Since its first debut System Center Configuration manager and its predecessors have been relying heavily on the Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) architecture. WMI is omni-present is System Center Configuration Manager, from queries over dynamic collections, through hardware inventory and storing client and Management Point settings and policies, under the hood you will find WMI just about anywhere. Given this omni-presence it should come as no surprise that the stability of WMI at your Site Systems and clients is crucial to a stable System Center Configuration Manager implementation. Knowing WMI, by consequence, is a great asset to any System Center Configuration Administrator. In this session you will learn the ins-and-outs of the WMI architecture in general and how it applies to System Center Configuration Manager. You’ll learn about the available namespaces and classes and the extended WMI Query language (WQL) that is specific to System Center Configuration Manager. This session will cover the tools available to have a peak at WMI yourself as well as to the WMI-related tool called policy spy that comes with the System Center Configuration Manager toolkit. By the end of this session you’ll know what the WMI architecture looks like, how System Center Configuration Manager uses it, and how you can use that knowledge to your advantage, be it to be able to better troubleshoot System Center Configuration Manager issues, better understand the product, or to automate tasks through scripting or programming. In the end this session will make you a better System Center Configuration Manager administrator.
Speaker: Kim Oppalfens – MVP SCCM