About the Hyper-V WMI Provider
The WMI provider for Hyper-V enable developers, and scripters, to quickly build custom tools, utilities, and enhancements for the virtualization platform. The WMI interfaces can manage all aspects of the Hyper-V services.
About Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V
Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V allows system administrators to consolidate separate hardware servers on to a single server running Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 as the host operating system.
Each of the hosted virtual machines runs in its own separate and isolated virtual environment. This allows the administrator to easily manage, provide for, and maintain large numbers of virtual machines while reducing the need to run multiple hardware solutions in order to utilize various products and operating systems.
Another advantage of the virtual machine environment is in test and support. New server and system configurations can be deployed and tested in parallel with the existing system without requiring costly downtime during the rollout phase. Each virtual machine can be setup to utilize varying configurations while running on a standard platform to produce better test results. With support for older Operating Systems, one can support and test legacy hardware, systems and applications. Snapshot support affords you the ability to take a snapshot of a virtual machine's state so you can return to a prior event if needed.
Hyper-V exposes a rich interface which permits the user to monitor and control the virtual machine environment. Most of Hyper-V can be controlled via the WMI provider, which allows easy, yet powerful customization of the virtual machines. For further details on what can be controlled with the WMI provider, see the following topics: