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WMI Events

 

Updated: May 13, 2016

Applies To: System Center 2012 R2 Operations Manager, System Center 2012 - Operations Manager, System Center 2012 SP1 - Operations Manager

WMI events are created from WMI queries that detect particular actions in the operating system or in applications that create their own WMI events. These events can be used to detect such actions as a process ending, a file being created, or a registry key being modified. WMI events are not persisted. Therefore, any WMI events that are created when the agent service is not running are lost.

Note

This guide assumes knowledge of how to build a WMI notification query. For a an overview of this topic and sample queries see Unlocking the Mystery of WMI Events in MOM.

WMI Event Wizards

The table below lists the wizards that are available for WMI events.

Management Pack Object

Wizards Available

Monitors

Simple Event Detection using each of the standard Event Monitor Reset methods

Repeated Event Detection using each of the standard Event Monitor Reset methods

Rules

Alert Generating WMI event rule

Event collection WMI event rule

WMI Event Wizard Options

When you run a WMI event rule or monitor wizard, you will need to provide values for options in the following tables. Each table represents a single page in the wizard.

General

The General page includes general settings for the rule or monitor including its name, category, target, and the management pack file to store it in.

Option

Description

Name

The name used for the rule or monitor. For a rule, the name appears in the Rules view in the Authoring pane. When you create a view or report, you can select this name to use the data collected by it. For a monitor, the name appears in the Health Explorer of any target objects.

Description

Optional description of the rule or monitor.

Management Pack

Management pack file to store the rule or monitor.

For more information on management packs, see Selecting a Management Pack File.

Rule Category (Rules only)

The category for the rule. For an event collection rule, this should be Event Collection. For an alerting rule, this should be Alert.

Parent Monitor (Monitors only)

The aggregate monitor that the monitor will be positioned under in the Health Explorer. For more information, see Aggregate Monitors.

Target

The class to use for the target of the rule or monitor. The rule or monitor will be run on any agent that has at least one instance of this class. For more information on targets, see Understanding Classes and Objects.

Rule is enabled

Monitor is enabled

Specifies whether the rule or monitor is enabled.

WMI Configuration / WMI Event Provider

The WMI Configuration Page allows you to provide the WMI namespace, query, and poll interval. There will be a single WMI Configuration page for a collection or alerting rule and for a monitor using manual or timer reset. For a monitor using WMI Event Reset, there will be a WMI Event Provider page to define the query for both the error condition and for the healthy condition.

Option

Description

WMI Namespace

The namespace containing the class that is used in the WMI query.

Query

WMI notification query that looks for the occurrence of a particular WMI event.

Poll Interval

Specifies how frequently Operations Manager will poll WMI for the occurrence of the event. This value should be the same as the value used in the WITHIN clause of the notification query.

WMI matching poll intervals

WMI data source poll interval

Build Expression

The Build Expression page allows you to define a filter for the data coming from the WMI query. There will be a single Build Expression page for a WMI event monitor using manual or timer reset. For a monitor using WMI Event Reset, there is an expression for each health state.

Because criteria can be specified in the WHERE clause of the WMI query, an expression is frequently not required in a WMI event monitor. It is only required if the query is expected to return multiple records. WMI event rules rely on the criteria in the query itself and don’t allow an expression. The Operations console wizards though require that criteria be specified in WMI Event monitors. If no criteria is required, then dummy criteria must be specified in the wizard and then removed by viewing the properties of the monitor after it is created.

The properties available for a WMI event will vary, depending on the kind of event being monitored. The properties available will also vary, depending on the properties of the WMI class included in the query. The data will be in the form of a property bag that has a collection of properties for one or more WMI class instances. WMI events created by using a query that uses either __InstanceCreationEvent or __InstanceDeletionEvent will have a single collection called TargetInstance with the instance being either created or deleted. WMI events created by using __InstanceModificationEvent will have an additional collection called PreviousInstance.

The syntax for properties from a WMI event is as follows:

Collection[@Name='TargetInstance']/Property[@Name='Caption']

For example, the following WMI query monitors for the change in a file that is named c:\MyApp\MyAppLog.txt.

SELECT * FROM __InstanceModificationEvent WITHIN 60 WHERE TargetInstance ISA 'CIM_DataFIle' AND TargetInstance.Name = 'C:\\MyApp\\MyAppLog.txt'

Assuming that data is added to the file changing the file size and triggering the query, examples of properties from this query are shown in the following table:

Property

Syntax

Original file size

Collection[@Name=’PreviousInstance’]/Property[@Name='FileSize']

New file size

Collection[@Name=’TargetInstance’]/Property[@Name='FileSize']

Auto Reset Timer

The Auto Reset Timer page is only available for timer reset monitors. It allows you to set the time that must pass after the alert is created before the alert is automatically resolved.

