System architects and engineers in fields such as storage networking, desktop computing, electrical power distribution, and telecommunications need a common and flexible way of managing heterogeneous devices and services. Web-Based Enterprise Management (WBEM) and its Component Information Model (CIM) provide the architecture, language, interfaces, and common models for the management of storage, computing, and telecommunication applications. Now there is a practical guide for those who design or implement the emerging WBEM systems or produce a CIM model of a device or service. "A Practical Approach to WBEM/CIM Management" describes in detail WBEM/CIM architecture and explores the standard models developed by the Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF). It explores the interfaces with which your WBEM/CIM code will have to work, and offers examples of applicable models and related code. This book introduces the components of WBEM architecture, defines models within CIM, and illustrates communication between the WBEM client and server. It also investigates transitioning from SNMP or proprietary systems to WBEM/CIM. Realizing that the field is undergoing a period of massive growth and change, the author focuses primarily on the areas which have been standardized and which differ little between implementations. He does, however, provide coding examples using the open Pegasus implementation, demonstrating concepts common to other C++ and Java-based implementations.