CIM Reference Guide

12 Introduction
• DELL_CMInventory
• DELL_CMOS
• DELL_CMProductInfo
The CIM_ManagedSystemElement class is the base class for the system
element
hierarchy from which all other CIM classes are derived. As a result,
CIM_ManagedSystemElement has no parent. Examples of managed
system elements include software components such as files, devices such as
hard drives and controllers, and physical subcomponents of devices such as
chip sets and
cards. For the CIM_ManagedSystemElement properties, see
Caption, CreationClassName, Description, Name, and Status in Ta b le 1-1
The Dell-defined classes are not defined in the official schema by the DMTF,
the industry group that defines the standards for CIM, and hence do not have
parent classes. CIM_Dependency does
not have a parent class because it is a
relationship or association between two managed system
elements.
Parent Classes
Most classes in the dccim32 provider document both a Class Name and a
Parent Class property. The
parent class is the class from which any given class
inherits its core properties. For example, the CIM_Controller class has the
CIM_LogicalDevice class as its parent, and has various types of
controllers (CIM_ParallelController, CIM_SerialController) as
its children.
Classes That Describe Relationships
Classes that derive from CIM_Dependency have CIM_Dependency as
their parent class, but they are documented in terms of antecedent and
dependent elements in a relationship rather than in terms of common
properties. Consider the following relationship between two
CIM_ManagedSystemElements:
Antecedent CIM_PackageCurrentSensor
Dependent CIM_PhysicalPackage