This is the fifth article in a series of articles on how to monitor HP servers and storage with System Center Operations Manager (OpsMgr). In the first part of this series, I reviewed the integration kit, and supported configuration and other environment considerations. In the second part of this series, I reviewed the steps for installing the HPE SCOM Integration kit. In the third article in this series, I reviewed the steps required for configuring the HPE SCOM Integration kit. In the fourth article in this series, I reviewed the HP Storage Management Pack features, and required configurations for the SNMP event delivery method. In this article, I’ll review the steps for installing and configuring the HP Storage Management Pack. This article is based on the HP Storage Management Pack v4.2.1.

NOTE: This article will focus on event delivery through SNMP, and for illustration, I will configure monitoring of a HP StoreVirtual Storage System.

The following steps will be required to configure discovery and alert/event flow from the HP Storage Systems to System center:

1. Get SNMP Traps from HP StoreVirtual Storage System

• Enable SNMP Agent
• Add SNMP Client
• Enable SNMP Traps

2. Configure SNMP Collection Point

• Review SNMP Service and SNMP Trap Catcher service installation
• Install Collection Point Role

3. Configure OpsMgr server

• Install HP Storage Management Pack
• Discovery of HP Storage Devices using the HP Storage Management Pack Configuration Tool
• Configuring the HP Storage Management Pack

 

Getting SNMP Traps from HP StoreVirtual Storage System

SNMP Trap configuration can be performed through the HP LeftHand Centralized Management Console (CMC). These tasks are required to register the OpsMgr Server to the SNMP agent of the HP StoreVirtual Storage System.

Enabling an SNMP agent

To enable an SNMP agent, complete the following steps:

1. Log in to the storage node and expand the tree.
2. Select the SNMP category from the tree.
3. On the SNMP General tab window, click SNMP General Tasks and select Edit SNMP Settings.
4. Select the Enabled radio button to activate the SNMP Agent fields.
5. Enter the Community String

Adding an SNMP Client

In the Access Control section, click Add to add an SNMP client. This SNMP client can be used to view SNMP.
You can add SNMP clients by specifying either IP addresses or host names in the following manner:

• By IP address:

1. Select By Address and type the IP address.
2. Select an IP Netmask from the list. Select Single Host if adding only one SNMP client.
3. Click OK. The IP address and netmask entry appear in the Access Control list.
4. Click OK in the Edit SNMP Settings window to finish.

• By host name:

1. Select “By Name” and type a host name. That host name must exist in DNS and the NSM must be configured with DNS for the client to be recognized by the host name.
2. Click OK. The host name appears in the Access Control list.
3. Click OK in the Edit SNMP Settings window to finish.

 

Enabling SNMP Traps

You must add a Trap Community String for client-side authentication. To add a Trap Community
String complete the following steps:

1. Log in to the storage node and expand the tree.
2. Select the SNMP category from the tree.
3. Select the SNMP Traps tab.
4. Click SNMP Trap Tasks and select Edit SNMP Traps.
5. Click Add to add trap recipients.
6. Enter the IP address or hostname for the SNMP client receiving the traps.
7. Click OK.
   Repeat Step 5 through Step 7 for each host in the trap community.
   Click OK on the Edit SNMP Traps window when you are finished adding hosts.

 

Configuring SNMP Collection Point

The SNMP Collection Point server is the server on which SNMP traps or notifications are received. It relays alerts and events from the HP Storage System to System Center. This can be either a OpsMgr agent computer or a OpsMgr management server. The collection point server has the following prerequisites

• Windows PowerShell v2.0 or v3.0
• SNMP WMI Provider (installed and service running)
• SNMP Trap Catcher service (running)
• OpsMgr Management Server or other server with OpsMgr agent installed

NOTE: If the OpsMgr server is part of Network Resource Pool/ Network Discovery Server, it is recommended to have another Collection Point Server to receive alerts/ events. The server can be another OpsMgr server that is not a Network Discovery Server.

 

Installing the SNMP software

1. Run the following in PowerShell:

Add-WindowsFeature RSAT-SNMP,SNMP-Service,SNMP-WMI-Provider

Alternatively you can install the SNMP feature from Server Manager

 

2. After installing the features, confirm that the SNMP and SNMP Trap services are installed and running

 

Installing the HP Storage Management Pack software

Perform the following steps to install HP Storage Management Pack software on the system that you have designated as a SNMP Collection Point Server:

1. In HP OneView for Microsoft System Center run autorun.hta.
2. Select Install HP Storage SCOM Integration Kit to extract the hpstoragescomkit-4.2.1 folder.
3. Navigate to hpstoragescomkit-4.2.1 ?HP Storage Management Pack for System Center and run the HPStorageManagementPackforSystemCenter.exe file. The Installation wizard starts.
4. Click Next.

 

 

5. read the license agreement, and choose your installation location. Note that the default location is: C:\Program Files (x86)\HP\

6. Select the option for Collection Point Server: Server on which the operations manager agent is deployed, and the SNMP traps or notifications are received.

