ICYMI - Year-in-Review

Posted on Thu, 12/12/2024 - 09:28

From the Desk of DMTF President Jeff Hilland

As this year ends, we look back with gratitude and pride on the achievements and milestones that organization has achieved. Our supporters, volunteers, and partners have been instrumental in advancing our mission, allowing us to reach new heights. Each step has been fueled by a commitment of meaningful impact on the industry and, ultimately, the end user. Together, we have much to be proud of. Here's a look back at the highlights, successes, and invaluable contributions that have shaped this year.

Technical Milestones

Redfish

The Redfish Forum made significant progress this year, including:

  • We kicked off 2024 with the Redfish Release 2023.3 in January. This release included 1 new schema and 26 schema updates including a NEW ResolutionStep for providing a recommended step to resolve a condition (fault, error, etc.). To improve developer access to and synchronization with the latest Redfish releases, a new public GitHub repository was created to host copies of the published Redfish schemas and standard message registries.
  • Redfish version 2024.1 was released in May and included four new schemas, 29 schema updates, and additional developer resources. 
  • Continuing its aggressive development of the standard, Redfish version 2024.2 was released in July. This release included 6 schema updates, additional support for NVM Express® (NVMe®) devices, and developer resources. This release was driven by industry needs to synchronize support for NVM Configuration Lock functionality.
  • In September, Redfish 2024.3 was released and included the addition of Time-based One-Time Password secret key handling and 18 schema updates.
  • To check out all of the accompanying Redfish release webinars, visit the Redfish School playlist on our YouTube channel.
  • Redfish 2024.4 is slated for release in January.

PMCI Efforts

The PMCI Working Group has been busy this year. Following are the notable technical milestones for 2024:

  • In February, PMCI announced the availability of its Platform Level Data Model (PLDM) for File Transfer Specification (DSP0242) Work in Progress (WIP). This document enhances the existing PLDM suite of specifications by providing an ability to discover and transfer files within a PLDM Subsystem and defines the messages and data structures to enable this new capability using well known PLDM semantics. 
  • In May, the Working Group released its new MCTP Host Interface Work in Progress and additional Binding Specifications. It announced the availability of its Management Component Transport Protocol (MCTP) Host Interface Specification version 2.0.0 Work In Progress (WIP) (DSP0256), Management Component Transport Protocol (MCTP) Platform Communications Channel (PCC) Transport Binding Specification version 1.0.0 Work In Progress (WIP) (DSP0292).
  • In addition, the previously released Memory-Mapped BMC Interface (MMBI) Specification version 1.0.0 (DSP0282), and Management Component Transport Protocol (MCTP) Memory-Mapped BMC Interface (MMBI) Transport Binding Specification (DSP0284) were also updated.
  • The August, PMCI announced the availability of its Platform Level Data Model (PLDM) for File Transfer Specification 1.0.0 (DSP0242). This specification enhances the existing PLDM suite of specifications by providing an ability to discover and transfer files within a PLDM Subsystem. The specification defines messages and data structures to enable this new capability using well known PLDM semantics.  
  • Also in August, PMCI announced that the Network Controller Sideband Interface (NC-SI) standard has been adopted and published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) as ISO/IEC 24079:2024. In addition to NC-SI, DMTF has a wide breadth of standards that have achieved important international accreditation status. To view the full list, please visit the DMTF ANSI and ISO Adoptions and Alliance Activities page.
  • In October, the Working Group published a presentation, which shares its goals and approach to a common and extensible format for the Field Replaceable Unit (FRU) Data Model Specification. The presentation is a proposal for a minimum common FRU format and access. The FRU Data Format specification (DSP0220) defines a new layout of FRU data at rest (in storage), along with the support of a simple file directory to support multiple aggregate sections of FRU data. To enable wide industry adoption, the new specification will support a variety of data formats for the FRU File and enables compatibility with the legacy IPMI Platform Management FRU Information Storage Definition.

PMCI plans to be just as busy in 2025 and has several more releases planned for its suite of specifications.

SPDM

The SPDM Working Group is responsible for the SPDM standard. This standard enables authentication, attestation and key exchange to assist in providing infrastructure security enablement. The notable milestones for SPDM are:

  • In June, SPDM requested industry feedback on a proposal regarding support of the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) selection of Post Quantum Cryptography (PQC) algorithms in future SPDM specification versions. View the WIP presentation here.
  • Also in June, the organization announced the released an Authorization Work-in-Progress (WIP) presentation that previews a new Authorization Specification (DSP0289) slated for future release. This WIP presentation aims to help address authorization uniformly across SPDM and PMCI standards, DMTF alliance partners, and the industry. Click here to view the presentation.
  • In July, the SPDM Code Task Force announces its latest open source release of libspdm, version 3.4, and is conformant with DSP0274 1.0, 1.1, 1.2 and part of 1.3. There were three notable changes - addition of MEL (GET_MEASUREMENT_EXTENSION_LOG), support for Secured Messages using SPDM Specification DSP0277 1.2, MbedTLS 3.0. The 3.X version of MbedTLS is not compatible with the older 2.X versions; this will help with future versions and represents a considerable amount of work. Click here to learn more. 
  • In September, the Working Group released the SPDM to Storage Binding Specification Work-in-Progress (DSP0286 1.0.0WIP90), which defines the format of SPDM messages over storage protocols. This specification will bind SPDM messages (DSP0274) and SPDM Secured Messages (DSP0277) to storage protocols.
  • Also, in September, SPDM released the SPDM Binding over Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) 1.0.0 (DSP0287), which specifies binding SPDM messages to TCP. The scope of this specification binds Out-of-Session SPDM messages and In-Session SPDM messages to TCP and further defines the transport specific details.
  • Kicking off the fall, the SPDM Code Task Force announced the release of libspdm, version 3.5 in October. It is conformant with DSP0274 1.0, 1.1, 1.2 and part of 1.3. There were notable changes. To read about the changes click here.

