WMI Monitor - Free Performance Tool

SolarWinds WMI Monitor - Free Performance Measuring Tool

Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) is one of the hidden treasures of Microsoft's operating systems.  Fortunately, Solarwinds have created a WMI Monitor so that you can examine these gems of performance information for free.

Solarwinds WMI Monitor Review

• WMI Monitor Details
• Review of WMI Monitor
• Gain a Perspective of WMI
• WMI - For the Newbie

• Download Solarwinds' Free WMI Monitor

WMI Monitor Details

This WMI Monitor enables to you to measure the real-time performance of Microsoft servers including Exchange 2007's mailboxes and mail flow.

Your FREE WMI Monitor will deliver a desktop dashboard that monitors any Windows server and offers built-in templates plus community customizable templates.  Take the guess work out of which WMI counters to use for applications like Microsoft® Active Directory™ or SharePoint™.

WMI Monitor Highlights:

• Monitor real-time performance metrics on any Windows server or application.
• Leverage a large selection of pre-built and community generated application templates.
• Modify or design your own application templates with the built-in WMI browser.
• Use the application templates from WMI Monitor with Orion Application Performance Monitor if you need to monitor multiple applications or require more powerful monitoring.
• Download Solarwinds' Free WMI Monitor

Review of WMI Monitor

Overall, the WMI monitor software was average in terms of ease of setup.  However, it does get the Guy seal of approval because you can install the monitor and get started without reading the instructions.

The idea is that first you select your object, such as Memory, Processor, BIOS or Message queue; then you choose which counters to inspect.  Alternatively, you can select a pre-defined template for Exchange or SQL.

Where I was a bit slow on the uptake was realizing how to make changes to my WMI selections.  The knack is to right-click the Solarwinds icon in the Navigation Area and select 'Edit Configuration Settings'.

Guy's Recommendations for Solarwinds WMI Monitor

• Develop a plan, what are the critical counters for your server?  Memory, Disk, Processor, Mail Store.
• Seek out the filter which says: Formatted Performance Counters.  (See screenshot)
• Take the trouble to register with the Thwack forum, not only will it give you first class support, but also it will provide a treasure of pre-defined settings called 'Monitors'.
• Download Solarwinds' Free WMI Monitor

Gain a Perspective of WMI

To appreciate the beauty of a jewel, you should view the crystals from different angles.  The same applies to the diamond that is WMI, I recommend that to gain perspective and understanding, examine WMI from these angles.

1. Think of WMI as a database holding information about a computer's disk, services, processor and objects.
2. View WMI as a pipe connecting magically to the inner secrets of the Microsoft operating system.
3. Get a good WMI monitor to probe, and to measure the operating system's properties.

WMI - For the Newbie

There is no escaping acronyms.  Guy's 3rd law of computing says, the more acronyms that you see on a page, the greater the degree of difficulty you are about to encounter.

Yet knowledge is power.  Until you understand what an acronym means you feel intimidated, rather like an outsider to a clique.  However, once you get a feel of what the letters stand for, then you can join the club and savour the power of those capital letters - WMI (Windows Management Instrumentation.

To me, all acronyms have a personality, WMI is like a no-nonsense inspector and in fact, WMI reminds me of an HMI.  In England, an HMI is better known as a school inspector.  Imagine that I made a mistake and addressed WMI as Windows Management Information, I half expect that it would sharply correct me and say, 'Actually, I'm Windows Management Instrumentation'.

Thus WMI is all about retrieving information about what is going on, all the way from the hardware to the operating system's services.  The Solarwinds WMI monitor will help you get started because it specializes in displaying performance monitor counters, for example, Memory: Available MB, or Processor: Interrupts PerSec.  Remember the Thwack community will help by answering your questions, and by providing templates with pre-defined counters that other administrators have found useful for their servers.

Get your Free Copy of Solarwinds WMI Monitor

• Download Solarwinds' Free WMI Monitor

Summary of Guy's WMI Monitor Review

Whenever I think about WMI for any length of time, it hits me: the operating system must know everything that's going on!   All we need is a microscope to view the same data.  Well, with this WMI Monitor you can see real-time performance metrics on any Windows server.  What makes this monitor above average is the large selection of pre-built and community generated application templates.  If you need even more power and detail check out the Orion Application Performance Monitor.

More Free and Trial Network Software

Here are Guy's reviews, recommendations and download links for handy utilities.

  ● NetFlow Monitoring   ● ipMonitor   ● Orion NPM   ● Config Generator   ● WMI Monitor

  ● Free NetFlow Traffic Analyzer   ● Review Kiwi Syslog Analyzer   ● LANsurveyor Review

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