This book helps developers and system administrators understand Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI). For the first time the Windows Operating System employs a unified technology to represent software and hardware management. The power of WMI in systems management stretches to virtually every piece of software and hardware. So regardless of whether youre a team leader, software engineer or system administrator, WMI will probably affect you.
After the introduction, the book starts covering where management technologies/frameworks were (SNMP and DMI) and roughly how they worked and the differences between them. This leads to the reasons why the Desktop Management Task Force (DMTF) defined a protocol/schema called WBEM (Web Based Enterprise Management). Microsoft adopted WBEM and WMI was born. WMI is an implementation of the WBEM standard and it is also consistent with Microsoft's Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) initiative. The book continues to explain how to understand the various class schemas and the WMI tools provided by Microsoft. The class schemas describe virtually every aspect of a network, computer and its operating system together with the installed software. The book then introduces how WMI fits together with all its different building blocks.
From a development point of view, the most important place to start in making your own software/hardware manageable through a standard management environment is learning how to develop a class schema. The book takes a whole two chapters to discuss how to do this.
Accessing the WMI management environment can be achieved a number of ways. The book covers how system administrators can develop script to access and manipulate the management environment. The next part of the book is then focused on how developers can use and access the management environment through both the C++/COM interface and the .net framework. A chapter is also included how application developers can develop their UI management tools for the Microsoft Management Console (MMC). A crucial chapter in the book describes how software and hardware developers can write their own WMI providers. WMI providers are the gateway for developers to expose their own class schema.
Finally, the book covers a very little-known subject of the WMI toolset called Event Tracing. Event Tracing is a very powerful and high performance method of instrumenting applications. It allows applications to expose very detailed information about an operation or task. The operating system uses this technology to expose activity in the Windows kernel, security subsystems and numerous other subsystems
Product Description
Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) is a powerful tool built into Windows which enables organizations to manage servers and user PCs connected to their networks. WMI brings the power of managing a Windows network to unprecedented levels. For example, through WMI an administrator can easily write a script that will identify what service packs have been installed on all the machines in the network. WMI is extremely complicated, however, and difficult to understand. This book is written to provide a thorough understanding of how WMI works, as well as being a handy reference to how to use WMI to its fullest potential. System administrators will learn to develop scripts through WMI to access and manipulate their network. Developers will learn how they can use and access the WMI through both the COM interface and the .NET framework.
Backcover
Craig and Gwyn bring their insight and experience with WMI to explain how easy it is to write powerful management applications through WMI on the .NET platform.
-Andy Cheung, Microsoft WMI Test Engineer
Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) is an impressive technology that provides, for the first time, an integrated approach to hardware and software management for the Windows operating system. Developing WMI Solutions gives administrators and developers the skills necessary to take advantage of the power of WMI with Windows 2000, XP, and .NET Server.
Developing WMI Solutions starts with an overview of the concepts behind systems management. The authors then provide a synopsis of existing management architectures, as well as an explanation of the architectural components of WMI and the tools provided by Microsoft for their use. Also included is a WMI scripting boot camp for administrators using samples in VBScript, plus a series of best practices that give scripts a professional edge.
You will find thorough coverage of such topics as:
The Common Information Model (CIM) Developing CIM extended schemas Management-application development using C++ and COM for WMI MMC snap-in development using C++ and COM, presented as a tutorial WMI providers and the necessary C++ and COM skills needed to expose class schema Developing management applications using the .NET Framework-the first comprehensive guide to the WMI classes in the System.Management namespace Finally, developers will learn about the often undersold but extremely powerful high-performance event-tracing mechanism available in Windows, which allows developers to expose detailed information about operations in an application.
The companion Web site, located at http://www.wbem.co.uk, includes the complete set of code examples found in the book, as well as updates and related articles.
Both a tutorial and a reference, Developing WMI Solutions is an essential companion for network administrators, software developers, and team leaders looking to become proficient with WMI.
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