Unable to monitor ESXi with HP SIM

[frond]

I've been testing HP's embedded version of ESXi and I have everything working with the exception of hardware monitoring. They've supposedly added CIM providers that can be accessed by SIM (wow, CIM/SIM, that's not confusing at all) but I can't find any way to add it to our SIM environment. HP seems to have provided no documentation of any kind regarding how to do it. I've attempted discovering the host but it doesn't return anything when I do. The release notes for SIM 5.2 Update 1 say that they've added support for ESXi but I've found no way to make it work.

Does anyone know what steps I need to follow to get hardware alert monitoring in SIM? I'm looking for what needs to be done on the ESXi side (if anything) and in SIM to make it work.

[Dave_Mishchenko]

Essentially you'll need to enable SNMP on the ESXi host and you should get ESXi install image from HP as they have CIM extensions to monitor their hardware that I don't beleive is in the install image that you would get from VMware's site.

http://communities.vmware.com/thread/119672

http://communities.vmware.com/message/907919#907919

http://communities.vmware.com/message/937099#937099

[frond]

Thanks for the reply, but I'd already found all of those threads and they still left me confused.

> http://communities.vmware.com/thread/119672

That one has to do with adding it to Dell's monitoring application so I didn't know much of it applied to SIM. In particular with all of the port numbers, etc. On the side of the monitoring tool, it only talked about Dell's utility, not HP SIM.

I also found a document from HP which has a section on ESXi that says:

The VMware ESXi architecture also removed the use of SNMP agents for management. Therefore, HP enhanced HP SIM and Insight Control Virtual Machine Management Pack to integrate with Common Information Model (CIM) providers. CIM providers are a method of acquiring management data that relies on the industry-standard and widely-accepted CIM. The older SNMP/MIB model is a less robust data model for server management, that is more difficult to build in security, and that often must be modified for each vendor’s equipment.
The VMware ESXi hypervisor is shipped on a USB key pre-installed in the internal USB port of the server. The server boots directly from the USB key, so new servers are ready to run ESXi straight out of the box, providing simplified installation and host configuration while ensuring system reliability through active ProLiant management.
The HP implementation of the VMware ESXi integrated hypervisor enables the following:
• Active hardware management. The CIM providers in HP SIM are pre-installed along with VMware ESXi on the USB key. They pro-actively surface data for monitoring server hardware, providing the most up-to-date server state information possible.

(The full document is here: http://bizsupport.austin.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c01067846/c01067846.pdf)

They specifically say that the SNMP/MIB model is not used so I assumed anything related to SNMP configuration was irrelevant.

> http://communities.vmware.com/message/907919#907919

Seems to be related to licensing, not to SIM.

> http://communities.vmware.com/message/937099#937099

The only additional stuff there was the reference guide which mentions the ports for CIM. Except that the guide lists a number of ports that are CIM related and it doesn't say which are used by HP or provide any guidance on how to open them. My understanding is that ESXi has no firewall to manage (and correspondingly there's no option for it in VC like there is for an ESX host) so that doesn't really help much. If there's a CIM provider there, then it should already be listening. As I mentioned, though, I attempted to discover the host with SIM and it found nothing.

This would be so much easier if HP would just put out a guide with steps 1-10 to add an ESXi host to SIM. Having to go seek out tiny puzzle pieces here and there is very frustrating.

[jgilmartin]

With a recent update, the VMware ESXi Installable image with HP CIM providers is available for download from vmware.com for customers with valid entitlement.

[GPinson]

With a recent update, the VMware ESXi Installable image with HP CIM providers is available for download from vmware.com for customers with valid entitlement.

Alright, I have this particular version downloaded and installed, what is required to enable the monitoring of these agents from CIM/SIM?

Do we just go through the normal proceedures for enabling SNMP, or is there something extra required for CIM/SIM to be able to connect?

Gene

[Charu]

The CIM Broker (component which provides the CIM information) is running by default, so there's no need to do anything special. All you need is a valid local account on the ESXi system with which to authenticate yourself (it doesn't have to be root --- you can create a special account for this purpose if you want.)

You just need to specify the URL for connecting to the host, which is , when you connect using any CIM-based monitor.

You can use "WinRM" from MSFT if you just want to test it out. It is a simple, CLI-based tool which can be used to connect to a CIM-enabled host and print out what it receives.

[GPinson]

The CIM Broker (component which provides the CIM information) is running by default, so there's no need to do anything special. All you need is a valid local account on the ESXi system with which to authenticate yourself (it doesn't have to be root --- you can create a special account for this purpose if you want.)

You just need to specify the URL for connecting to the host, which is https://<hostname>/wsman, when you connect using any CIM-based monitor.

You can use "WinRM" from MSFT if you just want to test it out. It is a simple, CLI-based tool which can be used to connect to a CIM-enabled host and print out what it receives.

Hmm... My HP SIM only lists connect via host name or ip address for discovery of a product. Wonder if I am running a version that is too old.

Gene

[GPinson]

Well, looks like I need to upgrade. Currently running v5.0 of HP SIM, apparently need 5.2 Update 1.

[GPinson]

I must be missing something somewhere and it starting to become annoying.

When I add it initially to the SIM server, it just finds it as any basic device with an IP address. When I attempt to register the vmware linux host within SIM this is the error that I am getting

Running tool Enable Secure Communication with Linux Host with job id 290597.

