Getting started with HP Systems Insight Manager 7.2 in a smaller Windows environment

White paper | HP Systems Insight Manager 7.2
6 | March, 2013
Example 1
Sam is an IT administrator in a small firm of lawyers. He manages five servers, 50 desktops, two
storage arrays, 10 printers, and miscellaneous networking systems. He does not currently use
management tools. If the lawyers have an issue with their systems, then they quickly pick up the
phone and call him. Sam does not think that his firm will invest in management tools, and he is not
sure that he has the time to learn the software. If Sam used Systems Insight Manager, he would
receive an e-mail notification of potential issues with server and storage components such as
drives, CPU, and memory, enabling him to fix issues before the lawyers noticed and phoned him.
Answering fewer crisis phone calls saves Sam much more than the time he spent learning
Systems Insight Manager. Systems Insight Manager also helps Sam quickly locate information on
his systems, such as serial numbers, model numbers, and operating systems, and it enables him
to track centrally and update server BIOS, firmware, and agents. With the addition of the HP
Insight Vulnerability and Patch Manager software, he can even scan systems for security
vulnerabilities, update operating systems and application patches, and ensure that patches
remain installed on the systems.
Example 2
Wilma is an IT administrator in a small department within a large enterprise. She is responsible for
managing 20 Windows servers and one storage array in her local environment. She understands
the benefits of Systems Insight Manager for the larger IT environment, but she thinks that it might
be too complex and expensive for her small department. She prefers to use the old Windows
console even though she knows that it does not support the newest ProLiant servers. Systems
Insight Manager can be installed on a desktop running Microsoft Windows 7, and she can use
Microsoft SQL Server Desktop Engine (MSDE) as her database. MSDE ships with Systems Insight
Manager at no additional charge and can be installed with Systems Insight Manager. Because
Systems Insight Manager is browser-based, Wilma is not tied to her Windows management
console to get information on her servers and storage. She can sign in from any machine on the
network and get secure access to her systems. Even if Wilma is out of the office, she can still
manage her servers and storage. She can also easily update Systems Insight Manager. Instead of
having to install a new console with every agent release, she only has to update event definitions
in the console. She will save time and increase her efficiency as she learns how to make the best
use of Systems Insight Manager features for updating her system software, running regular
inventory reports, and more.