SNIA Developer Conference September 15-17, 2025 | Santa Clara, CA
SMI Architecture
The SMI Architecture is based on Web-Based Enterprise Management (WBEM) from the Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF). The architecture is a client-server model that uses CIM-XML as the protocol. The client interface is the combination of the operations (e.g. get, modify, delete, enumerate, ...) defined in CIM-XML and the model defined in the Storage Management Initiative Specification (SMI-S). The model is defined using the Common Information Model (CIM) and based on the CIM Schema. The CIM is an object oriented model based on the Unified Modeling Language (UML). Managed elements are represented as CIM Classes that include properties and methods to represent management data and functions. The CIM Schema is a DMTF implementation of CIM that includes many classes needed in an IT environment, such as computer systems, networking, applications, storage, etc. The following diagram describes the high level SMI Architecture followed by the definitions of each component.
| SMI Client | An SMI Client is a WBEM Client that supports the CIM-XML protocol to manage SMI Implementations. | |
| SMI Listener | An SMI Listener is a specialized client that can process indications (e.g. event information) received from a WBEM Server. An SMI Listener may be embedded into an SMI Client or standalone. | |
| SMI Implementation |
An SMI Implementation is the combination of a WBEM Server and SMI Providers. | |
| WBEM Server | A WBEM Server is responsible for the communications (protocol), request routing, indication delivery (i.e. event handling) and management of SMI Providers. | |
| SMI Providers |
An SMI Provider will use an instrumentation Application Programming Interface (API) to communicate with the device to retrieve information and convert the information to the CIM format. An SMI Provider is responsible for responding to WBEM Server requests and indication delivery. In most cases, there is one provider for each CIM Class supported. | |