WMI Scripting Overview

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Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) is a standardized programming interface that manages computers, servers, and networks. Applications and scripts can use WMI to gain access to information about almost any Windows resource, on the local computer or a remote computer. Although the following information focuses on WMI scripting, you can use the Speech Server Administrator console to administer Speech Server. Each tool is appropriate for specific tasks.

• Use the Speech Server Administrator console for simple system tasks, such as starting or stopping a server computer, and to make configuration changes for settings that are exposed in the Administrator console.
• Use WMI scripts for more complex tasks, such as saving and loading configuration settings across multiple servers, stopping and restarting multiple servers, and triggering an action when a server shuts down. For examples of how to use WMI scripting with Speech Server, see WMI Scripting with Speech Server.

Background

WMI was originally released as an add-on component with Microsoft Windows??NT 4.0 Service Pack 4. It is now built into Microsoft Windows XP and the Windows Server 2003 family of operating systems. WMI originated from the Web-based Enterprise Management (WBEM) initiative and the Common Information Model (CIM) adopted by the Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF). WMI includes the managed objects that are defined by CIM as well as extensions to the CIM model for additional information available from the Windows platform. WMI uses a single consistent, standards-based, extensible and object-oriented interface, which makes Speech Server extremely manageable.

Architecture

WMI is organized into three layers:

• The lowest level contains the Windows resource that is managed by WMI. This is the Managed System in the following illustration. In this case, the managed system is Speech Server.
• The middle layer contains the WMI infrastructure, which has three parts:
  • A custom provider, replacing the default Win32 provider. The provider extracts management information from Speech Server and maps it into WMI object classes. This is the Provider in the following illustration.
  • The CIM object manager, which provides services like query processing and security.
  • The CIM Repository, which provides namespaces.
• The top layer contains consumers of WMI data, which are management tools such as Microsoft Management Console (MMC), applications such as Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS), or scripts. This is the Management Application in the following illustration.
  

See Also

Concepts

WMI Scripting with Speech Server