HP Insight Control for Microsoft System Center integration overview

HP Insight Control for Microsoft System Center integration overview Integration note, 2 nd edition Introduction... 3 Integrating Insight Control with System Center... 3 Licensing... 5 Complementary functionality of management strategies... 5 Integrating System Center Operations Manager... 6 Monitoring and alerting process... 6 Windows... 6 BladeSystem enclosures... 7 Linux and VMware... 7 ProLiant Gen8 server using HP Agentless Management... 7 Device Monitor... 7 Viewing system information... 8 HP ProLiant Server Management Pack... 9 HP Extensions... 10 Customizing ProLiant Server Management Pack data... 11 System Discovery... 12 HP BladeSystem Management Pack... 12 HP Extensions... 13 Configuration Considerations... 13 HP ProLiant Linux Management Pack and ProLiant VMware Management Pack... 14 HP Extensions... 15 How it Works... 15 HP ProLiant Agentless Management Pack... 16 Using the ProLiant Agentless Management Pack... 16 HP Extensions... 16 How it Works... 17

Using the HP Agentless Management Service... 18 Integrating System Center Configuration Manager... 18 ProLiant Server OS Deployment Toolkit... 18 Hardware Inventory Tool... 21 ProLiant Updates Catalog... 22 Integrating System Center Virtual Machine Manager... 23 HP ProLiant PRO Management Pack... 23 HP Extensions... 25 How it Works... 25 Conclusion... 26 For more information... 27

Introduction Microsoft recommends Microsoft System Center as the management platform for Hyper-V, Microsoft SQL Server, and Microsoft Internet Information Service. As a result, our customers are using System Center to manage virtualized environments and monitor their operating systems and applications. By integrating HP Insight Control for System Center software extensions, they re saving time and money. It allows them to use their System Center consoles to manage the Microsoft applications and the HP ProLiant and HP BladeSystem components seamlessly. This integration note provides guidance for integrating HP Insight Control for System Center with Microsoft System Center. For installation and user guides for each Insight Control for System Center feature, see the HP Insight Software Information Library at www.hp.com/go/icsc/docs. Integrating Insight Control with System Center The Insight Control for System Center extensions install directly onto the System Center consoles. You must have the System Center consoles running before installing the extensions. The Insight Control for System Center extensions plug in to the System Center consoles as follows: Microsoft System Center Operations Manager (SCOM): HP ProLiant Server Management Pack HP BladeSystem Management Pack HP ProLiant Linux Management Pack HP ProLiant VMware Management Pack HP ProLiant Agentless Management Pack Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM): HP ProLiant Server OS (Operating System) Deployment Toolkit HP ProLiant Hardware Inventory Tool HP ProLiant Updates Catalog Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM): HP ProLiant Performance and Resource Optimization (PRO) Management Pack NOTE The ProLiant PRO Management Pack installs within the SCOM console; however, it works with SCVMM. By incorporating the Insight Control for System Center extensions, you can use the System Center consoles for the following tasks, which Figure 1 also shows: Bare metal OS deployment When using the ProLiant Server OS Deployment Toolkit with SCCM, you can automatically deploy bare-metal servers from pre-deployment hardware and BIOS configuration to the post-os driver and agent installation. Automated virtual machine management When using the PRO management pack in SCVMM, you can move virtual machines either automatically or manually if a host hardware pre-failure event occurs. 3

Detailed HP inventory When using the ProLiant Hardware Inventory Tool in SCCM, you can keep a component-level inventory of every managed server. You can view the inventory in the System Center Resource Explorer and the standard SCCM database. Driver and firmware updates When using the ProLiant Updates Catalog with SCCM, you can quickly and reliably install and update ProLiant software and firmware. Comprehensive health monitoring When using the ProLiant Server and BladeSystem Management Packs with SCOM, you can monitor system health status and receive alerts if hardware problems occur. The management packs support the following: HP BladeSystem enclosures ProLiant servers running Windows, Linux, or VMware HP ProLiant Gen8 Servers using HP Agentless Management You can also access the System Management Homepage, HP Integrated Lights-Out Advanced (ilo), or a BladeSystem Onboard Administrator for troubleshooting and remote control capabilities. Figure 1 highlights the capabilities that the integration of Insight Control for System Center and System Center provides. Figure 1: Insight Control for System Center provides comprehensive management. 4

