Object Manager written in C++

Incubators

• Open Cloud Standards Incubator – The Open Cloud Standards Incubator was a DMTF group focused on standards for facilitating management interoperability between private clouds within enterprises and between private, public and hybrid clouds. Initial priorities include cloud resource management protocols, packaging formats and security mechanisms to help enable interoperability. The group developed a set of documents including an architecture for managing clouds, use cases and interactions for managing clouds and a white paper titled "The Interoperable Cloud". The group completed its chartered deliverables in August 2010 ^[1]. DMTF's cloud standards development work is now being handled by the Cloud Management Workgroup and the Cloud Auditing Data Federation Workgroup.
• Software License Management Incubator(SLM) - The Software License Management Incubator is working to develop white papers which focus on challenges to enabling the industry to manage licensed software products and product use. The SLM incubator employs key leaders in the IT management space, and also has representation from end user organizations such as JP Morgan Chase.

References

External links

• DMTF Homepage