1.1 Glossary
This document uses the following terms:
activation: In COM, a local mechanism by which a client provides the CLSID of an object class and obtains an object, either an object from that object class or a class factory that is able to create such objects.
amended qualifier: A qualifier whose value can be localized to the desired locale as needed. For example, a description qualifier can be localized to give the description of the subject in the user's locale.
asynchronous operation: An operation executed on the server side. The client continues executing and does not check whether a response is available from the server.
Augmented Backus-Naur Form (ABNF): A modified version of Backus-Naur Form (BNF), commonly used by Internet specifications. ABNF notation balances compactness and simplicity with reasonable representational power. ABNF differs from standard BNF in its definitions and uses of naming rules, repetition, alternatives, order-independence, and value ranges. For more information, see [RFC5234].
authentication level: A numeric value indicating the level of authentication or message protection that remote procedure call (RPC) will apply to a specific message exchange. For more information, see [C706] section 13.1.2.1 and [MS-RPCE].
CIM class: A CIM object that represents a CIM class definition as a CIM object. It is the template representing a manageable entity with a set of properties and methods.
CIM database: A persistent database that holds information about CIM objects and namespaces.
CIM instance: An instantiation of a CIM class representing a manageable entity.
CIM localizable information: The portion of information in a CIM class definition that could be language-specific or country-specific.
CIM method: An operation describing the behavior of a CIM class or a CIM instance. It is generally an action that can be performed against the manageable entity made up of a CIM class.
CIM namespace: A logical grouping of a set of CIM classes designed for the same purpose or sharing a common management objective within the database used to store all CIM class definitions.
CIM object: Refers to a CIM class or a CIM instance.
class identifier (CLSID): A GUID that identifies a software component; for instance, a DCOM object class or a COM class.
client: Identifies the system that consumes WMI services and initiates DCOM ([MS-DCOM]) calls to WMI servers.
Common Information Model (CIM): The Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF) model that describes how to represent real-world computer and network objects. CIM uses an object-oriented paradigm, where managed objects are modeled using the concepts of classes and instances. See [DMTF-DSP0004].
Common Information Model (CIM) class: A collection of Common Information Model (CIM) instances that support the same type, that is, the same CIM properties and CIM methods, as specified in [DMTF-DSP0004].
Common Information Model (CIM) instance: Provides values for the CIM properties associated with the CIM instance's defining CIM class. A CIM instance does not carry values for any other CIM properties or CIM methods that are not defined in (or inherited by) its defining CIM class. For more information, see [DMTF-DSP0004].
Common Information Model (CIM) object: An object that represents a Common Information Model (CIM) object. This can be either a CIM class or a CIM instance of a CIM class.
Common Information Model (CIM) path: A string expression locating a class or an instance of a class in the operating system. The CIM path includes the computer name, the namespace, the name of CIM class, and the unique identifier locating the CIM class or CIM instance.
Common Information Model (CIM) property: Assigns values used to characterize instances of a CIM class. A CIM property can be thought of as a pair of Get and Set functions that, when applied to an object, return state and set state, respectively. For more information, see [DMTF-DSP0004].
Common Information Model (CIM) relative path: A string expression where elements like the computer and/or the namespace of the CIM class and/or CIM instance are not used.
Distributed Component Object Model (DCOM): The Microsoft Component Object Model (COM) specification that defines how components communicate over networks, as specified in [MS-DCOM].
dynamic disk: A disk on which volumes can be composed of more than one partition on disks of the same pack, as opposed to basic disks where a partition and a volume are equivalent.
empty CIM object: A data structure conforming to the Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) serialization model having no properties, method, or derivation.
extrinsic event: An event that is generated by a component outside the implementation.
globally unique identifier (GUID): A term used interchangeably with universally unique identifier (UUID) in Microsoft protocol technical documents (TDs). Interchanging the usage of these terms does not imply or require a specific algorithm or mechanism to generate the value. Specifically, the use of this term does not imply or require that the algorithms described in [RFC4122] or [C706] must be used for generating the GUID. See also universally unique identifier (UUID).
