Collaboration Summit 2013 - Open LMI: Configure. Manage. Monitor.

### Overview In this talk from Collaboration Summit 2013, Steve Gallagher of Red Hat introduces Open LMI (Open Linux Manageability Infrastructure), an initiative aimed at providing a unified, network-accessible public API to configure, manage, and monitor Linux servers locally and remotely. Gallagher highlights the longstanding operational hurdles of Linux system administration: each major subsystem—such as storage, networking, and system services—originated as an independent project with separate configuration semantics, commands, and scripts. Consequently, system administrators must master disparate tools (such as LVM, mdadm, network scripts, and init configurations), creating severe training bottlenecks and talent shortages for enterprises adopting Linux. Open LMI addresses this challenge by establishing consistent, standards-based management abstractions across subsystems.

### Key Topics - **The Fragmented Linux Administration Model:** Disparate tools require local shell or SSH access and distinct command paradigms (e.g., LVM commands versus network config hacking), preventing knowledge transfer between subsystems. - **Open LMI Architectural Philosophy:** Moving away from failed past efforts like Project Matahari (which attempted to introduce brand-new standards), Open LMI builds upon established industry standards—specifically DMTF CIM (Common Information Model)—ensuring compatibility with broader enterprise and hardware management ecosystems. - **Unified Subsystem Integrations:** Leveraging existing robust subsystem tools and libraries—such as Blivet (extracted from the Anaconda installer) for storage, NetworkManager 0.9 for network configuration via D-Bus, and systemd for service monitoring and structured logging. - **LMI Shell and Scriptons:** Addressing the inherent complexity of CIM models by providing a Python-based shell (`LMI shell`) and reusable scriptlets ("scriptons") that wrap common administrative tasks into simple function calls. - **Current Challenges and Collaboration:** Overcoming limitations such as Blivet's bias toward initial system installation over runtime changes (like resizing or snapshotting), lack of standard models for encrypted filesystems (LUX/cryptsetup) and network storage (iSCSI, FCoE), cross-distribution support, and patch management verification across package managers.

### Technical Details Open LMI standardizes on DMTF CIM over HTTP/HTTPS, utilizing HTTP Basic over SSL, mutual certificate authentication, and planned support for SASL/GSSAPI. For storage, it utilizes Blivet, a Python library originally developed as part of Fedora/RHEL's Anaconda installer, alongside coordination with Storage System Manager (SSM) and libstoragemgmt. For networking, Open LMI interfaces with NetworkManager's D-Bus API to guarantee state consistency and support advanced Enterprise networking configurations (e.g., VLANs, bridging, bonding). Service management relies heavily on systemd's lifecycle awareness to reliably detect crashed services and enforce desired running states.

### Takeaways Open LMI aims to bridge the gap between low-level Linux administration and cross-platform enterprise manageability, lowering training barriers for junior administrators and enabling reliable remote automation. However, active community contributions across distributions (beyond Red Hat) are necessary to refine CIM models (particularly for networking and network storage), enhance runtime storage modification in Blivet, and extend unified management to package and patch auditing.