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July Issue of the Taos Newsletter: Systems Management and Remote Management
Using
Remote Management to Ensure Productivity and Keep Up with Customer
Demands
By Brian Higginbotham, Remote Management Architect
with a Fortune 500 Company
Remote management is essential to IT professionals for maintaining
efficiency and pro-activeness in the IT enterprise. Technologies
such as Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI), Systems Management
Server (SMS), Group Policy Objects (GPO), and Windows Scripting
Host (WSH) are available to IT professionals to automate many of
the routine tasks in managing a Windows enterprise. An IT professional
that has experience/knowledge in these technologies will become
a valuable asset to any corporation.
The Technologies
WBEM
Web Based Enterprise Management (WBEM) is a Desktop Management
Task Force led initiative where Microsoft, Compaq, Dell and other
companies have directional roots in the initiative. The goal of
WBEM is to provide a common framework for managing computing devices.
Microsoft’s implementation of the WBEM specification is called
Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI.)
WMI provides an abstraction and common language, Windows Query
Language (WQL), to retrieve data from the underlying WMI providers.
A WMI provider is a set of classes that define and allow interaction
with functionalities defined in classes. For instance, the CIMWin32
provider hosts numerous classes that define how to manage the Win32
Operating System. An example of a class is Win32_OperatingSystem
where IT administrators can retrieve data about the installed Operating
System or perform medial tasks such as rebooting the computer.
One critical feature of WMI is the ability to interact with local
and remote computers through DCOM. A WQL query that returns data
or a script that reboots a local computer can easily run on a remote
computer by simply changing the target.
For instance, the following script connects to WMI on the local
machine and reboots the computer:
Set collOS=GetObject("Winmgmts:{(RemoteShutdown)}!\\.\root\cimv2").ExecQuery("Select
* from Win32_OperatingSystem where Primary='True'")
For Each Instance in collOS
Wscript.echo "About to reboot
computer.."
Instance.Reboot()
Next
The same query will reboot a remote machine with a simple change
to the WMI moniker:
Set collOS=GetObject("Winmgmts:{(RemoteShutdown)}!\\<RemoteMachine>\root\cimv2").ExecQuery("Select
* from Win32_OperatingSystem where Primary='True'")
For Each Instance in collOS
Wscript.echo "About to reboot computer.."
Instance.Reboot()
Next
Another Benefit of WMI is to handle events from the operating
system. WMI accomplishes this through an event provider framework
for signaling events. Two types of events are possible: Intrinsic
Events and Extrinsic Events. Intrinsic events are built into WMI
where as Extrinsic events occur from an external event provider
(Written separately by a WMI developer.)
Intrinsic events are usually high cost events that work by taking
a snapshot at a given interval and compare the snapshot to fire
the event. For instance, I can request that WMI watch for events
in a 5 second interval on a MSNDIS_MediaConnectStatus (ie A Network
Interface connection status changes.) The following WQL query perform
this for us:
Select * from __InstanceModificationEvent
within 5 where TargetInstance ISA ‘MSNDIS_MediaConnectStatus’
The above event will detect changes every 5 seconds and the cost
is that WMI must process the same query every 5 seconds and store
the prior results for comparing on the next interval. Deltas from
the comparison will fire to the event consumer that registered
the event for additional logic.
Two types of events are commonly used: Temporary Event Consumers
and Permanents Event Consumers. The difference between these consumers
is that a Temporary Event Consumer ends when the process terminates
and a Permanent event consumer is registered with WMI via MOF,
Management Object Format, syntax. Hence the permanent event runs
in the WMI process, which is always alive (At least as long as
the WMI service is up and running.)
Although event consumers are important in WMI, they are beyond
the scope of this document. You can read about event consumers
online at http://msdn.microsoft.com.
Systems Management Server
Systems Management Server is a Microsoft product
that provides enterprise management of your Windows environment.
