Importance of WMI Providers
Since the release of the first WMI implementation during the Windows NT 4.0 SP4 era (as an out-of-band download), Microsoft has consistently added WMI providers to Windows. Under Windows NT 4.0, Microsoft had roughly 15 WMI providers available once WMI was installed. When Windows 2000 was released, there were 29 WMI providers as part of the operating system installation. With the release of Windows Server 2003, Microsoft included in the platform more than 80 WMI providers. Windows Vista includes 13 new WMI providers, taking the number close to around 100 in all, and Windows Server 2008 includes some more including providers for IIS 7, PowerShell and virtualization. This has been a sign for many customers that WMI became at Microsoft, the “ubiquitous” management layer of Windows, even if this commitment has never been explicit from Microsoft.
During these last years, due to a constant increasing exposure of management data through WMI in Windows, more and more people in the IT systems management field started to develop scripts and automation procedures based on WMI. Beyond the scripting needs, most leading management software in the world, such as MOM, SMS, ADS, HP OpenView for Windows (HPOV), BMC Software or CA, Inc. are WMI-enabled and capable to consume and provide WMI information through various User Interfaces. This enables administrators and operators not capable of scripting or programming on top of WMI to enjoy the benefits of WMI without even learning about it. However, if they want to, because WMI is scriptable, it gives them the opportunity to consume WMI information from scripts or from any Enterprise Management software that is WMI-aware.
Read more about this topic: Windows Management Instrumentation
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