July 1999

Microsoft Management Console

Traditionally, we describe computer systems by their physical attributes such as size, speed, and capacity. In today's world of highly distributed computing, however, users now see their computers in terms of functionality, namely instant information and comprehensive services. To manage these systems effectively from the perspective of end users, you must balance and integrate centralized and decentralized control, ensure the highest service availability and quality of service, and minimize the total cost of ownership. Network administrators have usually had to rely on various management tools that offered no integration and often presented wildly inconsistent user interfaces. Moreover, there were no comprehensive, documented, consistent programming interfaces that other independent software vendors (ISV) or in-house developers could use to develop management tools that would integrate into an existing interface.

In this article, we'll introduce Microsoft Management Console (MMC), one of Microsoft's ongoing initiatives for solving this management dilemma. MMC's main goal is to support simplified administration through integration, delegation, task orientation, and overall interface simplification, thereby solving both administrator and user management problems.

What's MMC?

Microsoft Management Console (MMC) is an ISV-extensible, common console framework for management applications. MMC is part of Windows NT and runs on NT 4.0 and later versions or Windows 9x. MMC enables developers to create of a set of integrated tools, each of which perform a specific task. Taken by itself, MMC is only a container, often referred to as the tool host. MMC doesn't provide any management behavior, but it does provide a common environment for snap-ins, which can be provided by Microsoft, ISVs, and in-house developers. Snap-ins, which are extensions to the tool host, add the actual management functionality.

The MMC environment is the common link between snap-ins and it provides for integration between snap-ins--even those developed by different vendors. By selecting specific snap-ins and combining them, you can create consoles exactly tailored to your management needs. You can then save the tools you've created for later use or for sharing with other administrators. As a further benefit, the groups of snap-ins that you save as a tool can be forwarded to others delegated to perform specific tasks. Any time you re-open a tool you've created, it will be in the state that you last saved it.

MMC is a core part of Microsoft's management strategy. In the NT 4.0 Option Pack, MMC snap-ins are provided for Internet Information Server, Microsoft Transaction Server, Microsoft Index Server, Simple Mail Transport Protocol (SMTP), and Network News Transport Protocol (NNTP). Two snap-ins are included with SNA Server. Microsoft has over 80 snap-ins currently under development, some of which will ship with the release of Windows 2000.

Snap-ins come in two flavors: stand-alone and extension. A stand-alone snap-in provides functionality even if it's loaded alone in a console that contains no other snap-ins. An extension snap-in, on the other hand, provides functionality only when invoked by a parent snap-in. An extension snap-in can add nodes to the namespace or just extend existing nodes with new menus, toolbars, property pages, wizards, or Help screens.

Getting MMC

You can obtain your own copy of the Microsoft Management Console in several ways. MMC is automatically installed when you install a management tool that requires it. Install IIS from the NT 4 Option Pack, for example, and MMC 1.0 comes along for the ride. You can also download MMC 1.0 directly from Microsoft's Web site. The updated version, MMC 1.1, is also available in a limited number of languages. To download the 2-MB, self-installing file, point your browser to the MMC home page at

www.microsoft.com/management/mmc/default.htm

This page includes links to an MMC overview, an author's guide, development information, an FAQ sheet, and the snap-in gallery. The gallery, however, lists only MS released snap-ins.

The MMC view

Microsoft Management Console looks and works much like NT Explorer. It provides a single console into which you can integrate the tools, information, and views of your network that you decide you need to perform some particular administrative task. MMC is started automatically when you administer an application that uses snap-ins. When you start the Internet Service Manager for Internet Information Server (IIS) 4.0, for example, an MMC console starts and loads the Internet Service Manager snap-in. After you've installed MMC, start an empty console by selecting Start | Run and typing MMC.EXE. When MMC appears, you'll start with a clean console showing only a Console Root folder, as shown in Figure A.

Figure A: The two-pane window used by the Microsoft Management Console should be familiar to anyone who has used Explorer.

Each console in MMC includes one or more windows and each window has two panes. The tree view of the namespace is shown in the left pane and is called the scope pane. The namespace is simply the hierarchy of the items that can be managed by MMC. Each item (or node) can represent an object, task, or container.

When you select a node in the namespace, MMC displays the results of that selection in the right pane, which is called the results pane. A result can be a list of what's contained in the item you select, a Web page providing management information, or it can be a different kind of management view, such as a property page or performance monitor graph. By acting on the contents of the right pane--changing options or executing commands--you can administer the network.

Each time you add a snap-in to the console, it adds nodes to the namespace. You can also add items such as folders, links to Web pages, and ActiveX controls directly to the namespace, allowing your console to link to other Web pages or products.

You can also open multiple windows within a console, each with a different view of the current namespace. When you use more than one window, the console will have one current master namespace and each child window provides a different view of that master namespace. Using multiple windows, you can simultaneously view and work with different parts of the namespace. Consoles that you create can be shared as read-only, so others can use, but not change them.

Creating a console

To create a console, you must first create the tree of snap-ins and nodes that define the namespace. You then create windows for the different views of the namespace required to complete the tasks associated with the console. Finally, you save the console for your own use or to post it for use on the network. To add a node for IIS to our example namespace, start by selecting the node in the scope pane under which you want to add the new node. Because we started with an empty console, this is the Console Root node. Next, select Console | Add/Remove Snap-in. Select the Standalone tab in the Add/Remove Snap-in dialog box that appears, and verify that the Snap-ins Add To text box shows the Console Root node. Click the Add button.

When the Add Standalone Snap-in dialog box appears, as shown in Figure B, select Internet Information Server and click the Add button.

Figure B: Start building your console by adding nodes.

Click Close to exit the dialog box. Verify that the Internet Information Server snap-in is added to the list of installed snap-ins and click OK. The resulting IIS node (partially expanded) is shown in Figure C and contains a number of subnodes, folders, and objects in a format similar to Explorer.

Figure C: Creating a console using the IIS snap-in provides a host of subnodes, folders, and objects to support your management tasks.

To the basic console produced by the snap-in, you can add folders, links to Web addresses, or ActiveX controls, producing a single launching point for a particular task. For example, we'll add a reference to an in-house developed Web page of management guidelines under the IIS node. Select Console | Add/Remove Snap-in. Then, select the Standalone tab in the Add/Remove Snap-in dialog box that appears, and select Internet Information Server from the Snap-in's Add To dropdown list box. Now, click the Add button.

When the Add Standalone Snap-in dialog box appears, select Link To Web Address and click the OK button. Enter the Web address or browse to the desired page. Click the Next button. Now, enter a plain-language name for the URL reference and click Finish. Click Close to exit the dialog box. The Add/Remove Snap-in dialog box now shows the new URL snap-in added to the IIS node, as shown in Figure D. Click OK.

Figure D: You can customize your management console by adding references to nodes as snap-ins.

The console view now shows the added snap-in reference to the "A Web Admin Guide" Web page. Select this page and the Web page appears in the result pane, as shown in Figure E.

Figure E: Adding a reference to a Web page gives you a single point of access during management chores.

Using the Action and View buttons on each console window, you can access the commands to manage your objects. Right-clicking on an object will bring up a context menu for that object. The Properties option on the context menu lets you access and manage settings for that object. For IIS, other buttons on the toolbar allow you to launch the Key Manager, Performance Monitor, Event Viewer, Server Manager, and User Manager.

Conclusion

In this article, we've introduced MMC and provided an overview of the MMC user interface. We've also explained the concept of management snap-ins and how they relate to the console. As Microsoft develops more snap-ins for its mainstream applications, MMC will become a more important part of your network management arsenal.

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