Licensing If you have a valid Insight Control Technical Support and Software Updates Service, you can download and use the Insight Control for System Center extensions as part of your existing Insight Control license. Each managed server needs one Insight Control license. You will also have an HP ilo Advanced key for remote server management, because the Insight Control for System Center extensions are included with Insight Control. Complementary functionality of management strategies Insight Control for System Center complements System Center, HP Systems Insight Manager (HP SIM), and Insight Control environments. Unlike certain Insight Control components that need HP SIM, the Insight Control for System Center extensions integrate directly into System Center. There are several modes of deployment. You can implement System Center and the Insight Control for System Center integrations, HP SIM and Insight Control, or both. This gives you the choice of what tools and management consoles to use. Figure 2 illustrates the functionality that is specific to System Center and Insight Control and the complementary functionality that you gain with the Insight Control for System Center extensions. Figure 2: Insight Control for System Center extensions complement System Center and Insight Control. 5

Integrating System Center Operations Manager The following sections describe the communication process that occurs among the different components. Monitoring and alerting process System Center Operations Manager (SCOM) monitors Windows servers through a SCOM agent that is on each managed system. The SCOM agent communicates between the managed system and the System Center console. The SCOM agent captures alerts from the managed systems and sends them to the System Center console. Monitoring and alerting can follow several different paths, depending on the device you are monitoring. Figure 3 and the sections below the figure explain the monitoring and alerting process. Figure 3: HP management pack communication paths. Windows For ProLiant servers running Windows, the HP SNMP agent or WBEM (WMI) provider monitors the server s health and sends any events to the local Windows Event Log on the server. Diagram A in Figure 3 illustrates the communication between the SCOM agent, HP management pack, and Windows Event Log. The SCOM agent works with the HP management pack to monitor the Windows Event Log on the server. The SCOM agent sends appropriate events from the Windows Event Log on the server to the ProLiant Server Management Pack running on the SCOM server. 6

The following sections explain how monitoring and alerting is different for BladeSystem enclosures, ProLiant servers running either Linux or VMware ESX, and ProLiant Gen8 servers using HP Agentless Management. BladeSystem enclosures Diagram B in Figure 3 illustrates the SNMP components on a BladeSystem enclosure. The enclosure communicates through either Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) or SNMP to a proxy called the HP Device Monitor Service, as Diagram X in Figure 3 illustrates. This Windows service can run on any system that SCOM manages. The proxy service uses the local Windows Event Log and SCOM agent to communicate to the SCOM server. Linux and VMware ProLiant servers running Linux or VMware ESX work in a similar manner to BladeSystem enclosures. They too use a proxy model because there is no way to install a Windows-based SCOM agent onto a ProLiant server running Linux or VMware ESX. As Diagram C in Figure 3 illustrates, the ProLiant server communicates through SNMP to the Device Monitor Service to the ProLiant Linux and VMware Management Packs running on the SCOM server. NOTE The VMware Management Pack does not support VMware ESXi. Use the HP Agentless Management Pack to monitor ProLiant servers running VMware ESXi. ProLiant Gen8 server using HP Agentless Management Diagram D in Figure 3 illustrates a ProLiant Gen8 server using HP Agentless Management through the ilo Management Engine. Instead of using HP SNMP agents or WBEM (WMI) providers, the ilo port of the ProLiant Gen8 server is registered with the Device Monitor Service. Instead of using SNMP agents or WBEM providers installed on the OS, ilo uses its embedded SNMP protocol to communicate with the Device Monitor Service. Device Monitor As Diagram Y in Figure 3 illustrates, the HP Device Monitor Console is an application that communicates directly with an instance of the Device Monitor Service. Any managed system that the Device Monitor Service manages requires registration through the Device Monitor Console. You must register non-windows devices with an instance of the Device Monitor Service before managing them in the SCOM console. The Device Monitor Console screen in Figure 4 shows a list of registered devices and actions that you can take. 7

Figure 4: Registered non-windows devices that are associated with an instance of the DMS. Viewing system information The ProLiant Server and BladeSystem Management Packs integrate with SCOM to provide subsystem-level monitoring, viewing, and alerting for ProLiant servers and BladeSystem enclosures. The extensions provide diagrams and graphical user interfaces (GUIs) for viewing systems and creating tasks. The SCOM console also lets you manage alerts for HP hardware events. The alerts provide detailed information about the cause and possible resolution for the event. As you move through the different System Center consoles, the HP system views and alerts each display as a group for easy viewing and management. Figure 5 shows how the active alerts for the ProLiant servers with Linux are grouped. 8