Interface Definition Language (IDL): The International Standards Organization (ISO) standard language for specifying the interface for remote procedure calls. For more information, see [C706] section 4.
interface pointer: A pointer to an interface that is implemented by an [MS-DCOM] object.
intrinsic event: An event that defines an event generated by the implementation itself.
language code identifier (LCID): A 32-bit number that identifies the user interface human language dialect or variation that is supported by an application or a client computer.
manageable entity: A Common Information Model (CIM) instance that represents a manageable component of an operating system.
managed object: The actual item in the system environment that is accessed by the provider, as described in [DMTF-DSP0004].
Microsoft Interface Definition Language (MIDL): The Microsoft implementation and extension of the OSF-DCE Interface Definition Language (IDL). MIDL can also mean the Interface Definition Language (IDL) compiler provided by Microsoft. For more information, see [MS-RPCE].
opnum: An operation number or numeric identifier that is used to identify a specific remote procedure call (RPC) method or a method in an interface. For more information, see [C706] section 12.5.2.12 or [MS-RPCE].
qualifier: Additional information about a class, property, method or method parameter. For example, an abstract qualifier describes that the class is abstract and cannot have instances, an IN qualifier describes the method parameter is used as input parameter.
security principal: A unique entity identifiable through cryptographic means by at least one key. A security principal often corresponds to a human user but can also be a service offering a resource to other security principals. Sometimes referred to simply as a "principal".
security provider: A pluggable security module that is specified by the protocol layer above the remote procedure call (RPC) layer, and will cause the RPC layer to use this module to secure messages in a communication session with the server. The security provider is sometimes referred to as an authentication service. For more information, see [C706] and [MS-RPCE].
Security Support Provider Interface (SSPI): An API that allows connected applications to call one of several security providers to establish authenticated connections and to exchange data securely over those connections. It is equivalent to Generic Security Services (GSS)-API, and the two are on-the-wire compatible.
semisynchronous operation: An operation that is executed on the server side while the client is regularly checking to see if there is no response available from the server.
server: Used to identify the system that implements WMI services, provides management services, and accepts DCOM ([MS-DCOM]) calls from WMI clients.
static CIM object: A CIM class or instance whose content is stored in the CIM database.
static mapping or record: A manually created entry in the database of a NBNS server.
superclasses and subclasses: Types of Common Information Model (CIM) classes. A subclass is derived from a superclass. The subclasses inherit all features of its superclass but can add new features or redefine existing ones. A superclass is the CIM class from which a CIM class inherits.
synchronous operation: An operation that is executed on the server side while the client is waiting for the response message.
Unicode character: Unless otherwise specified, a 16-bit UTF-16 code unit.
universally unique identifier (UUID): A 128-bit value. UUIDs can be used for multiple purposes, from tagging objects with an extremely short lifetime, to reliably identifying very persistent objects in cross-process communication such as client and server interfaces, manager entry-point vectors, and RPC objects. UUIDs are highly likely to be unique. UUIDs are also known as globally unique identifiers (GUIDs) and these terms are used interchangeably in the Microsoft protocol technical documents (TDs). Interchanging the usage of these terms does not imply or require a specific algorithm or mechanism to generate the UUID. Specifically, the use of this term does not imply or require that the algorithms described in [RFC4122] or [C706] must be used for generating the UUID.
Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI): The Microsoft implementation of Common Information Model (CIM), as specified in [DMTF-DSP0004]. WMI allows an administrator to manage local and remote machines and models computer and network objects using an extension of the CIM standard.
WMI Query Language (WQL): A subset of American National Standards Institute Structured Query Language (ANSI SQL). It differs from the standard SQL in that it retrieves from classes rather than tables and returns CIM classes or instances rather than rows. WQL is specified in [MS-WMI] section 2.2.1.
MAY, SHOULD, MUST, SHOULD NOT, MUST NOT: These terms (in all caps) are used as defined in [RFC2119]. All statements of optional behavior use either MAY, SHOULD, or SHOULD NOT.