Understanding WMI Scripting: Exploiting Microsoft’s Windows Management Instrumentation in Mission-Critical Computing Infrastructures (HP Technologies)

Unnecessarily Complicated
I’ll start by saying that there are are some very valuable chapters in this text and I’ll be keeping the book; but it will never be a primary resource. I’ll grant you that WMI is a complicated topic, but when you’re goal is to produce a book designed to introduce you to WMI scripting, you should really find a way to present the information in a straightforward and uncomplicated manner. One problem with writing a how-to book on WMI scripting is that your work is inevitably compared against someone else’s. The author of this book without question brings complete understanding and vast experience, but has presented (somewhat dryly) so much dense information in the way of origin, concept, theory, aspects, etc (and none of it presented in a graduating fashion), that someone looking at this title as an introduction and guide to WMI scripting will probably be turned off (you’re at page 267 before any actual scripting starts). The required information a developer / scripter needs to understand to utilize WMI within their environment has already been shown by Microsoft’s Scripting Guys in their free on-line WMI Scripting Primer (Microsoft Windows 2000 Scripting Guide) to be straightforward, uncomplicated, and easy to understand.If you are interested enough in scripting to think of adding WMI to your development repertoire, then it stands to reason that you know how to script. Despite this, the author has chosen to include a remedial beginning scripting overview that takes up the first 118 pages. As with many titles that tack on an introduction to scripting, it will not leave the newly indoctrinated with a solid foundation. Once you move into the WMI section itself, the technical information and examples are quite often delivered in a way appropriate for product documentation, but difficult for a learning text. Take the introduction of MOF files as an example. The reader is only 25 pages into learning anything about WMI (you’re in the history and overview section), and before you’re taught how to even programmatically access the default environment, the author explains how to extend it with customized classes. 10 sentences to cover what a MOF file is, followed by 4.5 pages of a MOF file example. It also needs to be understood that this is a two part text. The author has written two books in this series, and this is the first of them. It is pointed out numerous times within the chapters that such and such is covered in the other text. Lastly, none of the SDKs, utilities, or scripts used in the text are provided. You need to download them from both the author’s web site, as well as the URLs printed in the specific chapter’s summary section.That said, this title is worth the purchase for some of the reference tables and sections within it. Overviews of WMI SDK tools and how to leverage them, a guide to the WMI Query Language, and many of the (relatively lengthy) WMI extension script examples make this title a good advanced “reminder” reference. But if you’re looking for a true introduction to WMI scripting, start with the Microsoft WMI Scripting Primer then focus on titles that provide administration using WMI before picking up this book.