Figure 5: The management packs monitor ProLiant servers and BladeSystem enclosures, sending alerts to the SCOM console if a hardware event occurs. HP ProLiant Server Management Pack The ProLiant Server Management Pack integrates alert processing, state monitoring, and hardware resource lifecycle management for ProLiant servers running Windows and using either HP Insight Management Agents or HP Insight Management WBEM Providers. It monitors ProLiant hardware platforms through the SCOM console. The ProLiant Server Management Pack provides predefined discoveries, views, event processing rules, and tasks that enable you to streamline IT operations and ensure system availability. The ProLiant Server Management Pack gives you the following management capabilities for ProLiant and BladeSystem servers: View server configuration Monitor server health Receive alerts 9

These capabilities provide greater visibility of ProLiant servers in SCOM. The management pack automatically discovers and groups ProLiant servers by hardware platform type. Default discoveries and monitoring highlight the state of HP hardware and management software, presenting a consolidated view of system status. Figure 6 highlights the overall health state of each Windows server. Figure 6: The ProLiant Server Management Pack shows overall the overall health state of each Windows server. The ProLiant Server Management Pack allows you to do the following tasks in SCOM: Automatically identify, group, and display ProLiant servers. Populate SCOM with server attributes and configuration data for ProLiant hardware and software. Monitor and display the state of ProLiant server hardware and the associated management services. Identify, translate, and display ProLiant hardware events written to: The Windows Event Log as SCOM alerts. -Or- The HP Insight Management Agents or HP Insight Management WBEM Providers. Provide browser-based links to HP management tools for hardware resource management and advanced remote administration. HP Extensions The ProLiant Server Management Pack includes an extensive set of HP-provided elements for ProLiant servers running Windows. These elements allow you to: Define up to five customized data fields for each server. Eliminate multiple alerts in the alert processing rules. This prevents duplicate or related events from being generated, providing a consolidated alert view. Automatically discover and group ProLiant servers by family and platform type. Check the state of HP hardware subsystems and status information from Insight Management Agents or Insight Management WBEM (WMI) Providers. You can view low-level detail of HP hardware and software configuration information. Use predefined rules to process and display alerts that the Insight Management Agents or Insight Management WBEM Providers send to the Windows Event Log. This process can translate and consolidate individual SNMP or WBEM alerts into the SCOM Alert view. 10

Define policies to present consolidated views of key HP server attributes for rapid system analysis. These attributes include CPU type, total memory, available disk drive storage, and firmware revisions. They also include the version of installed Insight Management Agents or the installed version of the Insight Management WBEM Providers. Access diagram views of ProLiant servers, which provide a graphical view of servers and subsystems, helping to identify problem areas quickly. Launch HP tools from the console tasks in SCOM, including HP SIM, the HP System Management Homepage, and ilo Management Processors. This provides additional troubleshooting information by launching the HP tools directly from the SCOM console. Run HP-provided diagnostic scripts when using Insight Management WBEM Providers. The scripts provide component level failure information for ProLiant servers. This provides more troubleshooting information from the alert that the SCOM console generates. Customizing ProLiant Server Management Pack data One of the unique features of the ProLiant Server Management Pack is the HP Custom Data Manager. You can use it to add specific data that is relevant to each server. Custom Data Manager is a console task that you can launch from the HP server groups and subgroups in SCOM. The Custom Data Manager supports ProLiant servers that are running Windows and are managed by the HP ProLiant Server Management Pack. Custom Data Manager allows you to create your own data fields for each server. Custom Data Manager keeps user-specified text information on a per-server basis. After you create the custom data fields, you select the server for which you want to add information. Figure 7 shows an example of custom data that has been provided for a server. Figure 7: Custom Data Manager keeps user-defined data for each managed server. 11

