Help me understand Remote Support Software Manager SIM 5.1

[Sandy Wood]

Try as I may, I can't get my head around just what the Remote Support Software Manager will get me. Will it help in updating the HP agents on my remote servers?

[Daniel Leblanc]

Here Sandy this document will help you out.
http://docs.hp.com/en/418812-002/ch08s01.html

[Sandy Wood]

Thanks for the link. I've read through it and it still doesn't really say what the

"HP Remote Support applications"

are.....

Are they tools that are only installed on the CMS? Are they to be installed on each system that is monitored by SIM? Are they duplicates of what we normally get in the Support Packs?

[David Claypool]

The HP Essential Services Remote Support Pack includes three components:

* HP Remote Support Software Manager (SWM): SWM, bundled with HP Systems Insight Manager (HP SIM) version 5.1 and ***installed to the Central Management Server (CMS)***, facilitates the download and installation of HP Remote Support applications. The procedure to complete this step is in this chapter.
* HP Remote Support Tool: The Remote Support Tool is installed and updated by SWM . Once installed, the ***Remote Support Tool is accessed through HP SIM and is used to enable remote support of eligible devices in your Enterprise***.
* HP Remote Support Client: The Remote Support Client is not visible to users, but ***it enables communication of reactive hardware events from the CMS to the HP Support Center***.

[Rob Buxton]

They seem to be.
I've installed it and the patches and updates it bought down were for HPSIM and its related products. As there are now quite a few of these it looks as though this may be the way to keep an eye on the HPSIM components.

If you want automatic downloading of the agents etc. then that still resides with the VCRM.

A bit like you I was struggling with what it was to be used for.
Here's what it updated here;
HP Systems Insight Manager Patch
Remote Support Client A.05.00
Remote Support Common Components (MC3) 1.4.1
OSEM 1.4.1B
Remote Support Release Notes (01 Feb 07)

[Sandy Wood]

David,

I'm still stumped on the phrase

"HP Remote Support applications"

Are these the same tools / apps that we find in the Support Pack / Version Control Repository? Is this just a new way to automate their installation / update?

[Dave.]

Sandy, I will try to explain my understanding:

Remote Support Software Manager is HP SIM's equivalent to Windows update. I think it will focus on updating the Remote Support Components and HP SIM app itself at this time.

Remote Support Applications are a suite of programs that are an add-in to SIM, called Service Essentials Remote Support Pack. This provides the capability to automatically log fault calls with HP as well as advise on warranty/contract status. Initially this covers hardware faults on ProLiants running Windows or Linux and Integrity servers running Linux. For this to work, the faulty equipment has to be in warranty or on contract. Also important is for each system's details (for logging the call) to be entered. There are options to do this on mass and to setup a task to automatically repeat the same data entry on newly discovered devices.

It must be setup correctly so check out the documentation. In addition to the link previously mentioned see:
http://docs.hp.com/en/netsys.html#Service%20Essentials%20Remote%20Support%20Pack

Hope that makes sense!