Professional SQL Server™ 2005 Integration Services

3.15. WMI Data Reader and Event Watcher Task

Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) is one of the best-kept secrets in Windows. WMI allows you to manage Windows servers and workstations through a scripting interface. The WMI Data Reader task allows you to interface with this environment by writing WQL queries (the query language for WMI) against the server or workstation (to look at the Application Event Log, for example). The output of this query can be written to a file or variable for later consumption. The following are some applications for which you could use the WMI Data Reader task:

• Read the event log looking for a given error.

• Query the list of applications that are running.

• Query to see how much RAM is available at package execution for debugging.

• Determine the amount of free space on a hard drive.

You can configure this task in the WMI Data Reader Task Editor in the WMI Options tab (Figure 3-22). First, select the WMI Connection Manager under the WMIConnection drop-down box. The WQLQuerySourceType option selects whether your query will be directly inputted, retrieved from a variable, or retrieved from a file. The WQLQuerySource is where you select the query that you wish to run against the connection. This may be a variable name, a text file name, or the query itself.

The OutputType option is where you specify whether you want the output of the query to retrieve just the values from the query or also the column names with the values. The OverwriteDestination option sets ...