How does HP SIM work with ESXi to monitor HP hardware?

[Aylwin]

I realize this is a very newbie question but we recently start running our system on VMs and I'm trying to understand how HP SIM works.  So please bear with me.

Previously, we had our RHEL OS running directly on the HP blades and the servers were monitored by HP SIM.  Now, we have VMs and it's the VM servers that are monitored by HP SIM.  What I don't understand is, if it's the VMs that are monitored then how about the actually hardware?  If there's a physical hardware fault, is this info picked up by the VMs and then forwarded to HP SIM?

I've tried looking for some kind of overview of how it all works but I haven't found a good explanation yet.  Can anyone give me a brief overview or point me towards an existing resource?

[Tushar Bajpai]

HPSIM monitor Hypervisor (ESXi or HYPER-V) as well as VM running on it. Any Hardware Failure will be reported in HPSIM as a part of Hypervisor Node Event. These Events are not associated with VM. VM are separately monitored.

[Server-Support]

So what do we need to do in order to monitor the ESXi server running on HP blades ?

[Aylwin]

Thanks very much for your reply!

I think I'm on the right track now but I still have some open questions.  If I login to the HP SIM web interface and view "All Systems", all I can see listed is the VMs.  If hardware faults are reported to HP SIM as Hypervisor Node Events, shoudn't there be a Hypervisor Node "object" listed/added as one of the systems monitored by HP SIM?  Are there Hypervisor Node Events somehow automatically picked up by HP SIM?  Or is there something missing in our HP SIM configuration?

Also, what is the benefit of HP SIM monitoring the VMs when I can anyway manage the VMs using the vSphere client?  What kind of events are picked up by HP SIM from the VMs?

[Tushar Bajpai]

All Systems: This displays all the managed nodes irrespect to its type. All Events Displays all Events from all the Managed Nodes.

Now, The search option takes you to specfic Node and Event Tab in that shows events associted to that node.

There are different view like All VM or All Storage etc

Why to have VM with Host in HPSIM ?

- If one wants to know which VM is where, association in HPSIM solve the issue.

- The func. expands in stack (IC, MOE) where you can migrate, monitor and more things

[Tushar Bajpai]

@ albertwt - SMX WBEM Provider for ESXi

[Server-Support]

cool, so it is possible then. Thanks for the clarification.

[Aylwin]

Sorry, perhaps I wasn't clear with my questions.  I'm aware of the different views available in the interface.  My questions are more related to our specific environment.

As you say, "All Systems: This displays all the managed nodes irrespect to its type."  In our environment, when I view All Systems, I can ONLY see the VMs.  This means, there are no other managed nodes of any other type.  The only managed nodes we have on our system are the VM servers.  In fact, to be sure I went through all the different views and did not see any other configured managed nodes than the VMs.

Now in your first reply you said, "Any Hardware Failure will be reported in HPSIM as a part of Hypervisor Node Event."  So my question is: how are Hypervisor Node Events reported in our particular system when the only managed nodes we have are the VMs?

I can only think of 2 possible answers to this question:

1) These Hypervisor Node Events are reported through the managed VM servers.  So for example, if there is a hardware problem in Blade #1 then all the VMs running on Blade #1 will report this problem.

or

2) Hypervisor Node Events will NOT be reported to HP SIM because the related managed node has not been configured on our particular system.  Again, because the managed nodes we have in HP SIM are ONLY the VMs.

If the answer is 1) then our system is configured correctly and should be working fine.  If the answer is 2) then our system needs to be fixed.

[Paul Kurtz]

The VM Host must be discovered in HP SIM, and will pick up the VM guests.  All events are generated at the VM Host level not VM guests.  

Number 2 is the right statement.

Also if you are in HP SIM GUI and click on options>discovery and then general setting.  You can make HP SIM not import VM guests.  

VM Host = esxi 5.0 running on proliant bl465c g7

VM guest = windows server running in hypervisor

[Aylwin]

Thank you very much, Paul, for your reply!

I feel that things are much clearer now.  On the one hand, I was hoping that #2 was the right statement since it makes more sense to me.  On the other hand, it means we're not using HP SIM properly in our environment or then we're not using it to its full potential.

At least for me, the main reason for using HP SIM is for us to monitor and get alarm notifications regarding the actual HP hardware.  Otherwise, I don't really see the point.