In Windows NT 5.0, management of the system has been centralized into a single console, which Microsoft has dubbed the Microsoft Management Console (MMC). Essentially an Explorer-like application that supports extensions called plug-ins (Picture), the MMC is, unlike previous application- or service-specific management tools, user extensible, meaning that any administrator can create custom management consoles that are tailored to their specific needs.
This article takes a look at the MMC in
broad terms and then describes the steps needed to create a custom
management console. The examples in this article are based on Windows NT
Workstation 5.0 Beta 2; please note that a Server setup will offer even
more management possibilities.
MMC overview
The
MMC itself is nothing more than an empty shell (Picture)
that is capable of hosting snap-ins. Think of it as the window that
surrounds the management tools you need. Typically, you will start the
MMC by right-clicking My Computer and choosing "Manage," which
will bring up the "Computer Management" console as
preconfigured by Windows NT 5.0. There are also a group of other
preconfigured consoles in the "Administrative Tools" group in
the Programs menu. These tools equate to management tools and Control
Panel applets you're used to in Windows NT 4.0.
The purpose of the MMC's snap-in architecture, of course, is to provide a way to manage one or more areas of Windows NT from a central location. Not only is an MMC console extensible, but each console can host a multitude of snap-ins if needed. Also, future Microsoft BackOffice server applications and third-party applications will use the MMC as their central management point as well. Users of SQL Server and Exchange Server, for example, are familiar with those tools' own "manager" programs (Enterprise Manager and Exchange Administrator), which in many ways are very similar to each other. Well, beginning with the next versions of each of these products (SQL Server 7.0 and Exchange 6.0), management will occur within the familiar MMC console. This means that administrators will only need to learn one tool for any kind of management and, if you think about it, it is this kind of knowledge leverage that makes a standardized Windows interface work so well.
A final note about the MMC: While many
users will only use the MMC to manage their own, local, system, the MMC
is also designed to facilitate remote administration across a network.
This is similar to the way many existing management tools work, of
course, but it's nice to know that you will now have a single management
point from a single desktop to manage your entire network. And, should
you need to roam, you'll be able to sit down at any workstation and, with
the appropriate login privileges, perform any management tasks you
require.
Creating a custom console
OK, let's take a look at creating a
custom console. While the default consoles provided with Windows NT 5.0
are quite nice, it is probably overkill to always be confronted with the
plethora of tools presented in the preconfigured "Computer
Management" console. Most people will develop a usage pattern, where
certain tools are used on a daily basis, others are used on a weekly or
monthly basis, and still others are rarely, if ever, used. After a few
weeks with the MMC, you should be able to determine which tools you need
to use the most often and it's at this point that you might want to
create a custom management console. In the following steps, we will
create a custom console for some of the more often-used system tasks.
Step 1
From the Start Menu, choose "Run...", type mmcand hit
Enter. An empty console (Console1) appears.
Step 2
From the Console menu, choose "Add/Remove Snap-in..." The
Add/Remove Snap-in dialog box (Picture)
appears.
Step 3
In the Standalone pain, click the "Add..." button. The Add
Standalone Snap-in dialog box (Picture)
appears. This window contains a list of the management possibilities for
your system. This list will depend on what Editon of NT you installed
(Workstation, Server, Enterprise), what additional components you might
have installed (Internet Information Services, etc.) and how your system
is configured.
Step 4
Select "Event Viewer" from the list and click the Add button.
This causes the Select Computer (Picture)
dialog box to appear. This is where you would determine whether the
management tool corresponds to your local machine or another machine on
the network. Click Finish to select the Local computer as the management
target.
Step 5
Using the previous step as a guide, add the Disk Defragmenter (which
doesn't give you the option to defrag other computers, by the way), Local
User Manager, Security Configuration Editor, and System Service
Management. Close the Add Standalone Snap-in and the Add/Remove Snap-in
dialog boxes when you are done. Your custom console should now resemble this
picture. Clicking any of the management snap-ins the left pane will
display the tool in the right pane.
Step 6
Finally, you'll want to save your console. To do this, simply choose
"Save" or "Save As" from the console window. The
system will automatically create a Programs menu group called "My
Administrative Tools" for you (Picture).
You can choose to save it there or in any location you desire. Obviously,
you can also name it however you choose (if you have file extension view
turned on, be sure to retain the *.msc extension). If you do choose to
use the "My Administrative Tools" folder, you will notice that
this folder has been added to your Programs menu in the Start menu.
Conclusion
Prior to Windows NT 5.0, there was little reason to create custom
consoles because the only tools that used the MMC were in the Windows NT
4.0 Option Pack and most administrators were happy with collecting all of
those tools in a single place. With Windows NT 5.0, however, a host of
tools are now available and the creation of custom management consoles is
desirable. I suspect that most administrators (and even standalone
desktop users) will choose to create their own consoles, making their
interaction with the system simpler and easier. Enjoy!
