WI-DBA (5/11/2011)
@Nadrek - using SQL is the normal way for most of us.At some point, you are going to have too many servers to manage doing on a server by server basis.
Utilizing a script that reads your central inventory server or simply a text file, you can check over every database file on every server in your enterprise - no multiple deployments or huge server groups to manage in SSMS. (I run a whole battery of checks nightly on every server, as I find something else, i just add it to my monitoring scripts in one location, the next day I have new info)
To me, that is the benefit.
That's why the script INSERTS INTO a central monitoring server from each server I manage, based on SQL Server Agent Jobs; I just read from the central monitoring server.
The SQL Server Agent Jobs and SP's are distributed using SSMS's Multiple Instance capability, based on Registered Server groups.