HP Config Collector and XML files (HPCC)

[Albatross]

Hi Folks,

I've installed the latest HPCC for SAN Environments, and the tool successfully generated an XML file. I've read in the forums that it is possible to format the data into a more usable format, but I have no idea of the tools involved.

This would be a great aid in documenting, change control, planning before upgrades and such tasks.

Please, may you shed some insight into this topic?

Thanks a lot,

Albatross

[Roy Main]

Perhaps there is a style sheet for it in the tool? I'm not familiar with it.

Can you post your xml file?

[Albatross]

Hi Roy,

The file is attached, thanks,

A

[Roy Main]

And what are the important pieces of data you want to see? I'm assuming you're interested in a summary of this info?

[Albatross]

Hi Roy,

It would be great if the data could be stripped into different sections for each main subsystem, such as:

- Array
- Hosts
- Virtual Disks
- Presentations

Each section with a simple table containing the data.

Thanks for all your comments,

A.

[Albatross]

Hey Roy,

Really nice job there!

As you may know, in EVA environments it's really useful to have a quick overview of the following:

A. Physical (Hardware) Level:
- Controllers (Firmware, WWN, Versions)
- Enclosures (firmware, versions)
- Physical Disks (firmware, bay)

B. Logical (Configuration):
- DiskGroups (name, spare policy, used and available space)
- Virtual Disks (name, size, VRAID level, presentation to hosts, LUN assigned)

Your XML skills are really cool man, thanks a lot!

Albatross

[Roy Main]

Hey Albatross,

Sorry, I forgot to say I really don't know EVA. LOL.

That's why I need plenty of guidance on what should be displayed. I'll see if I can go through and differentiate the pieces that you have outlined.

:-)

[Roy Main]

Ok, what does the 'enclosure' equate to in the report?

Is that what the report is calling the 'cabinet'?

thanks!

[Albatross]

Hi Roy,

I think the "objecttype" of a disk enclosure is called "diskshelf" in the report. These things have 14 bays to accommodate hard drives.

The hard drives are then grouped into DiskGroups (objectype=diskgroup) by the controller .

The disk space from the DiskGroups is then divided into individual Virtual Disks (objectype=virtualdisk).

The virtual disks are then presented (objecttype=presentedunit) to different servers (ot=host) to be recognized, formatted and used by the operating systems.

Hope it was somewhat clear, thanks for your help!

A.

[Roy Main]

Here's an updated stylesheet. You can see the data is flat as opposed to being sorted hiearchically. This can probably be done if I studied the source document more.

Do you use the SAN Xpert tool? I understand it can take your report and represent your EVA graphically. Is there something the SAN xpert tool is lacking or not useful for your environment?

Btw, the stylesheet can be further tweaked if you'll let me know what you would like to add/subtract.

Regards,
roy