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DAILY NEWS AND INFORMATION FOR THE GLOBAL GRID COMMUNITY /
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Systems/Enterprise:
DCML ORGANIZATION RELEASES DRAFT 1.0 FRAMEWORK SPECIFICATION
The Data Center Markup Language (DCML) Organization released the first
publicly available draft of the DCML 1.0 Framework Specification at caworld in
Las Vegas. The specification represents a significant milestone for DCML and a
stable base on which DCML subgroups can publish additional specifications.
The DCML 1.0 Framework Specification enables organizations to take the first
step towards utility computing by defining: 1) the conceptual data model in
which data center elements are described and how the data model is extended to
represent those specific elements; 2) the processing rules for interpreting
DCML document instances; 3) the semantics, grammar, structure and other
organizational aspects on which to build environment extensions, such as
networks, servers, applications and services; and 4) relationships with other
standards, such as CIM and WSDM. The specification can be downloaded at
www.dcml.org/specification.asp .
While other organizations focus on standardizing the interfaces for various IT
components (e.g. SNIA for storage, CIM for desktops), the DCML Organization
provides the only overarching specification that addresses a standard data
format for sharing information between all IT management systems and codifying
management policies to enable automation and utility computing. The DCML
Framework Specification defines key concepts and vocabularies for the data
center environment, which will be used by the DCML Working Groups to define
data center components and processes in their respective areas.
The Framework Specification was designed with the following goals:
Interoperability -- DCML provides a common language that can be used by
management systems to express their knowledge of the managed environment. Visibility -- DCML improves the quality of information and the means to
acquire information by providing a common data format. Enable automation -- The DCML vocabulary describes the managed environment
and the policies governing its management in a way that enables tools to
automate cross-system management tasks such as rebuilding after catastrophic
failure. Extensibility -- The DCML Framework defines how new schemas are created to
describe the information necessary to manage new applications, system software
and hardware. Flexibility -- DCML syntax and semantics are flexible in describing logical
and physical concepts. Scalability -- Because the amount of knowledge about a managed environment
can be quite large, DCML enables management systems to export only a subset of
their knowledge. Security -- DCML allows portions of information in management systems to be
encrypted and/or signed. Installed base -- DCML contains provisions that will allow it to work with
all technologies, management systems, and other management standards that make
up data centers. This enables companies to receive the benefits of utility
computing today, with their existing infrastructure.
"By providing a unifying language for utility computing, DCML enables
companies to reduce complexity in their infrastructure while increasing
service levels, and dynamically aligning with business priorities," said Louis
Blatt, president of the DCML Organization. "DCML offers the only
vendor-neutral specification and builds upon existing standards to provide the
core competency of associating assets with services, roles, environment
architecture and IT policies."
DCML is the only open, XML-based standard designed to achieve interoperability
by providing a systematic, vendor-neutral way to describe the data center
environment, functional relationships between data center components, and
policies governing the management of the environment. By creating a blueprint
of the complete data center infrastructure with all of its component
relationships, dependencies, configurations, operational policies and
management processes, DCML gives organizations the power to more efficiently
provision and manage the data center environment. DCML works in conjunction
with existing standards that are focused on addressing specific elements of IT
management, and provides a highly flexible model allowing IT organizations to
capture the knowledge of both current and future managed environments.
Service providers, vendors and end users can submit feedback on the
specification to info@dcml.org .
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