HP WBEM Services Software Developer's Kit for HP-UX Provider and Client Developer's Guide A.01

CIM Naming Guidelines
Classes
Appendix A116
Classes
Class names are defined within the context of a particular namespace.
Naming conventions for classes help clarify the managed domain a class
is scoped to support. Adhering to the naming conventions also has the
added benefit of making it possible for clients to find class extensions
across the various platforms and devices supported by a vendor.
DMTF Defined Classes
DMTF has established a naming convention for classes wherein each
class is prefixed with CIM_ (an exception to this is the Support schema
classes that begin with PRS_). DMTF names then contain one or more
descriptive words, each of which is begun with an uppercase letter.
Examples include:
• CIM_ManagedSystemElement
• CIM_Service
• CIM_ComputerSystem
• CIM_LogicalDevice
• CIM_EthernetAdapter
• CIM_SoftwareElement
• PRS_ServiceRequester
Where possible it is best to instrument the DMTF classes themselves.
However, that said, one must be very careful in implementing a provider
based on the DMTF class itself. Implementing a provider for the DMTF
CIM_ class assumes there are no required changes to the class (providers
cannot change the definition of a CIM class from a released DMTF
definition). In addition, using the DMTF class implies that the provider
can enumerate all instances of the given class within the namespace. A
second provider implementing a subset of the instances as a subclass of
that DMTF class could result in unexpected and difficult to interpret
results for client applications. Because it is difficult to ensure one would
always know all instances of a DMTF-defined class, some conservative
providers choose to subclass from the DMTF-defined classes.