System Discovery After you install the ProLiant Server Management Packs on the System Center server, SCOM transfers a set of health and monitoring rules to each managed system under the SCOM agent. The primary ProLiant Server Management Packs perform a discovery to verify that the system is a supported ProLiant server. If the discovery succeeds, the management pack transfers any additional management packs that are applicable to those HP servers. After being transferred, the management pack then runs a detailed discovery process that enables state monitoring and event processing for that server. If the management pack detects a ProLiant server, you can see the server information in the SCOM console. The State and Diagram views show inventory data and monitored state. Each managed server must contain either the HP SNMP agent or HP WBEM (WMI) provider. Because System Center installs the SCOM agent on each managed Windows node, SCOM automatically discovers the nodes with the SNMP or WBEM agent, eliminating the need to configure these agents manually. ProLiant servers running Windows that are being managed by the HP Agentless Management Pack are shown separately in the HP Agentless Servers folder and are not combined with the HP Windows Servers folder views. HP BladeSystem Management Pack The BladeSystem Management Pack provides discovery of c-class enclosures, predefined views, monitoring capabilities, event-processing rules, and tasks. These features allow you to streamline IT operations. They also ensure system availability by monitoring enclosure hardware platforms through a common SCOM console. The BladeSystem Management Pack for SCOM lets you configure, monitor, and automatically group c-class enclosures into a common view. Figure 8 shows the available views for the BladeSystem enclosures. Figure 8: The BladeSystem Management Pack creates views for BladeSystem enclosures. Default monitoring highlights the state of BladeSystem hardware subsystems and components. It also presents a consolidated view of the enclosure status. Predefined event processing rules build on the functionality of events from HP Onboard Administrator (OA). The OA communicates with an instance of the Device Monitor Service. It uses a proxy model to send enclosure hardware events, including real-time and pre-failure event definitions, to the SCOM console. The events display as alerts in the SCOM console. For advanced hardware lifecycle management and remote administration of c-class enclosures, the BladeSystem Management Pack for SCOM includes tasks that launch OA and ilo web consoles. 12

The BladeSystem Management Pack allows you to control the enclosures. The BladeSystem Management Pack performs the following tasks: Identifies, groups, and displays HP BladeSystem c-class enclosures in the SCOM console Populates SCOM with enclosure attributes and configuration data for enclosure hardware and the associated management services Monitors and displays the state of BladeSystem enclosure hardware and associated management services Identifies, translates, and displays enclosure hardware events as SCOM alerts Provides links to HP management tools to control hardware resources as well as advanced remote administration from the SCOM console HP Extensions The BladeSystem Management Pack includes an extensive set of HP-provided elements that expose the native management features of BladeSystem enclosures, including: HP Device Monitor Service to manage BladeSystem c-class enclosures on the network. This acts as a management proxy between the blade enclosures and the SCOM console. HP Device Monitor Console that registers the monitored enclosures with the BladeSystem Management Pack. This utility allows you to register BladeSystem enclosures managed by an instance of the HP Device Monitor Service. Console tasks to launch OA and ilo Management Processors from the SCOM console. This provides more troubleshooting ability by launching the HP tools directly from the SCOM console. Ability to use Domain Name System (DNS) for c-class enclosure registration. This gives you flexibility when registering enclosures. Ability to deploy more than one instance of the Device Monitor Service. This provides scalability and high availability. Ability to register or remove multiple enclosures using PowerShell scripts rather than having to do each one manually. Configuration Considerations Keep in mind the following considerations when installing the BladeSystem Management Pack: Install the ProLiant Server Management Pack on SCOM before installing the BladeSystem Management Pack. Install at least one instance of the HP Device Monitor Service on a SCOM-managed Windows server running SNMP. Set the BladeSystem Onboard Administrator SNMP Trap Destination to the server hosting the Device Monitor Service. Register the IP address or DNS name of each monitored enclosure using either of the following methods: Device Monitor Console HP-provided PowerShell cmdlets The Device Monitor Service uses the user-defined information from the Device Monitor Console to connect and monitor enclosures. If the connection succeeds, the Device Monitor Service monitors the enclosure for inventory, health state, and events. 13

After the management pack Discovery and Monitor processes finish, you can view HP BladeSystem c-class enclosure information using the SCOM console. The state and diagram views reflect the discovered inventory data and monitored state. For example, Figure 9 shows the diagram view for a BladeSystem enclosure. Figure 9: The BladeSystem c-class enclosure Diagram view in the SCOM console is shown. HP ProLiant Linux Management Pack and ProLiant VMware Management Pack The ProLiant Linux Management Pack and ProLiant VMware Management Pack for System Center provide alert processing, state monitoring, and hardware resource lifecycle management for ProLiant servers running supported versions of Linux or VMware operating system software. The ProLiant Linux and VMware Management Packs let you configure, monitor, and automatically group the servers into a common view. Default monitoring highlights the state of HP hardware subsystems and components. It presents a consolidated view of the server status. For advanced hardware lifecycle management and remote administration of servers, the ProLiant Linux and VMware Management Packs include a task that launches ilo web consoles for advanced remote server administration. The ProLiant Linux and VMware Management Packs for ProLiant and BladeSystem servers enable you to do management tasks, including: View server configuration Monitor server health Receive alerts Through the ProLiant Linux and VMware Management Packs, you can do the following tasks in SCOM: Populate SCOM with server attributes and configuration data for ProLiant hardware and software. Monitor and display the state of ProLiant server hardware and the associated management services. Identify, translate, and display HP ProLiant hardware events generated by the HP management agents using SNMP. 14

