“How can I get started with OpenLMI?”
From one perspective there is an easy answer – start using LMIShell scripts and lmi commands to manage systems.
At the other extreme you can write a complete OpenLMI Provider.
With the availablity of LMIShell there is another answer – to develop a program or script that builds on the OpenLMI infrastructure to do useful work. Developing client tools in LMIShell provides an easy entry point to learning OpenLMI and understanding how to apply it to more complex problems. Using Python or Java you can develop reasonably small programs that do interesting things. With the examples contained in the LMIshell scripts and the OpenLMI API documentation you have everything you need to learn by doing.
Experience has shown us that the greatest challenge in using OpenLMI is understanding the underlying object model and the low level API. LMIShell provides a task-oriented interface that is easier to learn and use. After starting with LMIShell you can look inside the LMIShell scripts and see how they work with the low level API. Starting from the top down, getting immediate results, and learning by doing makes OpenLMI much more approachable. Working with LMIShell and high level interfaces to accomplish useful tasks is a great help to using OpenLMI for system management and even for doing complex tasks such as developing OpenLMI Providers.
We have added some suggestions for interesting projects to the Sandbox page on the OpenLMI web site. These are interesting, useful projects that you might consider as a starting point. Most are designed to be implemented in Python on top of LMIShell However, if you prefer, there is nothing stopping you from implementing them in Java – or even “C” or C++! Some of them are very straightforward and some are a bit more complex. If nothing else, these might give you some ideas for your own project.
Speaking of which, if you have any ideas for interesting and useful project built on OpenLMI, please propose them!
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