You can create and run queries to locate objects in a Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2012 hierarchy that match your query criteria. These objects include items such as specific types of computers or user groups. Queries can return most types of Configuration Manager 2012 objects, which include sites, collections, applications and inventory data.
When you create a query, you must specify a minimum of two parameters: where to search and what to search for. For example, to find the amount of hard disk space that is available on all computers in a Configuration Manager 2012 site, you can create a query to search the attribute class Logical Disk and the attribute Free Space (MB) to search for available hard disk space.
After you create an initial query, you can specify additional query criteria. For example, you can specify that the query results include only computers that are assigned to a specified site. You can also modify how results are displayed so that you can view the results in an order that is meaningful to you. For example, you can specify that the results be ordered by the amount of free hard disk space in either ascending or descending order.
When you create a query, it is stored by Configuration Manager 2012 and displayed in the Queries node in the Monitoring workspace in the cmshort console.. From this location, you can create a new query and run, update, or manage an existing query.