An Introduction to DMTF

Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF) standards enable effective management of IT environments. The organization is composed of companies that collaborate on the development, validation and promotion of infrastructure management standards. DMTF management standards are critical to enabling interoperability among multi-vendor systems, tools and solutions within the enterprise.

DMTF standards enable effective management of IT environments. The organization is composed of industry-leading member companies that collaborate on the development, validation and promotion of infrastructure management standards. These standards specify well-defined interfaces that collectively deliver complete management capabilities. DMTF standard interfaces are critical to enabling interoperability among multi-vendor IT infrastructures, and systems and network management including cloud, virtualization, desktop, network, servers and storage.

DMTF spans the globe with member companies and organizations representing varied industry sectors. Several standards have evolved as a result of the activities of the DTMF. These include:

Web-Based Enterprise Management ( WBEM ), a set of industry standards that an enterprise can use to manage its information operations in the distributed computing environment of the Internet.

Common Information Model ( CIM ), a component of WBEM devoted to the definition of hardware and application characteristics, allowing system administrators and management programs to control devices and applications from multiple manufacturers or sources in the same way.

Alert Standard Format (ASF), a specification that defines the ways in which remote-control and alerting systems and interfaces can most effectively operate.

Systems Management Architecture for Server Hardware (SMASH), a set of specifications for architectural protocols that facilitates the unification and management of data centers.

Systems Management BIOS (SMBIOS), a specification that defines the ways in which system vendors can deliver management information by extending the BIOS interface.

Members of the DMTF obtain access to extensive documentation concerning DMTF standards, initiatives and technologies, as well as the opportunity to become actively involved in their conception and development.