Configure Health

The Configure Health page is only available for monitors. It allows you to specify the health state that will be set for each of the events. For a manual reset monitor, the Manual Reset condition will be Healthy, and you can specify whether the Event Raised condition will set the monitor to a Warning or a Critical state. For a Timer Reset or an WMI Event Reset, you can specify the health state set by each event. The first event will typically set the monitor to Warning or Critical while the second event or the timer will set the monitor to Healthy.

Configure Alerts

The Configure Alerts page is only available for monitors and alerting rules. Its options are explained in Alerts.

Creating WMI event monitors and rules

The following procedure shows how to create a WMI event monitor in Operations Manager with the following details:

  • Runs on all agents with a particular service installed.

  • Sets the monitor to a critical state when Notepad is started on the agent computer.

  • Sets the monitor to a healthy state when Notepad is ended on the agent computer.

Note

This example is not meant to illustrate a real world scenario since there would be minimal value in monitoring when Notepad is started. It does through represent a common scenario of monitoring two different WMI events in a monitor. Using Notepad provides a sample that is easy to test by starting and stopping Notepad on the agent computer.

To create a WMI event monitor

  1. If you don’t have a management pack for the application that you are monitoring, create one using the process in Selecting a Management Pack File.

  2. Create a new target using the process in To create a Windows Service template. You can use any service installed on a test agent for this template.

  3. In the Operations console, select the Authoring workspace.

  4. Right-click Monitors, select Create a Monitor, and then select Unit Monitor.

  5. On the Monitor Type page, do the following:

    1. Expand WMI Events, then Simple Event Detection, and then WMI Event Reset.

    2. Select the management pack from step 1.

    3. Click Next.

  6. On the General page, do the following:

    1. In the Name box, type MyApplication WMI Event Error.

    2. Click Select next to the Monitor Target box.

    3. Next to Monitor Target click Select and then select the name of the target that you created in step 2.

    4. In the Parent Monitor box, select Availability.

    5. Leave the Monitor is enabled box checked , select and click Next.

  7. On the First WMI Event Provider page, do the following:

    1. In the WMI Namespace box, type root\cimv2.

    2. In the Query box, type the following WMI query.

      Select * From __InstanceCreationEvent WITHIN 60 Where TargetInstance ISA 'Win32_Process' and TargetInstance.Name = 'notepad.exe'

    3. In the Poll Interval box, type 60.

    4. Click Next.

  8. On the Build First Expression page, do the following:

    Note

    In this example, criteria is included in the WMI query, so no expression is required in the monitor. Since the WMI event wizard in the Operations console requires an expression for each event, dummy expressions will be provided to complete the wizard and then deleted once the monitor is created.

    1. Click Insert.

    2. In the Parameter Name box type Dummy.

    3. In the Operator box select Equals.

    4. In the Value box type Dummy.

    5. Click Next.

  9. On the Second WMI Event Provider page, do the following:

    1. In the WMI Namespace box, type root\cimv2.

    2. In the Query box, paste the following WMI query.

      Select * From __InstanceDeletionEvent WITHIN 60 Where TargetInstance ISA 'Win32_Process' and TargetInstance.Name = 'notepad.exe'

    3. In the Poll Interval box, type 60.

    4. Click Next.

  10. On the Second Expression page, do the following:

    1. Click Insert.

    2. In the Parameter Name box type Dummy.

    3. In the Operator box select Equals.

    4. In the Value box type Dummy.

    5. Click Next.

  11. On the Configure Health page, do the following:

    1. Next to FirstEventRaised, change the Health State to Critical.

    2. Click Next.

  12. On the Configure Alerts page, do the following:

    1. Check Generate alerts for this monitor

    2. In the Generate an alert when box, select The monitor is in a critical health state.

    3. Leave the box selected to automatically resolve the alert.

    4. In the Alert name box, type Notepad process detected

    5. Click the ellipse button next to Alert description.

    6. Clear the contents of the Value box and then type Path of executable: .

    7. Click Data, then Collection, then Property.

    8. In the variable, replace <<INT>> with "TargetInstance" and <<STRING>> with ExecutablePath. The final text in the Value box should be Path of executable: $Data/Context/Collection["TargetInstance"]/Property[@Name="ExecutablePath"]$

    9. Click OK.

  13. Click Create.

  14. Right-click MyApplication WMI Event Error and select Properties.

  15. On the First Expression tab, click Delete.

  16. On the Second Expression tab, click Delete.

  17. Click OK.