Provide browser-based links to HP management tools for hardware resource management and advanced remote administration from within SCOM. HP Extensions The ProLiant Linux and VMware Management Packs include an extensive set of HP-provided elements that expose the native management features of ProLiant servers running supported versions of Linux and VMware: State monitoring for HP hardware subsystems and management software sourced from Insight Management Agents This provides a low-level detail of HP hardware and software configuration information. Predefined rules for processing and displaying HP server hardware alerts in the SCOM console sourced from HP Insight Management Agents This translates and consolidates individual SNMP alerts into the SCOM Active Alerts view. Policies to present consolidated views of key HP server attributes for rapid system analysis This includes CPU type, total memory, available hard drive storage, firmware revisions, and the version of installed Insight Management Agents. How it Works The ProLiant Linux and VMware Management Packs use a proxy model for communication between the SCOM server and the Linux- and VMware-managed nodes. SCOM normally communicates with a Windows-based SCOM agent that resides on each managed server. You cannot load the SCOM agent on a Linux or VMware server. But the HP Device Monitor Service is a Windows service that can run on any SCOM managed node. This service captures SNMP alerts from the HP Management Agents running on the Linux and VMware servers and provides server configuration information. The service then uses its local instance of the SCOM agent and the Windows Event Log to send the configuration information and alerts to the management pack running on the SCOM server. You can install the ProLiant Linux and VMware Management Packs separately into two separate folders, one for Linux servers, and the other for VMware servers. Each folder has three views: Active Alerts, Group Diagram, and Server State, as shown in Figure 10. These views provide the same level of information, look, and feel as the ProLiant Server Management Pack for servers running Windows. Figure 10: The ProLiant Linux and VMware Management Packs provide Alert, Diagram, and State views of Linux and VMware servers. 15

HP ProLiant Agentless Management Pack The HP Agentless Management Pack allows you to manage the health of a server without the need for loading SNMP agents or WBEM providers. This ability for out-of-band management capabilities or agentless management is available on ProLiant Gen8 servers. ProLiant Gen8 servers include the ilo Management Engine, which provides monitoring information for core hardware components. Additional monitoring information is captured when you add the HP Agentless Monitoring Service (AMS), which is an OS-based service. NOTE You can only use the ProLiant Agentless Management Pack with servers that have the ilo Management Engine, such as ProLiant Gen8 servers. Using the ProLiant Agentless Management Pack The ProLiant Agentless Management Pack complements and extends SCOM by taking advantage of the agentless management capabilities of the ilo Management Engine. It enables you to perform management tasks that include: Viewing server configuration Configuring servers Grouping servers into a common view Receiving alerts Monitoring health states Through the ProLiant Agentless Management Pack, you can do the following tasks in SCOM: Populate SCOM with server attributes and configuration data for ProLiant hardware and software. Monitor and display the state of ProLiant server hardware and the associated management services. Identify, translate, and display HP ProLiant hardware events generated by the ilo Management Engine on the server. Provide browser-based links to HP management tools for hardware resource management and advanced remote administration from within SCOM. HP Extensions The ProLiant Agentless Management Pack includes a set of HP-provided elements that expose the native management features of ProLiant servers directly from the ilo Management Engine. The ilo Management Engine includes an embedded health monitoring system and is OS-independent. HP Agentless Management provides the following capabilities: Collects information about the server hardware Allows you to manage servers out-of-band for increased security and stability Manages servers without the complexity or maintenance requirements of management agents Allows you to manage ProLiant servers running OS software versions that are not supported by other HP SCOM management packs. For example, servers running VMware ESXi 4.x or 5.0 are not supported for in-band management by the HP ProLiant VMware Management Pack, but they are supported for out-of-band management using the HP ProLiant Agentless Management Pack. 16

