topic Re: HP SIM 5.3 Noob Questions in Server Management - Systems Insight Manager

HP SIM 5.3 Noob Questions

UselessUser — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 10:06:28 GMT

Hi,

Firstly I have read all the manuals but am just having issues... and I am sorry but I have tried to work it all out but I still have a lot of questions!! Any help would be appreciated!

I have installed HPSIM 5.3 for the first time on Win 2003 in a VM. This is my attempt to try to unify a lot of aging and disparate servers configured by a variety of people. Some have been deployed with SmartStart and others have been booted straight off a Windows CD... I have created an AD service account and given this account full admin access to the server in question.

I have disabled automatic discovery and scanned a specific subnet which has servers in it.

It has picked up all systems.. some are shown as unmanaged however...

I seem to have remedied this by going to each server and setting the SNMP service properties and allowed access to the PUBLIC community from the IP of the HPSIM server.

My first question is what is the difference between Windows SNMP and HP Insight Manager SNMP?? I noticed SNMP is not a default windows component installed during setup so I am wondering if SmartStart installs this and if so why not the HP version??

Along with this how do I configure the servers to send SNMP traps back to HPSIM?

I am also wondering how the detection is performed... I take it the HPSIM server queries a known SNMP OID value and when it gets one back can work out what the server is?

My next question relates to updating all the drivers/firmware etc on the discovered servers...

On one server I used the local web based HP software to enable VCA to point to the HPSIM repository... I had to import a certificate from the HPSIM server and I used my service account username and password for this (Is this right?) but the VCRM repository is empty? How do I get this to populate automatically from HP? I cant seem to find any options for this?

Also how do I find out warranty status information for these servers?

As well as all this do I need SSH etc?

I have a C3000 blade chassis which has been detected but one blade's management processor iLO is showing a major fault... however when I go on to it I can not see anything wrong?? Also I have other servers with 2 NIC's but only one is plugged in which is showing a major fault also? When I go to their websites it looks like it is because the second NIC is unplugged and iLO is unplugged, how can I set this so its not a fail?

This tool looks truely awesome but it is so big and confusing to get everything initally sorted!

Re: HP SIM 5.3 Noob Questions

JKytsi — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 10:34:49 GMT

Hi,

There is no HP snmp, it's the windows one which is used by HP Insight Agents.

Easiest way to configure several servers is to do it from SIM (configure or repairs agents -job).

SNMP is used to identify the server

There is a setting in VCRM (not VCA) to download support packs from HP.com

Warranty status you get from Remote support pack

you can't change the major status from NICs

Re: HP SIM 5.3 Noob Questions

Rob Buxton — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 00:48:33 GMT

I'd say you've made pretty good progress.
As noted above HPSIM uses the Windows SNMP and this is installed if you use Smart Start as it's a pre-requisite for the HP Agents.

For NICs, if you Disable Unused NICs then they'll not report Major Alerts. But an unplugged enabled NIC will.
For ILOs, Major again usually indicates the ILO is not plugged in, but for a Blade that would be unusual. Maybe check IP settings to ensure it is reachable.

You don't need SSH, especially for a Windows only environment. Even with some non-Windows environments (e.g. VMware) you can do without it if you're prepared to do some things manually.

There are ways to populate the VCRM automatically. The other way is to create a directory (e.g. VCRM and then point the VCRM to that, below that create sub-directories for various PSPs, pull the PSPs down into the sub-dirs and they'll show up in the VCRM. You can then set the servers to use a particular PSP as a Baseline.

As you've assessed, ID is done via SNMP and other protocols. Unmanaged typically means no discovery HPSIM hasn't been able to find and use a protocol. Unknown means it found one but couldn't use it to gain enough info. to ID the server.

Re: HP SIM 5.3 Noob Questions

UselessUser — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 07:58:53 GMT

Hi,

Thanks for that piece of info, I shall disable the NIC's that are unused!

The blade iLO is unusual in that I can ping it and get to it via the OA and use it!

I managed to populate the VCRM once I discovered the plugin is actually configured through a seperate web interface (I kind of assumed everything would be available through the Insight Mananger link)...

The only problem is the one server which I have set to point to my VCRM still believes it has the latest software (Which I know it does not).. any ideas as to why this is?

Also I went to use the Remote Support Pack, primarily to report warranty status but I think I may have discovered too late that this only works if its running from a physical Proliant box is that right?

Also if I move it to a physical box, does this information appear in the Insight Manager console or another seperate one?!

And finally may I ask what the SSH option is there for then?!

Re: HP SIM 5.3 Noob Questions

JKytsi — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 20:10:52 GMT

SSH is there for remote software installs, and running several tasks to remote nodes. But if You just want to monitor HW it's not needed.

Re: HP SIM 5.3 Noob Questions

Rob Buxton — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 23:37:21 GMT

What does the VCA report if you connect - green or not?
If it's not green then run the Software Polling task for the server with the incorrect reporting. It's not dynamic.

If it is green then that would indicate that it's correctly matched against a baseline. You may want to check youve got the right baseline. Also, the status doesn't include FW etc.

Re: HP SIM 5.3 Noob Questions

Rob Buxton — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 23:39:39 GMT

Meant to add, you're correct about using the Remote Support Pack, it does need to be a physical server.

That's a pain for us as RSP is replacing the call home functionality we had with our EVAs that used ISEE. So we need to find a new server for it as we currently run on a VM.