Windows Server 2003 : Using the Microsoft Management Console - Creating an MMC-Based Console with Snap-Ins

Convenience Consoles

Windows Server 2003 comes with three Convenience Consoles, which are ready-made packages of tools. All three of these are listed in the Administrative Tools menu.. Following are the names and descriptions of the three consoles:

• Active Directory Management This console contains all the tools commonly used to administer Active Directory. These tools are Active Directory Users and Computers, Active Directory Domains and Trusts, Active Directory Sites and Services, and Domain Name System (DNS).

• IP Address Management This console consists of the tools used to manage IP address resolution and assignment: Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP), Domain Name System (DNS), and Windows Internet Naming Service (WINS).

• Public Key Management This console includes the tools to manage certificates, certification authorities, and registration authorities that are part of your public-key infrastructure. The tools are Certificate Authority, Certificate Templates, Certificates for Local Computer, and Certificates for Current User.

In addition, you’ll probably create your own Convenience Consoles based on the needs of your network. To build a custom MMC, you can either start with an existing console and modify it or start from scratch.

Creating an MMC-Based Console with Snap-Ins

Building your own tools with the MMC standard user interface is a straightforward process. The next few sections walk you through the creation of a new console and describe how to arrange its administrative components into separate windows.

1.	Click Start and select Run. In the Open text box, type mmc and then click OK. An empty MMC window opens, as shown in Figure 1, ready for you to add snap-ins. Figure 1. A new MMC without snap-ins
2.	From the File menu, select Add/Remove Snap-In. (The menu commands on the menu bar at the top of the MMC window apply to the entire console.) The Add/Remove Snap-In dialog box opens. Here you can choose which snap-ins to place in the console file and enable extensions. In the Snap-Ins Added To box, accept the default, Console Root.
3.	Click Add. This opens a dialog box listing the snap-ins installed on your computer. (See Figure 2.) Figure 2. Snap-ins that can be added to an MMC
4.	Select a snap-in to see a description of its function. Double-click a snap-in to add it to the console. For this example, we’ll add Computer Management. Select the computer to manage, as shown in Figure 3. Figure 3. Computer Management dialog box
5.	Select the Local Computer option, and select the Allow The Selected Computer To Be Changed When Launching From The Command Line check box. These options are common to many of the snap-ins. Click Finish.
6.	From the Add Standalone Snap-In dialog box, select Event Viewer and click Add. As you did before, select the Local Computer option and select the Allow The Selected Computer To Be Changed When Launching From The Command Line check box. Click Finish, and then close the list of available snap-ins. The Add/Remove Snap-In dialog box lists two snap-ins: Computer Management (Local) and Event Viewer (Local).
7.	Click the Extensions tab. By default, the Add All Extensions check box is selected, which means that when this console is opened on a particular machine, all extensions that are locally installed on that machine will be used. If this check box isn’t selected, only extensions that are selected on the list of available extensions will be loaded.
8.	Click OK to close the Add/Remove Snap-In dialog box. The Console Root window now has two snap-ins, rooted at the Console Root folder.
9.	Save the console by choosing Save from the Console menu. You are prompted for a name—be as descriptive as possible. The file is saved in the Administrative Tools folder by default. This folder is part of your profile, so an added benefit is that if you use roaming profiles, any tools you create go with you. Note Windows Server 2003 R2 includes a new version of MMC – MMC v3. By default, the new interface is turned off, and you’ll see the screens described above when you go to create your own console. You can enable the new, three pane, interface by adding the following registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MMC\UseNewUI. Frankly, we don’t see any particular reason to do so, but go ahead and try it. The one area where we see a definite improvement is in the new UI for adding and removing snap-ins, but the new action pane doesn’t improve anything for us.

Customizing the Layout of a Console

After you’ve added the snap-ins, you can provide different administrative views in the console by adding windows. To create one window for each of the snap-ins, follow these steps:

1.	In the left pane of the console window, right-click the Computer Management folder and select New Window From Here from the shortcut menu. This opens a new Computer Management window rooted at the Computer Management snap-in. Click the Show/Hide Console Tree toolbar button, shown in Figure 4. Figure 4. The Show/Hide Console button
2.	In the Console Root window, right-click the Event Viewer folder and select New Window From Here. Click the Show/Hide Console Tree toolbar button.
3.	Close the original Console Root window. From the Window menu, choose Tile Horizontally. The console window will look like Figure 5. Figure 5. A customized console

Note that the buttons and menus apply only to the active window. Remember to save your console file after completing the changes.

Setting Options for a Console File

When creating consoles for workgroup managers or other users, you can restrict how the console is used. Console options can be set so that users can access only the tools that the administrator allows. To set console file options, follow these steps:

Modifying Console Files

After you’ve saved a console file in any mode other than author mode, the Console menu no longer includes options for disallowed actions, such as adding another snap-in. This prevents the user from changing the settings.

To modify a console file, open a command-prompt window and type mmc /a. The /a switch specifies author mode, overriding any user mode setting, and opens the console window, from which you can open any console file and make changes.

Distributing and Using Consoles

As mentioned earlier, the default location for saved console files is the Administrative Tools folder. Console files can be distributed in a variety of ways. You can copy a console file to a shared folder on the network, or you can mail it to another person by right-clicking the file, pointing to Send To, and selecting Mail Recipient. When you assign a console to be used by a particular person, be sure that the person’s user profile includes permission to access the tools and services in the console. The user also has to have any administrative permissions necessary to use the system components administered by the console.

If you know the location of a console, you can open it using Windows Explorer by clicking it as you would any other file. You can also open it from the command line. For example, to open the DHCP management console from the command line, type dhcpmgmt.msc. (For consoles that are not on your path, you’ll need to specify the path to the console.)

Using MMC for Remote Administration

MMC-based tools are admirably suited for remote administration. You can easily construct a console to administer a number of computers or a single machine. This section describes how to create a console that can be used to remotely administer another computer. The console includes the Services snap-in, which manages system services, and the Event Viewer snap-in, which allows access to the various event logs. To create this remote administration console, follow these steps:

1.	Click Start, and then select Run. In the Open text box, type mmc and then click OK. An empty MMC window opens.
2.	From the File menu, select Add/Remove Snap-In. The Add/Remove Snap-In dialog box opens.
3.	Click Add to open the Add Standalone Snap-In dialog box.
4.	Select Services, and then click Add.
5.	In the This Snap-In Will Always Manage area, select Another Computer and then click Browse. This opens another Select Computer dialog box.
6.	Highlight the computer you want this snap-in to manage, and then click OK. Click Finish.
7.	Repeat steps 4 through 6, except choose the Event Viewer snap-in. Close the Add Standalone Snap-In dialog box. Click OK in the Add/Remove Snap-In dialog box.
8.	At this point, the console will look like the one in Figure 6. Save it under a descriptive name. You can use this console to view events on the remote machine and to start and stop services. Figure 6. A console to remotely administer another computer

As you can see, consoles can be configured in dozens, if not hundreds, of different ways and then distributed. Snap-ins for every imaginable function will increasingly be available from Microsoft as well as third-party suppliers.