SPDM has several more releases planned for 2025. Stay tuned!

The Security Response Task Force (SRTF)

  • SRTF is hard at work within the organization’s Technical Committee. The Task Force, under the direction of the TC, the SRTF is responsible for the coordination and management of reported security issues or vulnerabilities related to DMTF standards or DMTF open-source sample implementations. 

To stay updated on any security announcements about DMTF standards, make sure that you have at least one representative from your company signed up through Git Hub and following the announcements here.

SMBIOS

SMBIOS is one of the most widely used IT standards in the world, simplifying the management of more than two billion client and server systems since its release in 1995.

  • In August, the SMBIOS Working Group released Version 3.8 of the SMBIOS Reference Specification. SMBIOS 3.8 adds support or updates for current technologies.

CIM Forum

Alliances

Our Alliance Partner program continues to benefit the industry overall.

  • In March, DMTF held its annual event, the 2024 Alliance Partner Technical Symposium (APTS). The sixteenth annual APTS was held on Monday, March 11 through Thursday, March 24, 2024. It was a hybrid event, with the option to attend in person in Manitou Springs, Colorado or to attend virtually. Led by DMTF's VP of Alliances John Leung, the event featured collaborative working group meetings and keynote speakers.

Education and Events

  • DMTF continued its dedication to industry outreach and education with updated educational materials, YouTube videos, and attendance at several industry events.
  • The organization’s “Redfish School” YouTube series continues to be popular with viewers. In May, we published a new tutorial video focused on the Conformance Testing with Redfish. Stay tuned for more videos in 2025!
  • Have you attended a Redfish release webinar? Ongoing support to implementors of the Redfish standard, the Redfish Forum webinar series is timed with each release of the standard. Attendees are invited to join a live webinar, hosted via Zoom, where the Forum chairs present the contents of the latest release followed by a Q&A session. Each webinar is then added to our Redfish School playlist on the DMTF YouTube channel.
  • DMTF specifications can be found in millions of products, but most people have no idea which products support our standards. We have created a webpage where companies can showcase which standards they have adopted or implemented.
  • DMTF executives, technology representatives and standards were highlighted in several events:
    • SNIA SDC
    • OCP Global Summit
    • Manageability Workshop presented by DMTF at the OCP Global Summit
    • SC24
  • New this year, DMTF hosted a Manageability Workshop at this year’s OCP Global Summit.  The workshop featured the latest updates on infrastructure management and security from DMTF member companies, many of which are also active in OCP projects around hardware management, security, and open-source development. Attendees learned about the latest information as well as unpublished developments that affect the OCP manageability and security community from industry experts at DMTF and the industry. There were updates on Redfish Telemetry and Tools, OpenBMC, GPU management, SPDM, as well as the latest information on MCTP, PLDM and FRU enhancements. Many of these updates affect the control plane as well as the data plane in products in the industry.
  • Did you know DMTF’s Education area offer visitors direct navigation and access to new materials? Did you know it also highlights the latest educational information and featured resources and provides visitors with a broad collection of information and most recent materials? The Education landing page showcases key resources, which changes on a regular basis, and visitors will also find pages for Presentations, White Papers and Webinars – all of which update automatically when DMTF shares new content. In addition, there are pages for Open Source information and Newsletter sign-up. 
  • We would be remiss if we didn’t mention the retirement of two integral volunteers, Kimon Berlin and Mike Walker. 
    • Kimon retired from HP (after 30 years with the company!) and worked tirelessly on several releases of the SMBIOS specification and SMBIOS related CIM Schema development. He also co-chaired the SMBIOS working group for numerous years. 
    • Mike, who has been retired from the corporate world for several years, leaves behind a legacy at DMTF. As a fellow since 2015, Mike has been a dedicated member and worked on countless specifications that have significantly impacted the industry, most notably CIM. His leadership as chair of the CIM Schema Task Force for many years is a testament to his commitment.

We can’t thank them enough for their dedication and commitment to the organization.

Final Thoughts

Together, we have achieved significant milestones in creating meaningful standards that address industry needs and solve challenges for the end user. We are proud of our valued volunteers and their achievements. Without their hard work, none of this would be possible. We would also like to extend our gratitude to our alliance partners. Our close collaboration with SNIA, OCP, PICMG, TCG, CXL Consortium, and others has been instrumental in creating standards within the platform (MCTP, PLDM, SMBIOS, SPDM) and facilitating communication between the platform and management clients (Redfish, CIM). We value all our industry and organizational relationships.

As we look ahead to 2025, we want to express our deep gratitude to our member companies, volunteers, as well as our alliance and industry partners. Your ongoing commitment to the organization is invaluable, and we are excited about the potential for future collaboration. We look forward to continuing our work together. As always, thank you for the continued hard work and dedication.