Collect PSP info via WMI or add the servers via discovery?

[Dana Swanson]

Hello!

We have a collection of servers in our current SIM install database. I'm very sure we have many servers not listed.

I was just wondering if any of the basic PSP data can be collected via a VBScript. I could run the script on all the servers in the AD to get a more realistic view of whats out there collecting server name, server model, OS and PSP/management agents if available via WMI or in the registry.

I could also get a better collection if I run a discovery from HPSIM5.1. Our SNMP settings "should" be the same on all our servers.

Will the auto discovery use WBEM? That would be the same on 99.5% of the servers.

Thanks!

Dana

[Todd Schelin]

Dana,
Currently, WBEM support is not available for Windows. However, most of that information you are looking for can be collected from the Version control agent it is already there.

Also, I know there is going to be a future release in the SupportPaq that will support WMI fully and that is supposed to come out later this year sometime.

[Cindy Osborn · Accepted solution]

Dana,

Here's what I do to verify all my servers are in fact in SIM. I export my servers from AD. Now I have 5 different domains that I have to do this on. I combine this into one Access database. I set up an ODBC connector to my SIM sql database. I have set up external links to the following tables in SIM - devices & devicenames. Next I have a query that uses these two databases to give me the deviceid, device name, SNMP name, and the dns name. Next I run a series of queries where I tie this sim query with my AD server list. I first compare the AD server name with the Sim device name field. Then the unmatched servers from this query are compared against the SNMP name and then the dns name. This tells me who is not discovered in SIM. Then from this I either clean up AD as we have alot of server name changes / redeployments or I search SIM for the missing server. I search SIM by both server partial name and ip address. Most of the time I will find these by ip addresses. The problem in SIM is usually that the server has been renamed or ip address changed. So delete and rediscover in SIM will fix. Or the issue is the host guid problem because of using an imaging system to build the server. Delete the host guid in the registry, restart the agents on the server, delete and rediscover in SIM.

Hope this helps.

[Rob Buxton]

Depends on the number of servers and organisation of your network.
We use set VLANs for servers. So for HPSIM I just plug those subnets into HPSIM's discovery and it will at least find them.
Even with no management protocols it should get their name if DNS is okay. A spur to get DNS up to date if devices just display by IP Address.
From there it can be a process of looking through the unmanaged and unknown server types.
Unknown is where HPSIM finds a protocol to use (e.g. snmp) but cannot use it, ususally host not allowed access or community names issue.
Unmanaged means HPSIM hasn't found any management protocols.
I don't use WMI credentials globally, I've enabled it globally and then configured it for specific hosts - e.g. VM Guests. I've found it causes issues with data collection. I think WMI is used in the ID Process, but to me snmp seems simpler.

[Todd Schelin]

Please don't forget to rate the information that is provided.

[Dana Swanson]

Thanks Everyone!

I just read your posts. I've been out with the Flu but feeling much better :)

Just an FYI: I was writing a VBScript to collect some information for servers that are behind a firewall. The only way for me to get data from them is from a SMTP email.

I added the WMI values objItem.Manufacturer and objItem.Model and they did return the following:

Manufacturer: HP
Model: ProLiant DL380 G3

I don't need to write any code since the CMS will find all the systems but figured someone may want to do this.

Here's a snip of the code:

Set colItems = objWMIService.ExecQuery("Select * from Win32_ComputerSystem",,48)
For Each objItem In colItems
oFile.WriteLine("Manufacturer: " & objItem.Manufacturer)
oFile.WriteLine("Model: " & objItem.Model)
Next

I did use this code from:
' Title: System Information Script
' Author: Bradley Buskey
' Contact: deckyon@sturm.org

See ya,

Dana