Need SIM console with integration plugin for NNM ?

[John E. Heffner]

I am being told by an NNM person NNM can do all that SIM is doing and don't need SIM. I thought NNM would see hardware traps and redirect to SIM console for details. Any comments on integration "flow" please ? Thank You.

[David Claypool]

OpenView Network Node Manager is a great product and provides a lot of features. It originated (as you might guess from its name) as a network manager rather than a server manager.

Nevertheless, an Insight agent integration module is available as a no-cost download that provides the following functions:

- when a ProLiant server is discovered, it places a ProLiant-specific icon on the network map so it can be easily identified
- is able to reflect the Insight agent status in the network map (OK, minor, major, critical)
- populates a link to the Insight agent browser GUI on the submap
- compiles the MIB into NNM for event translation

This download is available from http://www.hp.com/servers/manage --> Integration modules

hpSIM and NNM often work side by side in many environments. Network administrators like to get a view of all of the devices on the network, and particularly like directing all events to it so they have a single database of events, and can analyze and report on everything. It also can be linked to additional products such as OpenView Service Desk to manage a problem from start to end.

There are a number of ProLiant-specific features in hpSIM that mean that people choose to run hpSIM in addition to NNM. This includes but is not limited to:

Version Control
hpSIM's version control features allow you to monitor the compliance with a user-defined baseline for HP-provided firmware, drivers and utilities. When new stuff comes out, it assists in downloading and distributing it.

Data Collection and Reporting
hpSIM gathers a lot of detailed configuration data and can report on it, including comparisons between systems or over time.

Distributed Task Functions
hpSIM can use a secure shell to distribute commands/scripts to be run across 1 or multiple systems.

Performance Management Pack
Licensed separately for a fee, PMP provides analysis of hardware configuration and performance problems.


If all you want is fault reporting and access to agents, NNM is a great choice. If you need ProLiant "awareness" and a lot of great features, hpSIM is the way to go. You also can use them side by side, letting the network guys and help desk people see the "big picture" with NNM and the server administrators work with a specialized tool, hpSIM.