1.1 Glossary

This document uses the following terms:

Augmented Backus-Naur Form (ABNF): A modified version of Backus-Naur Form (BNF), commonly used by Internet specifications. ABNF notation balances compactness and simplicity with reasonable representational power. ABNF differs from standard BNF in its definitions and uses of naming rules, repetition, alternatives, order-independence, and value ranges. For more information, see [RFC5234].

CIM class: A CIM object that represents a CIM class definition as a CIM object. It is the template representing a manageable entity with a set of properties and methods.

CIM instance: An instantiation of a CIM class representing a manageable entity.

CIM object: Refers to a CIM class or a CIM instance.

Common Information Model (CIM): The Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF) model that describes how to represent real-world computer and network objects. CIM uses an object-oriented paradigm, where managed objects are modeled using the concepts of classes and instances. See [DMTF-DSP0004].

Common Information Model (CIM) class: A collection of Common Information Model (CIM) instances that support the same type, that is, the same CIM properties and CIM methods, as specified in [DMTF-DSP0004].

Common Information Model (CIM) instance: Provides values for the CIM properties associated with the CIM instance's defining CIM class. A CIM instance does not carry values for any other CIM properties or CIM methods that are not defined in (or inherited by) its defining CIM class. For more information, see [DMTF-DSP0004].

Common Information Model (CIM) object: An object that represents a Common Information Model (CIM) object. This can be either a CIM class or a CIM instance of a CIM class.

Common Information Model (CIM) property: Assigns values used to characterize instances of a CIM class. A CIM property can be thought of as a pair of Get and Set functions that, when applied to an object, return state and set state, respectively. For more information, see [DMTF-DSP0004].

Common Information Model (CIM) qualifier: Used to characterize named elements, as specified in [DMTF-DSP0004]. For example, there are CIM qualifiers that define the characteristics of a CIM property or the key of a CIM class.

Distributed Component Object Model (DCOM): The Microsoft Component Object Model (COM) specification that defines how components communicate over networks, as specified in [MS-DCOM].

Domain Name System (DNS): A hierarchical, distributed database that contains mappings of domain names to various types of data, such as IP addresses. DNS enables the location of computers and services by user-friendly names, and it also enables the discovery of other information stored in the database.

encoding: The binary layout that is used to represent a Common Information Model (CIM) object, whether a CIM class or CIM instance definition. The encoding is what is actually transferred by the protocol.

Managed Object Format (MOF): A textual encoding for Common Information Model (CIM) objects, this representation is not used within protocol operations defined in [MS-WMI]. MOF is defined in [DMTF-DSP0004] section 3. The MOF text encoding is only used for illustrative purposes. The binary encoding can be translated to and from the MOF format.

superclasses and subclasses: Types of Common Information Model (CIM) classes. A subclass is derived from a superclass. The subclasses inherit all features of its superclass but can add new features or redefine existing ones. A superclass is the CIM class from which a CIM class inherits.

Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI): The Microsoft implementation of Common Information Model (CIM), as specified in [DMTF-DSP0004]. WMI allows an administrator to manage local and remote machines and models computer and network objects using an extension of the CIM standard.

MAY, SHOULD, MUST, SHOULD NOT, MUST NOT: These terms (in all caps) are used as defined in [RFC2119]. All statements of optional behavior use either MAY, SHOULD, or SHOULD NOT.