HP SIM and VCRM 7.3 Deleting Content

[Daniel Duffy]

I have just built out a fresh Win2K8 R2 server for the explicit use of SIM and VCRM.  I did this after our prior VCRM DB got totally out of control (size wise).

I installed a fresh copy of the latest SIM/VCRM 7.3 on the server, configured it ONLY to d/l 2k8/2k12 content, then waited a day.  I noticed that the VCRM repository had only a few hundred MB of files in it and that the SPP was not current (SPP2012100.2012_1005.37.iso) and that it had only about 540MB of data (it's about a 3GB ISO).  Then it would download no more.

So I rebooted, and waited.  Same result.  Then I manually told it to update from HP.com several times.  Each time I noticed it'd download only part of the ISOs (about 500mb each time), and would just stop.

Next i tried rescan/rebuild respository.  Same results.

Next I just created a brand new repository directory to start over.  This time, it downloaded the correct/latest SPP (SPP2013090.2013_0830.30.iso), and yet again, at about 500mb into it, it failed.  Then it started downloading

SPP2013020.2013_0204.107.iso.

I see no reason why the software would randomly delete content that it's partially downloaded.  This is the first time I've ever seen this behavior and if we had network problems, I would not expect the software to work at all.  This almost seems like there is some setting that would cause the VCRM to try the next most current download if it thought the current d/l was 'failing' due to speed, but of course, HP does not make that setting easy to find.

Has anyone else seen this and do you have a solution?

Does anyone know if HP even employs English speaking people in the US anymore to support their products?  I have given up on trying to call for support.

Thanks in advance.

[Andrew_Haak]

Hello Daniel,

Have you tried to configure your VCRM not to download any OS and set a new empty directory for your VCRM files.

Then download a SPP unpack is and put it in the newly created directory, does it delete files then?

Kind regards,

Andrew

[Daniel Duffy]

Yes that is exactly what I did - deleted everything, dropped the current ISO into the directory and then it started behaving normally.  We'll see if it sticks when the next SPP comes out. 

[Andrew_Haak]

Hello Daniel,

I disabled the automatic download and replace the SPP when a new one arrives. Or you could also put the SPP's in seperate directories, then you can very simple delete the directory do a rescan or restart of the VCRM and all is fine.

Have a happy New Year !!

Kind regards,

Andrew

[Daniel Duffy]

So do you mean that you can create subdirectories under /REPOSITORY and VCRM will scan the contents of each of them?  You have tested this and it works?

Also, when you copy an SPP to the /REPOSITORY directory, the first thing that VCRM does is extract the contents - and leaves the SPP.  This leaves 2 copies of the data as a result - the .ISO and the actual .ISO contents.  So when you say 'delete and replace with a new SPP', are you suggesting to delete both the SPP and all the files?

And if so, how do you do that?  ie: how would I know which files belong to the .ISO?

Thank you.

[Andrew_Haak]

Hello Daniel,

Yes you can create subdirectories under the main VCRM folder. I name my folders after the SPP name and unpack the iso in these subdirs. The only disadvantage to this is that you get duplicate files because SPP's have files that exist on several versions.  You will also see this in the logfile but technicaly all works just fine. So all is fine and you easily cleanup old SPP's. 

Have a great new year...(here we just went to the new year in the Netherlands)

Kind regards,

Andrew

[Daniel Duffy]

Thank you.  Happy New Year to you as well my friend in the Netherlands.