How it Works ProLiant Gen8 servers use the ilo Management Engine, instead of locally installed SNMP agents or WBEM providers, to collect configuration information and health status. The ProLiant Agentless Management Pack allows these servers to communicate with instances of the HP Device Monitor Service (DMS) instead of directly with the SCOM console. The DMS uses the SCOM agent of the managed node on which the DMS is installed to communicate with the HP management packs on the SCOM console. DMC communicates with instances of the DMS, allowing you to add or remove servers. Servers supported by this management pack must be registered with an instance of the DMS before those servers can be managed in the SCOM console. You must use the DMC to register servers supported by the management pack with an instance of the DMS before they can be viewed or monitored in the SCOM console. It is possible to run multiple DMS instances, and the DMC can communicate with all of these instances. The ProLiant Agentless Management Pack folder has three views: Active Alerts Server Diagram Server State These views provide the same level of information, look, and feel as the ProLiant Server Management Pack does for other ProLiant servers running Windows. Figure 11 shows the Active Alerts view for a ProLiant Gen8 server using HP Agentless Management. Figure 11: The ProLiant Agentless Management Pack provides an Active Alerts view for agentless servers. 17

Using the HP Agentless Management Service The Agentless Management Service extends the agentless management capabilities to include OS information. Therefore, servers that use ilo Management Engine without the Agentless Management Service do not support properties that are supported for ProLiant Gen8 servers with the Agentless Management Service installed. For example, without the Agentless Management Service: The server host name does not appear in Alert Descriptions. The server does not report the following properties: Server hostname System type Operating system Management version Integrating System Center Configuration Manager The following tools plug into System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) to automate deployment, inventory, and updates. HP ProLiant Server OS Deployment (OSD) Toolkit HP Hardware Inventory Tool HP ProLiant Updates Catalog ProLiant Server OS Deployment Toolkit OS deployment (OSD) is a feature of SCCM that allows you to create and deploy images to new servers. Insight Control for System Center adds HP-specific capabilities for deploying ProLiant and BladeSystem servers. This includes pre-deployment hardware and BIOS configuration plus post-os driver and agent installation. Deploying a Windows Server OS follows the standard SCCM OSD methodology by creating a task sequence, configuring the task sequence, and advertising the task sequence to a collection. The ProLiant Server OS Deployment toolkit provides a wizard to help you create a scripted installation task sequence for deploying a Windows Server OS to ProLiant servers. NOTE The ProLiant Server OSD toolkit uses Preboot execution Environment (PXE) services provided by the Windows Deployment Server. Insight Control server deployment, which is part of the HP Insight Control suite, provides its own PXE services. Do not install Insight Control server deployment and ProLiant Server OSD toolkit at the same time, because networking issues might arise. The ProLiant Server OSD toolkit integrates the configuration tools from the HP Scripting Toolkit (STK) with the deployment features in SCCM. It needs Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP), Windows Deployment Services (WDS), and a SCCM PXE Service Point. The OSD toolkit provides an extension to the Task Sequence user interface to allow simple interaction for creating and changing task sequences. The HP SCCM Integration Kit incorporates its parts into the standard SCCM console folders: The HP ProLiant Boot Images folder has the HP-provided Windows Pre-installation Environment (WinPE) boot images and has all of the right HP drivers already injected into each image. The HP ProLiant Drivers folder has the latest HP Windows Server drivers and replaces any outdated drivers. 18

The various HP ProLiant Windows Driver Packages reference the HP drivers. When upgrading, they will reference the new drivers. You do not need to update the task sequences that use the driver packages. The HP ProLiant Hardware Configuration package has the latest HP Scripting Toolkits for WinPE. The HP ProLiant Post-OS Configuration package has scripts, required HP smart components, and HP agents. Figure 12 shows the SCCM console folder section. Figure 12: The HP SCCM Integration Kit integrates with the standard SCCM console folders. HP boot images ProLiant drivers ProLiant driver packages 19

To deploy a new server, you must create a custom task sequence, specifying the tasks for the OS deployment. The HP OSD toolkit provides a wizard-driven utility that helps create the new task sequence with all required HP components. You can save the task sequence and use it for future OS installations on ProLiant or BladeSystem servers. Figure 13 shows the New Server Deployment Template. Figure 13: With the ProLiant Server OSD toolkit, the HP New Server Deployment Templates lets you create a custom task sequence that specifies the tasks for the OS deployment. The server boots into the SCCM PXE Service Point when you begin installing the OS. As the server boots, WinPE starts the task sequence you created for the server, and then the script runs unattended. The HP OSD Toolkit ensures consistent and reliable OS deployments with reduced risk of errors. The OSD Toolkit provides all of the core components to deploy ProLiant and BladeSystem servers and tests all components together. This removes the burden of manual integration and testing. The WinPE image includes the required HP storage and networking drivers, eliminating the time-consuming, error-prone task of finding the right drivers and injecting them into the image. 20

