Difficulty installing latest HPSIM v4.2

[Boyd Naron]

Now I normally consider myself a rather intelligent administrator. I've been running Novell Netware on Compaq (now HP) servers for years. Along with that I've always installed the old Compaq Insight Manager product on my desktop system in order to monitor the health of my servers.

I also use the version control capapbilities of CIM to determine when patches to the firmware was available and required.

Recently I changed jobs where I am now responsible for over 75 Novell Netware servers thoughout the State of California, all running on Compaq/HP hardware. Of course the first thing I did was download the latest HPSIM (the branded and new version of Insight Manager - v4.2)

The SNMP management agents are already installed on all of the servers. (V7.30) (did that first)

After installing the lastest MSDE, (downloaded directly from Microsoft)I installed HPSIM 4.2 on my Dell GX-270 Desktop workstation running Microsoft Windows XP SP2.

Everything appears to install correctly. At least the installation window indicates every aspect of the installation was successful. But when I perform my re-boot as required after the isntallation, My system comes up extremey slow. When I finally get to the Novell Netware Client Login Window, I log in and the last thing I see is the Netware Login status screen (where normally I see drives mapped, etc) and that's as far as my desktop workstation goes. It hangs there and I NEVER get beyond that window.

Thinking it might be an issue with the Netware Client (version 4.91) I forced a reboot. (well really just powered off the PC and turned it back on) When I got to the Netware login prompt, I checked "workstation only" and logged in as Administrator (Thats the Windows account I used to install HPSIM. I managed to get to the Windows desktop, but nothing seemed to function.

1. I could not get HPSIM to launch.

2. My system says that the MSDE is not running (even though it was before the HPSIM install)

3. Going to the Task Manager, there is no process chewing up CPU utilization. (99% idle)

4. Interestingly enough my installation of Symantec Antivirus appears to have become disabled as well (at least it reports that it is.

5. I have turned off all firewall support so that's not getting in the way.

6. When I attempt to launch HPSIM, it tells me another program is busy and to click on a button to swith to the busy program. What comes up is the "Start" menu and that's all I see.

7. Rebooting is impossible. It hangs when I try to shutdown the PC at the "Saving your settings" window and will sit there forever. (well at least 20 minutes, I'm an impatient guy.)

All I wanna do is the same "stuff" I used to be able to do with the older version of CIM.

But I also want to be able to receive e-mail messages when a server goes down and/or comes back up.

Any ideas here? I have become quite knowledgeable with Checkpoint restores over this issue as I have not been able to function after the HPSIM installation. I can't seem to get the uninstall to work (errors out when I attempt to do so.) So the only way I have successfully returned my PC to some sort of functioning computer again has been to restore back to the checkpoint that I create just prior to the install.

I sure would like someone to give me some possible advice on what the heck I'm doing wrong here...

Thanks,

Boyd Naron
Lead Netware Administrator
State Water Resources Control Board
Sacramento, CA

[David Claypool]

See the following regarding XP SP2...

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?objectID=PSD_ES040816_CW01

Also, confirm that you meet the minimum requirements: 1GB RAM, 1.5GHz processor.

Hard drive performance can definitely be a factor. A desktop hard drive is fine, but anything under 7200 RPM hurts.

[Boyd Naron]

I took the suggestion of the previous poster to make sure I had sufficient memory on my desktop workstation. I now have 2.5GB of memory.

Now I'm concerned, for the SIM installation STILL causes my desktop system to be non-functional. Here's the specifics on my desktop:

1. Dell Optiplex GX-270
2. 2.8GHz Pentium 4
3. 2.5 GB memory
4. 40GB disk space
5. Windows XP Pro / SP2
6. Firewall Disabled
7. Browser pop-up blocker disabled
8. MSDE (The latest direct from Microsoft) Installed
9. Symantec Antivirus 9.0 installed
10. Novell Netware Client 4.91 installed.

I don't see anything here that should cause me any issues, but without fail, even if I do the most basic of installations, when I reboot, the desktop system fails to completely initialize.

My only solution has been to startup in safe mode and fall back to a previously defined Restore Point, then things work fine. But the Restore Point has to be prior to doing the SIM installation.

What am I missing here? Getting this software to function should not be this difficult.

If we did not have such a significant investment in Compaq/HP servers, I would have given up a while ago.

Any further suggestions here?

Thanks

Boyd Naron
Lead Network Administrator
State Water Resources Control Board
Sacramento, CA