Desktop Management Interface
The Desktop Management Interface (DMI) generates a standard framework for managing and tracking components in a desktop, notebook or server computer, by abstracting these components from the software that manages them. The development of DMI marked the first move by the Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF) into desktop-management standards.[1] Before the introduction of DMI, no standardized source of information could provide details about components in a personal computer.
Due to the rapid development of DMTF technologies, such as Common Information Model (CIM), the DMTF defined an "End of Life" process for DMI, which ended on March 31, 2005.
From 1999, Microsoft required OEMs and BIOS vendors to support the DMI interface/data-set in order to have Microsoft certification.[citation needed]
DMI and SMBIOS
DMI exposes system data (including the System Management BIOS (SMBIOS) data) to management software, but the two specifications function independently.
The SMBIOS Specification addresses how motherboard and system vendors present management information about their products in a standard format by extending the BIOS interface on x86 architecture systems. The information is intended to allow generic instrumentation to deliver this information to management applications that use DMI, CIM or direct access, eliminating the need for error prone operations like probing system hardware for presence detection.
This specification is intended to provide enough information that BIOS developers may implement the necessary extensions to allow the hardware on their products and other system-related information to be accurately determined by users of the defined interfaces. In addition, in cases where the implementer has provided write access to non-volatile storage on the system, some information may be updated by management applications after a system is deployed in the field to record data that persists between system starts.
The specification is also intended to provide enough information for developers of management instrumentation to develop generic routines for translating from SMBIOS format to the format used by their chosen management technology whether it is a DMTF technology like DMI or CIM, or another technology. To support this translation for DMTF technologies, sections of this specification describe the DMI groups and CIM classes intended to convey the information retrieved from an SMBIOS-compatible system through the interfaces described in the document.
SMBIOS 2.5 includes revisions to the standard to address the evolving hardware architecture, including updates to processor information and device descriptions to reflect current technology.
Optional additional services: MIF data and MIF routines
When software queries a memory-resident agent that resides in the background, it responds by sending data in MIFs (Management Information Format) or activating MIF routines. Static data in a MIF would contain items such as model ID, serial number, memory- and port-addresses. A MIF routine could read memory and report its contents.
DMI and SNMP
DMI can co-exist with SNMP and other management protocols. For example, when an SNMP query arrives, DMI can fill out the SNMP MIB with data from its MIF. A single workstation or server can serve as a proxy agent that would contain the SNMP module and service an entire LAN segment of DMI-capable machines.
DMI under Linux
The Linux kernel contains a DMI decoder, and based on matches on DMI information, systems administrators can enable or disable certain workarounds for problems with specific systems.
To read all DMI information, Linux distributions provide the tool dmidecode. It forms part of the pmtools package on some[which?] distributions.
See also
References
- ^
"Definition of: DMI". PC Magazine Encyclopedia. pcmag.com. Retrieved 2009-09-28.
The first desktop management standard from the DMTF.
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External links
- The DMI home page links to repositories of DMI-related information including specifications, support-tools, and the Product Registry of DMI-certified products.
- dmidecode, a tool which decodes DMI tables under Linux, BSD, and Solaris — the site also has links to other system-information-related tools
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