A Practical Approach to WBEM[s]CIM Management

1.

How do you pronounce WBEM?

2.

Are CIM models much harder to understand and to work with than SNMP ones?

3.

Where does WBEM/CIM stand at the moment in terms of industrial acceptance?

1.

The general pronunciation is web-em, as in "I think that I'll WBEM across the head with this dead fish."

2.

CIM models are harder to understand initially. But the rewards are higher ”the language is more expressive, can handle abstractions better, integrates new products tightly with similar existing products and can handle much larger models without becoming cumbersome.

3.

I try to give some serious answers to this question in Appendix A on page 285. More lightheartedly, Figure 3.4 illustrates my observation of the lifecycle of many technologies. I sense that the hype reached its peak around 1999 when the industry press made almost daily announcements that the entire world, including my toaster, would be managed by WBEM/CIM by 2001. A period of sober reconsideration seems to have left us on the gradual upward trend that precedes either enthusiastic industry acceptance or abrupt industry rejection .

Figure 3.4: WBEM/CIM's Informal Enthusiasm Curve

Because there appears to be no competing technology offering the same benefits as WBEM/CIM, I believe that industry will accept rather than reject it.