Microsoft lets you plug in
the tools you need
We've all been waiting for Microsoft to release Windows NT 5.0, with all its
new features and tools. With the new release, NT's management tools will see
some welcome changes. One new tool that's already making news is the Microsoft
Management Console (MMC). The MMC provides a new plug-in framework and
Explorer-like interface for managing tools. Most of NT 5.0's management tools
will plug into the MMC. So imagine how surprised I was after I downloaded
Internet Information Server (IIS) 4.0 to discover that this latest version of
Microsoft's Web server uses the MMC as its management interface.
But the surprises don't end there--IIS 4.0 and the MMC together provide
many new features. (Keep in mind that I prepared this article with IIS 4.0 Beta
2. Most of the features will stay the same in the final release, but you can
expect some changes.) When I began exploring the MMC interface, I turned up
several uses for IIS 4.0. For example, you can now create multiple Active Server
Pages (ASP) applications under one virtual root. You can also set many options
at the virtual root level, instead of globally, for your entire Web server.
The MMC functions the same way as Developer Studio, which provides the host
environment for Visual InterDev, Visual C++, and Visual J++. The components are
Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) servers that conform to the MMC model.
Microsoft, third-party providers, and anyone else who develops an application
conforming to the MMC standard can develop snap-in components.
The snap-in design of MMC tools is interesting. Developers can build a
snap-in that runs within the MMC only or that runs both within the MMC and as a
standalone program. This functionality provides a framework that third-party
vendors can use for building applications that work in a traditional manner and
also work as part of the MMC.
Getting Started with the MMC
You can start the MMC from the Start menu by selecting Internet Information
Service Manager from the Programs, Internet Information Server menu. The MMC
interface appears with its Explorer-like look and feel, as you see in Screen 1,
page 140.
After I opened the MMC, I created a new window. The MMC interface lets me
look at components of the Web server in one window (shown as Console
Root\IIS\topgun in the upper part of Screen 1) and a particular virtual
directory (e.g., ExAir, as shown in the lower part of Screen 1) in another
window. Notice how the title bar shows the full path to the object you are
currently working with. As with NT Explorer, you can display windows in
different ways, such as tiled or manually sized. You can also close any windows
you are not using.
The left pane of each window you open is the Scope pane for that window. The
Scope pane includes the namespace of all components that the current MMC session
can manage. The Scope pane contains components such as IIS, and has links to Web
sites, folders, and other items. You can toggle the Scope pane on and off by
right-clicking an object and selecting Scope Pane from the context menu.
The right pane of each window is the Results pane. When you select an item
in the Scope pane, the MMC displays the details for the item in the Results
pane. Screen 2, page 140, shows a good example of the MMC in action. This screen
shows the usual Scope pane, but the Results pane shows the home page of
Microsoft's Web site (http://www.microsoft.com). To display this result, I
right-clicked the IIS folder in the Scope pane and selected Create New. I then
selected Link to Web Address and entered the URL I wanted to link to. After I
entered Microsoft's URL and closed the dialog box, the MMC added the
www.microsoft.com entry to the IIS node in the namespace shown in the Scope
pane. When I clicked this new link, Microsoft's Web site appeared in the Results
pane for browsing--cool.
In addition to Web links, you can add other items to the namespace in the
Scope pane. Right-click in the Scope pane, and select the Create New submenu,
and you can add an MMC folder and ActiveX controls. MMC folders act as
containers that hold other folders and ActiveX controls. After a few minutes of
using the MMC, you can quickly see how it becomes the center of your management
world. You can add tools, folders, Web sites, and more into the MMC, resulting
in a complete set of information for a particular task at your fingertips.
The Action and View buttons below the main MMC button bar let you access
the commands that you want to use on your objects. Other buttons in the MMC
provide quick access to other functions. For example, buttons to the right of
the Delete and Key Manager buttons in Screen 1 let you access NT tools such as
Performance Monitor and Event Viewer. This functionality is where MMC's power
comes into play. Imagine you're working in the MMC and you want to monitor your
system's performance with Performance Monitor--one click and Performance Monitor
is running.
The MMC presents its services through an intuitive GUI--you no longer have
to slog through many levels of hierarchical menus to find the option you need.
Once you get used to the look and feel of the MMC, you will find all the options
for performing tasks and changing settings for tools such as IIS or Microsoft
Transaction Server (MTS). Right-clicking any object in the MMC usually brings up
a context menu for that object, and the Properties option on the context menu
lets you access settings for that object. For example, to access the properties
for IIS, right-click the application name. Select the Properties option from the
menu, and you will see the settings for IIS.
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