Hardware Inventory Tool The Hardware Inventory Tool uses the Insight Management Agents to obtain HP-specific hardware information from SCCM client servers running Windows. It adds the information to the site server s database, which you can view in the SCCM Resource Explorer. The Hardware Inventory Tool uses native System Center Software Distribution to provide a detailed component-level inventory of every managed server. You deploy the executable for the Hardware Inventory Tool to the server using SCCM Software Distribution, and then deploy the tool using the SCCM Hardware Inventory cycle. The standard SCCM database stores the inventory data. The Hardware Inventory Tool requires Insight Management SNMP Agents. It is not supported with the HP WBEM providers. You can use the Resource Explorer to view the server components, as noted in Figure 14. You can look at a wide variety of detailed HP hardware and software configuration information. Since this data is also stored in the SCCM database, you can use custom queries to get the exact configuration information you need. The Inventory Tool obtains the information and then displays it in the Configuration Manager Resource Explorer for the client server. The Inventory Tool runs on each specified client, creating a series of intermediate.mif text files, which have the information about specific client servers. The Configuration Manager Hardware Inventory Agent processes these files and sends them to the site server to update the proper database. NOTE The Configuration Manager agent receives the inventory information that the inventory tool generates during the Hardware Inventory cycle. This information is not available until the next Hardware Inventory scan completes. Figure 14: The HP Inventory Tool data is viewable from the SCCM Resource Explorer and accessible from the SCCM database. 21

ProLiant Updates Catalog The ProLiant Updates Catalog uses SCCM and a rules-based model to install and update software and firmware on ProLiant servers running Windows. The System Center Updates Publisher allows you to import updates for ProLiant firmware and software through the HP Service Pack for ProLiant (SPP). The ProLiant Updates Catalog is available in the Microsoft System Center Updates Publishing Tool external catalogs list that points to an HP FTP site. To receive an update, the server must have the Windows Software Update Services (WSUS) and System Center Update Publisher (SCUP). A new HP catalog is created for each new version of the HP SPP. Use the ProLiant Updates Catalog for monitoring and deploying software and firmware upgrades, as well as new and upgrade installations of the HP SPP. The ProLiant Updates Catalog bundle content is extracted from the HP SPP. The content is identical to what is in the HP SPP subset for a windows server, but has been formatted differently to use System Center Configuration Manager to manage deployment. The ProLiant Updates Catalog cabinet file has an XML file that conforms to the Microsoft update format and describes the updates that are available. This cabinet file enables Configuration Manager to interpret the update status for ProLiant servers. You can check your ProLiant server update status, and then authorize and deploy software updates to servers. You receive the benefit of deploying the HP SPP components, which are tested together to ensure a smooth installation. For example, Figure 15 shows the available software updates. Figure 15: The ProLiant Updates Catalog view in System Center Updates Publisher. 22

The ProLiant Updates Catalog places the HP Catalog XML file into System Center Updates Publisher. You can then select the components from the publisher that you wish to download. After publishing the components to SCCM, the WSUS/SCCM agent uses the rules in the catalog to scan for update statuses. This shows how many servers need the updates. The agent then advertises the required updates to a server collection. If the agent-scan reports the client system is applicable, the client machine receives the updates. Figure 16 illustrates the sequence for applying updates. Figure 16: ProLiant Updates Catalog process for HP software and firmware. Integrating System Center Virtual Machine Manager The HP ProLiant Performance Resource Optimization (PRO) Management Pack enables the automatic or manual migration of Hyper-V virtual machines based on the health status of underlying host systems. It works in conjunction with SCOM and System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM) to guide and automate movement of virtual machines based upon ProLiant server hardware pre-failure alerts. Through SCVMM, you can see the servers and the corresponding virtual machines that they are hosting. Through SCOM, you can check the health status of the host systems. HP ProLiant PRO Management Pack The ProLiant PRO Management Pack monitors critical and warning events through SNMP from the HP Management Agents on host servers running Microsoft Hyper-V. It is not supported with the HP WBEM providers. If a pre-failure condition occurs on the host server, SCVMM displays a PRO tip. A PRO tip is a way of notifying the administrator of an issue on the host system and of providing details of the alert. Twenty-seven types of pre-failure and predictive events trigger a PRO tip, which allows you to move the affected virtual machines to another host in the cluster. The 27 events as warnings before an actual failure occurs, such as the loss of a disk in a RAID array or exceeded 23

