Knowledge Base

Table of Contents:

1. Differentiate Systems Management Acronyms like WMI, BEM and CIM
2. Test WMI with wmimgmt.msc
3. Test WMI with WBEMTEST.exe

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This article provides information on how to differentiate Systems Management protocols and test for connectivity of Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI).

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Issue 1: Differentiate Systems Management Acronyms like WMI, BEM and CIM

Windows Management instrumentation (WMI) is one of the extension sets for client server communication. To make this as simple as possible, it is enough to say that WMI is a Windows expression of Web based Enterprise Management (WBEM). The infrastructure for the Common interface model (CIM), is the schema that acts as the skeleton, upon which WMI operates. For the purposes of simple testing, WMI, CMI and WBEM are all being tested when we perform the steps below.

WMI is a way for Windows servers to allow management information to be collected and shared in the environment. WMI finds applications in Systems Management, Windows Server client server polling, Small Business Server Console communications, and many others. If this function is blocked by firewalls and antivirus, you may see specific problems with reporting on those client machines that are blocked. This article familiarizes you with the tools to test underlying protocols.

For more information on Windows Based Systems Management, refer to the Wikipedia article Web-Based Enterprise Management.

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Issue 2: Test WMI with wmimgmt.msc

The Basic WMI test is to verify you can connect to the WMI namespace. Once the Server connects to itself, It is then possible to do the same on the client. The client can be tested to verify the server/client connection works. Microsoft has a stand alone download to perform WMI testing.

The download is available at the Microsoft TechNet Web Site: The WMI Diagnosis Utility -- Version 2.1

Microsoft also has a good document on how to carry out the testing. This information can be found at the TechNet Performance Team blog located here: Basic WMI Testing

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Issue 3: Test WMI with WBEMTEST.exe

WBEM Test is a way to connect to the WMI namespace. With the minimum amount of complexity , you can test the connection to the most basic namespaces to verify a connection to the server and to the client machines. In this example, the test is limited to the root namespace and Dell namespace. Consult your vendor documentation for your specific needs to determining if they use a defined namespace.

Namespace examples are illustrated by these connection strings:

1. \\root\cimv2
2. \\root\cimv2\dell
3. \\192.168.2.1\root\cimv2
4. \\servername\root\cimv2\dell
5. \\root\cimv2\dellomci

To connect, simply to to the start menu in Windows and go to start->run->wbemtest. "Wbemtest" is a graphical user interface used to connect to the five namespace types above. The service should run as a local system account. However, the logged in user account may be used as credentials to connect to certain names spaces. Experiment using different logins to test permissions using wbemtest.

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