Desktop Management Interface

<h2 id="dmi-and-smbios">DMI and SMBIOS</h2>
<p>DMI exposes system data (including the <a href="/facts/System_Management_BIOS/VCyq6Igd">System Management BIOS</a> (SMBIOS) data) to management software, but the two specifications function independently.
</p><p>DMI is commonly confused with SMBIOS, which was actually called DMIBIOS in its first revisions.
</p>
<h2 id="optional-additional-services-mif-data-and-mif-routines">Optional additional services: MIF data and MIF routines</h2>
<p>When software queries a memory-resident agent that resides in the background, it responds by sending data in MIFs (<a href="/facts/Management_Information_Format/3xmtrK6g">Management Information Format</a>) or activating MIF routines. Static data in a MIF would contain items such as model ID, serial number, memory- and port-addresses. A MIF routine could read memory and report its contents.
</p>
<h2 id="dmi-and-snmp">DMI and SNMP</h2>
<p>DMI can co-exist with <a href="/facts/Simple_Network_Management_Protocol/UNYPVA1C">SNMP</a> and other management protocols. For example, when an SNMP query arrives, DMI can fill out the SNMP <a href="/facts/Management_information_base/TkmY9uqy">MIB</a> with data from its MIF. A single workstation or server can serve as a proxy agent that would contain the SNMP module and service an entire <a href="/facts/Local_area_network/edUDxJ6J">LAN</a> segment of DMI-capable machines.
</p>
<h2 id="see-also">See also</h2>
<ul><li><a href="/facts/Dmidecode/VCyq6Igd">dmidecode</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Desktop_management/WeVTSKrr">Desktop management</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Lspci/vns2vJS0">lspci</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/System_Management_BIOS/VCyq6Igd">System Management BIOS</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Web-Based_Enterprise_Management/3lzqbFqq">Web-Based Enterprise Management</a> (WBEM)</li>
<li><a href="/facts/WS-Management/JJjUj7sy">WS-Management</a></li></ul>

<h2 id="further-reading">Further reading</h2>

<ul><li>Tunstall, Craig; Gwyn Cole (2003). <i>Developing WMI Solutions: A Guide to Windows Management Instrumentation</i>. Addison-Wesley Professional. <a href="/facts/ISBN_(identifier)/15AdSPa9">ISBN</a> 0201616130.</li></ul>

<h2 id="external-links">External links</h2>
<ul><li>The <a href="http://www.dmtf.org/standards/dmi/">DMI home page</a> links to repositories of DMI-related information including specifications, support-tools, and the Product Registry of DMI-certified products.</li>
<li><a href="http://linux.die.net/man/8/dmidecode">Linux man page for dmidecode</a></li>
<li><a href="https://github.com/linuxhw/DMI">Large collection of decoded DMI tables for various computer models</a></li></ul>

<h2 id="references">References</h2>

<ol>
<li id="fn:1"><p>"Desktop Management Interface Specification" (PDF). Distributed Management Task Force. 24 June 1998. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 October 2012. Retrieved 28 September 2018. This document describes the Desktop Management Interface, or DMI, that acts as a layer of abstraction between these two worlds <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20121020163100/https://www.dmtf.org/sites/default/files/standards/documents/DSP0001.pdf" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20121020163100/https://www.dmtf.org/sites/default/files/standards/documents/DSP0001.pdf</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:2"><p>"Definition of: DMI". PC Magazine Encyclopedia. pcmag.com. Archived from the original on 9 October 2012. Retrieved 2009-09-28. The first desktop management standard from the DMTF. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20121009004206/https://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia_term/0,2542,t=Desktop+Management+Interface&i=41608,00.asp" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20121009004206/https://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia_term/0,2542,t=Desktop+Management+Interface&i=41608,00.asp</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:3"><p>"DMI | dmtf.org". www.dmtf.org. Retrieved 2021-04-19. Due to the rapid advancement of DMTF technologies, such as CIM, DMTF defined an end of life  process for its Desktop Management Interface (DMI), which concluded March 31, 2005. <a href="https://www.dmtf.org/standards/dmi" target="_blank">https://www.dmtf.org/standards/dmi</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
</ol>

Desktop Management Interface open-in-new

Desktop Management Interface