Microsoft® System Center Configuration Manager 2007 Administrators Companion

Appendix C. Understanding Windows Management Instrumentation

Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) is Microsoft’s implementation of Web-Based Enterprise Management (WBEM), an industry initiative adopted by the Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF) to implement a common interface between management applications, such as Configuration Manager, and management entities, such as Configuration Manager objects. Configuration Manager objects include discovery data, client computers, packages, advertisements, sites, and site control information. This common interface is called the Common Information Model (CIM) repository. It defines a standard schema for storing and exposing object data. Providers are components that collect object information from ...