ECC memory thresholds. The management pack does not generate PRO tip alerts for subsystems that have already gone down. By that time it is too late to rectify the situation before the failure occurs, although a standard alert will be sent to the SCOM console for the failed component. Detailed listings of the monitored events can be found in the user guide. For installation and user guides for each Insight Control for System Center feature, see the HP Insight Software Information Library at www.hp.com/go/icsc/docs. When you receive a PRO tip, click the Implement button in the PRO tip window to begin the migration process of the virtual machines onto other, healthy host systems within the virtual environment. SCVMM automatically surveys the available hosts and chooses the host to receive the virtual machines based on performance. This ensures that your virtual workload stays balanced and optimized. Figure 17 shows an example of a PRO tip. Figure 17: ProLiant PRO Management Pack PRO tips alert of pre-failure hardware events. 24

HP Extensions The ProLiant PRO Management Pack utilizes the Performance and Resource Optimization (PRO) feature in Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM). This enables you to automate virtual machine migration triggered by certain hardware events from a server hosting virtual machines The ProLiant PRO Management Pack: Monitors HP ProLiant Hyper-V hosts to alert pre-failure or warning events as PRO tips. Provides a set of predefined monitors and easily enables them as PRO settings from the SCVMM console. Moves all virtual machines in a server host with a pre-failure event to available hosts within the cluster or host group. Provides interactive virtual machine migration after confirming the PRO Tip message. Provides automatic virtual machine migration as a PRO Tip alerts option. Supports Insight Management Agents through SNMP. Supports failover clusters with HP Fibre Channel or iscsi SAN for critical and warning event. Supports non-cluster local storage servers for warning event only. How it Works There are 4 roles involved in implementing the PRO features: Hyper-V managed node where a hardware pre-failure or warning condition occurs Hyper-V managed node where virtual machine placement is available within a cluster or host group SCVMM server managing Hyper-V managed nodes SCOM server communicates with a connector program of SCVMM Figure 18 illustrates the steps involved in the virtual machine migration process: 1. A monitor detects an event from the HP Insight Management Agents. 2. The monitor generates an HP PRO alert. 3. SCVMM connector transfers the HP PRO alert to SCVMM and appears as a PRO Tip. 4. The monitor executes a diagnostic or recovery module, and then posts each as a Windows Event Log entry. 5. The diagnostic or recovery event rule detects the Event Log event and runs a diagnostic or recovery script on the SCOM server. The script communicates with the SCVMM server. a. The Diagnostic script runs to verify the current condition and update the PRO Tip message with its status. b. The Recovery script runs when you select Automatic or starts an interactive migration when you select Implement. 6. The script requests the SCVMM server to start the virtual machine migration. It selects a target host based on the SCVMM host rating and cluster availability. a. The script reports the migration progress to the SCVMM server as a PRO Tip status. b. The script generates Windows Event Log messages to report the progress and status. 25

Figure 18: HP PRO Pack can move virtual machines based on hardware pre-failure events. Conclusion HP Insight Control for System Center software extensions provide seamless integration of the unique ProLiant and BladeSystem manageability features into the System Center consoles. Licensed as part of Insight Control, these extensions deliver comprehensive system status updates, alerts for pre-failure conditions, configuration management, remote control, and proactive virtual machine management in a flexible, easy-to-install package. By integrating the server management features of ProLiant servers and BladeSystem enclosures into System Center consoles, you gain greater control of your technology environments. This provides consistency for software deployment and updates. It also enables a faster response if a server failure occurs, reducing the risk of costly downtime. 26

For more information Visit the URLs listed below if you need additional information. Resource description HP Insight Control Integrations page for HP Insight Control for Microsoft System Center HP Insight Software Information Library Infrastructure software evaluation download center, which includes HP Insight Software: Insight Control & Virtual Connect Enterprise Manager Web address www.hp.com/go/icsc www.hp.com/go/icsc/docs www.hp.com/go/tryinsightcontrol Send comments about this paper to TechCom@HP.com Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/issgeekathp Copyright 2011, 2012 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. The information contained herein is subject to change without notice. The only warranties for HP products and services are set forth in the express warranty statements accompanying such products and services. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting an additional warranty. HP shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein. TC1203892, March 2012