Part 2. WMI in the enterprise

This is where the fun starts. You’ve learned how to use PowerShell and WMI in part 1 of the book. In this second part, we’ll concentrate on solving administrative problems using PowerShell scripts. Lots and lots of scripts.

WMI has been traditionally been used to gather information about computer systems. This where we’ll start with chapter 5, looking at system hardware, peripherals, the operating system, and installed software. Chapter 6 extends this theme by examining the storage systems attached to our computers. We’ll look at performing actions such as defragmentation as well as discovering the disk configuration.

Chapters 7 and 8 examine the registry and filesystem respectively. The management of these two data stores is essential to the well-being of your servers. In chapter 9 we’ll look at how to manage the services and processes you have running.

Chapter 10 looks at printers and chapter 11 focuses on discovering and configuring network adapters and performing other network-related tasks. IIS has a WMI provider that you’ll use in chapter 12; it enables you to configure websites and applications.

In chapter 13, we’ll bring these topics together to configure a server’s name, network, domain, and power plan, among other items.

Chapter 14 looks at security, focusing on what WMI has to offer regarding users and the firewall. Chapter 15 extends the security aspect with a look at event logs. We’ll also consider performance counters.