SMS: Windows Management Service Maintains High Processor Utilization (225507)

SYMPTOMS

After enabling Hardware Inventory on Systems Management Server with clients that have multiple network providers, the Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) service may exhibit high processor usage, which can substantially affect performance of the client system.

You may also see large temporary inventory files in the \Ms\Sms\Clicomp\Hinv folder on the client computer.

Upon examining the hardware inventory agent log (%windir%\Ms\Sms\Logs\Hinv32.log) it is observed that the agent times out while attempting to enumerate the Win32_NetworkClient class:

...

CLASS - Process Class: Win32_NetworkAdapterConfiguration  	Hardware Inventory Agent	4/2/99 12:01:35 AM	182 (0xB6)	
CLASS - Process Class: Win32_NetworkClient  	Hardware Inventory Agent	4/2/99 12:01:36 AM	182 (0xB6)	
INSTANCE WARNING - Enumeration Timeout  	Hardware Inventory Agent	4/2/99 1:01:37 AM	182 (0xB6)	
CLASS - Process Class: Win32_OperatingSystem  	Hardware Inventory Agent	4/2/99 1:01:37 AM	182 (0xB6)	
...

When the Systems Management Server 2.0 client runs hardware inventory and uses the CPU for a long period of time, the computer will appear to have stopped responding and/or will send up a huge badmif. The enumeration of the Win32_NetworkClient class can be disabled by modifying the Sms_def.mof file. To prevent this problem, set reporting for the Win32_NetworkClient class to false in the site's Sms_def.mof file. For more information on the procedure to do this, please refer to Chapter 10 of the Systems Management Server Administrator's Guide.

CAUSE

The hardware inventory agent uses the Sms_def.mof file to determine which classes it will attempt to enumerate from WMI. When enumerating the Win32_NetworkClient class from WMI, the Windows Management service processor usage raises substantially and continues to maintain high usage. WMI never returns the requested values for the Win32_NetworkClient class back to the hardware inventory agent, which then will time out one hour after making the request to WMI and logs the error indicated above. This problem is typically caused because the hinv process gets hung up trying to detect a third-party network redirector, such as Novell Intranetware client, IBM Client Access client, or Hummingbird client and Lanworks client.

WORKAROUND

To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Systems Management Server 2.0. For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

236325 SMS: How to Obtain the Latest Systems Management Server 2.0 Service Pack

MORE INFORMATION

You can use the following registry key to determine which providers and how many providers are installed on a given computer:

   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Lanmanworkstation\Networkprovider