SMS provides many interfaces to automate routine tasks such as:
- Hardware and Software Inventory
- Software Distribution with elevated rights to heterogeneous
Windows Operating Systems
- Software Metering for application usage statistics
- Remote Troubleshooting tools such as remote control and remote
assistance management
Hardware and Software Inventory
SMS uses enterprise standards such as WMI to retrieve a common
and consistent data set from computing devices. With the power
of WMI, SMS is able to extend its framework dynamically through
MOF syntax. For instance, SMS can update clients to collect new
hardware inventory through the MOF. As an FYI, there are over 900
WMI classes for collecting data and by default SMS leverages 200ish
classes. Additionally, the SMS client agent retrieves software
inventory from clients based on site settings (ie What files should
SMS scan *.exe, *.dll etc..) All of this data is collected on preset
intervals and viewed on the SMS primary site server (i.e. Database
serve).
Software Distribution with elevated rights to heterogeneous
Windows Operating Systems
Any IT organization can benefit from using SMS to automate routine
tasks. For instance, one can set a software distribution rule that
targets Windows XP Professional Workstations with a Service Pack
1 package. From a central console, one can view the progress of
the Windows XP Professional service pack distribution. Instead
of focusing time on manually installing software or looking for
failed installations, one can now focus on where the service pack
installations failed or in other areas. Additionally, the SMS system
can send common application installs to a range of different Windows
operating systems.
Software Metering for Application Usage Statistics
Software metering allows IT organizations to track what software
is currently being used on computing devices. In SMS 2003 the software
metering component was re-written to provide only application usage
information. Application usage is tracked through process creation
and termination events and reported on custom intervals as setup
in the SMS console. For instance, an IT organization may want to
view the use of Microsoft Visio on workstations in the Denver office.
The SMS administrator would setup a rule for monitoring application
usage on the Visio package and the data would collect on scheduled
inventory intervals and is viewable in the central SMS database.
Now the IT organization is empowered to view what software is currently
in use and make licensing decisions accordingly.
Remote troubleshooting tools such as Remote
Control and Remote Assistance Management
Remote Troubleshooting is crucial in the IT enterprise to drive
down the cost of ownership. It is much easier to resolve a BKM
or customer related issue by using remote control interfaces than
to send a physical PC technician to workstations. Remote manageability
will require these remote tools to ensure efficiency and effectiveness
in the IT enterprise.
The SMS system provides a fat remote control
that in today’s
technology should be used as a last resort given the speed of the
remote control agent. In addition, SMS provides a common interface
to issue Remote control to workstations through the SMS console.
For instance, the SMS console can use RDP through the Remote Desktop
interface or use a Remote Assistance call or use the native SMS
remote control. The key differences on these technologies are as
follows:
Remote Desktop is not a customer interaction remote control.
Use this only to troubleshoot the problem remotely as a technician
(ie Without the end-user viewing the session.)
Remote Assistance is a peer-to-peer customer interactive session.
Since the session is peer-to-peer, the end user will see everything
the technicians sees. Although, the technician is limited to the
end-users desktop and can not span logons.
SMS Remote control is a slower interface but will span logons.
For instance, a Technician can log the user off the workstation
and log in under the technician rights or troubleshoot an issue
with the users logon credentials (i.e. when the user logs into
the desktop).
Other Technologies For Managing the
Windows Enterprise
For the sake of clarity, there are many remote administration
software technologies.
A few technologies such as Windows Scripting Host and/or Group
Policy Object are available to manage the dynamic computing environment:
Windows Scripting Host – Scripting interface
that provides access to WMI and other areas. For instance, I
can use VBScript to access WMI information.
Group Policy Object – Active Directory
policy conformance that can use WMI filters to selectively apply
GPOs. For instance, I can tell a GPO to apply on to Windows XP
Professional workstations.
Summary
Let’s face it - IT professionals are plagued with reacting
to problems. And we live in an “event rich” world where
computing devices are begging to be managed proactively. The key
challenge as an IT professional is to use the right tools for the
right issues. Without remote management tools, it is impossible
to keep up with customer demands and ultimately ensure productivity
with the computing devices. On the other hand, when armed with
the right tools, the IT professional can proactively warn end-users
about impending failures or make capacity planning decisions based
on factual data. The technologies and tools presented above enable
IT professionals to make those right decisions.
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