 

7. Click Next on the HP Storage Management Pack Components screen, and click Finish.

 

Configuring OpsMgr Server

The OpsMgr Server requires the OpsMgr Management Server role to be deployed on the server. Selected HP Storage Management packs will be installed on the server that is designated as the OpsMgr Server.

Installing the HP Storage Management Pack software

Perform the following steps to install HP Storage Management Pack software on the system that you have designated as a SNMP Collection Point Server:

1. In HP OneView for Microsoft System Center run autorun.hta.
2. Select Install HP Storage SCOM Integration Kit to extract the hpstoragescomkit-4.2.1 folder.
3. Navigate to hpstoragescomkit-4.2.1 ?HP Storage Management Pack for System Center and run the HPStorageManagementPackforSystemCenter.exe file. The Installation wizard starts.
4. Click Next.

 

 

5. read the license agreement, and choose your installation location. Note that the default location is: C:\Program Files (x86)\HP\

6. Select the option for OpsMgr Server: Server on which management server is deployed.

7. Click Next on the HP Storage Management Pack Components screen, and select the storage systems that apply to you. We’ll select HP StoreVirtual Storage and click Next.

8. The installer installs the OpsMgr server role, and then imports the selected storage management pack(s) into OpsMgr.

 

You can confirm that the selected management packs and any dependencies were imported into OpsMgr

 

Discovering HP Storage Devices using the HP Storage Management Pack Configuration Tool

1. Navigate to the default install directory (C:\Program Files (x86)\HP\HP Storage Management Pack for System Center) or any custom install directory and Launch HP Storage Management Pack User Configuration Tool.exe. You can also Launch HP Storage Management Pack User Configuration Tool.exe from the HP Storage Management Pack for System Center folder created in the start menu.

2. Enter OpsMgr host name or the IP address and click Connect.

3. Click Add HP Storage System in the actions panel of the dashboard to add the HP Storage
devices.

4. Select the type of device from the drop down list (HP StoreVirtual Storage in this case), enter the cluster IP address and SNMP community string
click Add. Repeat this step for any additional storage systems.

 

5. After a storage device is successfully discovered, it will be displayed in the Discovered HP Storage System panel.

 

Configuring the Management Pack for HP StoreVirtual Storage Management Pack

By default the discoveries for the Storage System topology and alerts/ events are disabled. These can be enabled using overrides. Once the HP StoreVirtual Storage Management Pack for System Center is imported into OpsMgr to receive traps from the StoreVirtual device, perform the following steps:
1. Launch the OpsMgr console.
2. Create a overrides management pack for saving override settings for HP Storage.

3. Click the Authoring pane to display the Authoring console. In the Authoring console, click Object Discoveries.
4. Search for HP StoreVirtual Storage SNMP Trap Catcher Rule using the Look for: search bar in the Object Discoveries window.
5. Right-click the HP StoreVirtual Storage SNMP Trap Catcher Rule and select Overrides?Override the Object Discovery. Select the option For a specific object of the class: Windows Computer.
6. Override the rule for your OpsMgr Server Computer Object. The rule is activated at the OpsMgr server and SNMP traps are received.
7. Select the override property after selecting the object, and change the override setting from False to True. Click Ok to save it to the your overrides management pack created earlier.
8. Click Monitoring pane to display the Events and Alerts.
9. Click Events in the HP StoreVirtual Storage folder. The Events and Alerts of the HP StoreVirtual is displayed.

Alerts will now get displayed in OpsMgr, and you can configure your notifications where necessary.

As well as events

We can also discover the diagram view for HP StoreVirtual Storage. Diagram View displays the diagrammatic representation of the HP StoreVirtual Storage.

Perform the following steps to see the Diagram View of the HP StoreVirtual Storage:

1. Discover the HP StoreVirtual Storage using the HP Storage Management Pack User Configuration tool. (See steps above).

2. Click Authoring pane after you discover the StoreVirtual Storage. It displays the Authoring console.
3. Select Object Discoveries.
4. To discover the HP StoreVirtual Storage System, do one of the following:

• Search for HP StoreVirtual Storage Discovery Rule using the Look for: search bar in the Object Discoveries window.
• Right-click the HP StoreVirtual Storage Discovery Rule and select Override?Override the Object Discovery.
• For specific objects of the class: Windows Computer.
• Select the object where the StoreVirtual Storage is discovered using HP Storage Management Pack User Configuration Tool (your OpsMgr Server) and click OK.
• Select Enable checkbox and set the Override Value to True.
• Change the interval seconds of the rule appropriately.
• Click OK.

5. Click Monitoring pane to display the Monitoring console.
6. Click Diagram View in the HP StoreVirtual Storage folder. The Diagram View of the HP StoreVirtual Storage with the health state is displayed. You can also drill into the Health Explorer to determine health state issues for the storage objects.

This article concludes the series on monitoring HP Systems and Storage with System Center. I hope that you find this instructive.

Cheers!