Task Name :defRunNowTaskId_1213663127186_6

Job ID :290597

Tool Name :Enable Secure Communication with Linux Host

Job State :Complete

User Name :Domain\Admin

Execute As User :Firstname.Lastname

Start Time :Monday, June 16, 2008 6:38:47 PM MDT

End Time :Monday, June 16, 2008 6:38:47 PM MDT

Elapsed Time : 78 milliseconds

Node :simserver.domain.com

Status :Complete

Exit Code :255

STDOUT :

Enable Secure Communication with Linux Host 192.168.0.29

STDERR :

4.0 was unexpected at this time.

Running tool Run vmcli tool for register with job id 290598.

Task Name :defRunNowTaskId_1213663129217_7

Job ID :290598

Tool Name :Run vmcli tool for register

Job State :Complete

User Name :Domain\Admin

Execute As User :Firstname.Lastname

Start Time :Monday, June 16, 2008 6:38:49 PM MDT

End Time :Monday, June 16, 2008 6:44:56 PM MDT

Elapsed Time :6 minutes 6 seconds 852 milliseconds

Node :SIMserver.domain.com

Status :Complete

Exit Code :smileyshocked:

STDOUT :

Registering Agent on 10.2.0.29

Agent registration failed! - 10.2.0.29

An error occurred while registering agent 192.168.0.29. The error message is: The VMM agent cannot be connected..

Running tool Identify Systems with job id 290601.

Task Name :defRunNowTaskId_1213663497569_8

Job ID :290601

Tool Name :Identify Systems

Job State :Complete

User Name :Domain\Admin

Execute As User :Domain\Admin

Start Time :Monday, June 16, 2008 6:44:57 PM MDT

End Time :Monday, June 16, 2008 6:46:43 PM MDT

Elapsed Time :1 minute 45 seconds 362 milliseconds

Node :192.168.0.29

Status :Complete

Exit Code :smileyshocked:

STDOUT :

startId

idPluginStart.HttpPort

idPluginStart.HmmoLinks

smh.notsupported

idPluginStart.MxWBEMIdentifier

wbemidentifier.nosmiscimom

idPluginStart.MxWBEMRuleBasedIdentifier

wbem.csnotsupported

idPluginStart.MxVMHostIdentifier

wbem.vmnotsupported

idPluginStart.MxWSMANIdentifier

wsman.noresponse

idPluginStart.SnmpProto

snmp.noresponse

idPluginStart.CommonCluster

snmp.clusternotsupported

idPluginStart.SnmpProliant

snmp.notsupported

idPluginStart.SnmpNetserver

snmp.notsupported

idPluginStart.SnmpHPUX

snmp.notsupported

idPluginStart.SnmpSTM

snmp.notsupported

idPluginStart.DmiProto

dmi.nowindmi

idPluginStart.DmiSTM

dmi.nowindmi

idPluginStart.DmiHpUX

dmi.nohpuxdmi

idPluginStart.DmiCpq

dmi.nowindmi

idPluginStart.DmiHpMif

dmi.nohpdmi

idPluginStart.DmiGeneric

dmi.nogenericdmi

idPluginStart.MxSSHIdentifier

ssh.notsupported

idPluginStart.StorageIdentification

smi.notwbem

smi.stidentifdone

idPluginStart.IdentifyHPSGMembers

svcguard.wbem.notsupported

idPluginStart.IPMCompatible

iPMCompatible.failure

idPluginStart.VmHost

vmm.installed.isnothost

sysRelationship

limitedDc

limitedDcDone

noSMH

runDiagnosis

done

[Smitty23]

In HPSIM, go to Discovery, then the Manual Tab. Add the server by IP, and bring down the advanced options. In there, you'll see a WEBEM properties page. Enter the root password there, leaving the port blank. This should get you more info.

[GPinson]

Yeah, I figured it out last night. Just wasn't drawing the correlation between CIM and WBEM.

[bradhs123]

Hi jgilmartin,

Where do I get a HP version of ESXi? I am planning on migrating from VMware Server to ESXi on my DL380 G5. I need to be able to monitor my DL380 G5 just like I do now from Windows Server 2003 (currently the host)... I've been through so many forums, vmware.com, hp.com and wow, there is way too much information.

Can I just install the ESXi that I downloaded as a trial from vmware.com and install the necessary components for managing the DL380 G5 later? Or can you direct me to the HP version of ESXi? Also, I like the USB idea, but where are the instructions to accomplish this? I have an internal USB slot and can easily run it off the USB slot.

Thanks,

Bradley

[lholling]

Just download the latest version of ESXi from VMware it has all of the needed components in it for HP Monitoring via SIM.

Leonard...

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Don't forget if the answers help, award points

[bradhs123]

We still cannot monitor hard drives. Thats something that HP is working on and will have an answer it later builds. Here is exactly what they said.....

Hi Bradley,

About the question on how we can monitor the hard drives right now for VMware ESXi there is no utilities available from HP. It's schedule to develop monitoring tools for this OS but they still on the process, so far we don't have a date when this tools are going to be available. Normally these tools are the Proliant Support Pack and are a set of utilities and agents that monitor the status of the server.

Regards

........

Bradley

[GPinson]

Not sure, but isn't there a way to monitor via iLO2?

Gene

[forearms]

I've gone into the advanced tab and entered the appropriate username/password for webem credentials to my ESXi host and the system still shows up as "unmanaged" any other ideas?

Mike

[Smitty23]

You need to install the HP Branded version of ESX 3i. After countless hours of dealing with VM Support, they finally conceded to the fact that the agents for HPSIM are not built into the regular version of ESX 3i Update 1, and you actually need to install the HP Branded version. You can download the HP Branded ESX3i from the same spot as you downloaded the regular ESX version. This is not the USB key version, its an install on the hard drive.