monitoring an ESX Starter server??

[tlyczko]

I know HP has the Systems Management Homepage utility for Windows 2003 servers, there appears to be something similar here for VMware ESX:

http://h18023.www1.hp.com/support/files/server/us/locate/1143_6213.html

I'd like people's comments, suggestions, or opinions as to whether it's worthwhile to install this and whether there's any "gotchas" etc. about it.

Or should I install something like Zenoss into a separate VMware Server and use that toward monitoring the ESX server?? (I know I have to enable SNMP on ESX.)

Or should I wait for 3.5 to be released?? (no official release date announced that I know of...)

Thank you, Tom

[sbeaver]

We use the HP tools as well as Nagios to monitor

Steve Beaver

VMTN Forum Moderator

*Virtualization is a journey, not a project.*

[esiebert7625]

I would say most definitely install it, hardware management agents are one of those exceptions to the don't install 3rd party software on your Service Console rule. If you don't install these you will have no idea what is going on with your server hardware. It's better to be alerted that a memory module is failing rather then wait for a PSOD that takes down the whole server. Likewise you need to know when a hard drive has failed right away so you can replace it. The HP Management agents work hand in hand with a monitoring program so alerts can be received. There are numerous options for that, there are several virtual appliances that will do this, Nagios is a popular one. Or if you already have a package like HP SIM or OpenView you can utilize that.

Integrating HP SIM and HP OpenView to manage VMware ESX Server - http://h71019.www7.hp.com/ActiveAnswers/downloads/Integrate_VMwareESX_HPSIM_OpenView.pdf

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Visit my website:

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

[tlyczko]

We don't have anything like HP Insight Manager or OpenView etc. at this time.

Zenoss is similar enough to Nagios that it would hopefully do enough of what I need...what with SNMP etc.

I'm mainly interested in whether the SMH would work for our ESX server...there's only one now...if/when there's ever more then perhaps I can get more additional monitoring software etc.

Thanks, Tom

[esiebert7625 · Accepted solution]

Yes you can use the SMH by itself with ESX, you just install it on the ESX server and then when it's complete you access it via a web browser, https://<esx server ip>:2381. You won't be able to get automated alerts unless you forward snmp traps to a monitoring product but at least you can log into it and see what is going on with your hardware.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Visit my website:

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

[tlyczko]

Thanks, Eric...

Do you know/remember if the VMs etc. have to be offline for the SMH to be installed or if I have to reboot the ESX box to install the SMH??

I've installed SMH etc. on Windows 2003 servers, I imagine it's reasonably similar on ESX.

I'll plan to install Zenoss on a VMware server this month to do the SNMP traps etc. off the ESX and DL380 as much as possible.

Thanks, Tom

[esiebert7625]

No reboots and the VM's can stay up, just copy the file to the server, un-tar it, run it, answer the prompts (mainly just take the defaults) and when it's complete it is up and running and accessible via a browser. Once you un-tar the file it has a readme file with more instructions, to run the install you run "./installvm780.sh"

Installation

Login as the system administrator (root), download the package to a directory on your hard drive and change to that directory. Unpack the contents of the package by typing:

• tar -zxvf hpmgmt-7.8.0-vmware3x.tgz

This will create two new directories (/hpmgmt/780) under your current directory. Change to the new ./hpmgmt/780 directory and view the README file for installation instructions.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Visit my website:

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-