Let's talk a bit about WMI and ADSI
WMI can be seen as a large library of standardized components constituting the hardware and software system.As its name suggests, ADSI will allow you to interact with Active Directory without using GUI tools
Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI)
WMI can be seen as a large library of standardized components constituting the hardware and software system. More than a database, WMI provides access to all system components for:
•Obtain information on these components ;
• utilize the functionalities of these components.
Specifically, WMI provides a standard access to the operating system. Everything
is there : Information about the hardware components ( processor, motherboard , BIOS, network card, etc. ) , software, administration tool , etc. .
In fact, everything is virtually accessible via WMI ! It allows you to query , modify, change and audit the configuration of a station or a server , etc. . It can indeed be compared to a registry which does not only contain information and settings, but also objects with methods and properties , and this on all of the components constituting the system including hardware .In addition, WMI is compatible with all Microsoft ( NT4 Windows 95 , Windows 98 , with the installation of a client) systems , and is available by default on newer systems ( 2000, 2003, XP).Active Directory Service Interface
As its name suggests, ADSI will allow you to interact with Active Directory without using GUI tools. It is a tool that is both simple and powerful allowing you to reach, read, modify, write for each component of Active Directory, users through the OU's, Websites, etc.. Remember that any Active Directory object is accessed via ADSI.Is that ADSI is exclusively dedicated to Active Directory?
ADSI is not reserved to Active Directory, it can handle different types of directories. It also allows access to SAM (Security Account Manager) base of NT4, Exchange directories, etc.. ADSI is used to make many AD inventories , find arguments on objects, filter results. It is an indispensable asset to the effective management systems in 2000 and 2003.Does the ADSI scripting is complicated?
Absolutely not! We can also say that once VBScript properly controlled, creating ADSI scripts is one of the easiest to develop scripts. The only difficulty is the understanding of the definition of LDAP path for the connection objects.