CIM agent concepts

This information describes the basic terminology and functions of the Common Information Model (CIM) agent object models.

The CIM agent specifications use the following concepts and terminology to describe the object models.

Association
A class with two references that define a relationship between two referenced objects.
Class
The definition of an object within a specific hierarchy. An object class can have properties and methods and serve as the target of an association.
Indication
An object representation of an event.
Instance
An individual object that is the member of a class. In object-oriented programming, an object that is created by instantiating a class.
Managed Object Format (MOF)
A language for defining Common Information Model (CIM) schemas.
Method
A way to implement a function on a class.
Namespace
The scope within which a CIM schema applies.
Object path
An object that consists of a namespace path and a model path. The namespace path provides access to the CIM implementation that the CIM agent manages, and the model path provides navigation within the implementation.
Property
An attribute that is used to characterize instances of a class.
Qualifier
A value that provides additional information about a class, association, indication, method, method parameter, instance, property, or reference.
Reference
A pointer to another instance that defines the role and scope of an object in an association.
Schema
A group of object classes that are defined for and applicable to a single namespace. Within the CIM agent, the supported schemas are the ones that are loaded through the Managed Object Format (MOF) compiler.