Open Management Infrastructure (OMI) – open-source implementation of DMTF CIM/WBEM standards
Microsoft and The Open Group have announced the release of Open Management Infrastructure (OMI), an open source project to further the development of a production quality implementation of the DMTF CIM and WBEM standards. The Windows Management team has a blog post covering the details of OMI and the goals of the project.
OMI (formerly known as NanoWBEM) is an implementation of the DMTF Common Information Model (CIM) standard, which defines the semantics of management information for networks, applications, and services. Here’s a high-level overview of OMI’s implementation of a CIM server:
Just as the Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL) helped open up the x86 hardware ecosystem and enable rapid innovation across the industry, CIM-based tools such as OMI form a Datacenter Abstraction Layer (DAL) that provides a framework for interoperability between management tools across diverse platforms and devices. As noted on the Windows Server blog:
“… the growth of cloud-based computing is, by definition, driving demand for more automation, which, in turn, will require the existence of a solid foundation built upon management standards. For standards-based management to satisfy today’s cloud management demands, it must be sophisticated enough to support the diverse set of devices that are required and it must be easy to implement by hardware and platform vendors alike. The DMTF CIM and WSMAN standards are up to the task, but implementing them effectively has been a challenge. Open Management Infrastructure (OMI) addresses this problem.”
Keep an eye on The Open Group’s OMI project site for the latest news about OMI’s evolution. You can download OMI source code and documentation today (available under an Apache 2.0 open source license), and soon you’ll find information about more detailed documentation, contribution facilities, and OMI developer conferences.
Doug Mahugh
Senior Technical Evangelist
Microsoft Open Technologies, Inc.