HP Insight Manager setup and use case

hphp-proliantilo

I keep reading about HP Insight Manager in various blog posts and Server Fault questions. I am currently working with 3 HP ProLiant DL360 G4's, 2 DL380 G3's and a ML110 G6. All have iLo installed and configured on the local network.

I would like to see an overview of the current server state I.e. Does server A need updating and if so click here to do so.

What I was wondering is if someone could explain:

  1. Where I can get HP insight manager from?
  2. Is it free?
  3. Can I access all the iLO servers from one interface?
  4. Does the software need it's own server?

Additional question; most of the servers will be running the HP specific version of ESX 4.1. Is there a specific way to install any agents required on them?

Best Answer

This may be similar to my other question about specific use-cases of HP SIM at: https://serverfault.com/questions/284004/integrating-hp-systems-insight-manager-into-an-existing-environment

Either way, HP Systems Insight Manager is free and available from:
http://h18013.www1.hp.com/products/servers/management/hpsim/download.html

You can access ILO interfaces detected on your network from one place. HP SIM will also associate the ILO interfaces with the physical servers for you.

The software should probably run on its own Windows (or Linux) server, but for the size of the environment you're describing, it can run in a VM. Here are the minimum hardware specs from the Quickspecs page:

Any HP ProLiant with the following configuration:

Minimum: 1.5-GHz processor with 4GB RAM (for x86) / 6GBRAM (for x64)
1 GB free disk space recommended
Recommended: 2.4-GHz processor with 6GB RAM ( for x86) / 8GB RAM(for x64)

As for monitoring VMs, HP SIM is aware of VMWare ESX and ESXi and will display information about VMs discovered on your host servers. The HP-specific ESXi version will show hardware status and won't require any agents. They've already been integrated into the ESXi build.

**A note on the ESXi builds. I don't believe you'll get full hardware health info from any systems earlier than a G5. You won't be able to get ESXi 4 to run on the G3 servers (not 64-bit capable).

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