Getting started with HP SIM 5.3 in a smaller Windows environment (417431-005, January 2008)

Sam is an IT administrator in a small firm of lawyers. He manages 5 servers, 50 desktops, 2 storage
arrays, 10 printers, and miscellaneous networking systems. He does not currently use management
tools. If the lawyers have a problem with their systems, 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 HP SIM, he would receive an e-mail or pager notification of
potential problems 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
could save Sam much more than the time he would spend learning HP SIM. HP SIM would also help
Sam to quickly locate information on his systems such as serial numbers, model numbers, and
operating system levels as well as enable him to centrally track and update server BIOS, firmware,
and agents. With the addition of the HP ProLiant Essentials Vulnerability and Patch Management
Pack, he can even scan systems for security vulnerabilities, update operating system and application
patches, and ensure that patches remain installed on the systems.
Wilma is an IT administrator in a small department within a large enterprise. She is responsible for
managing the 20 Windows servers and 1 storage array in her local environment. She understands
the benefits of HP SIM for the larger IT environment, but she thinks that it might be too complex and
expensive for her small department. In fact, she prefers to use the old Windows console even though
she knows that it does not support the newest ProLiant servers. First, Wilma needs to know that
HP SIM can be installed on a desktop running Microsoft Windows XP Professional, and she can use
Microsoft SQL Server Desktop Engine® (MSDE) as her database. MSDE ships with HP SIM at no
additional charge and can be installed along with HP SIM. Because HP SIM 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. This means that
even if she is out of the office, she can still manage her servers and storage. Wilma will also be
pleased to know that it is easy to update HP SIM. 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 HP SIM features for updating her
system software, running regular inventory reports, and more.
HP SIM basics
Product architecture
HP SIM can be described by a simple distributed architecture comprising three types of systems – a
central management server (CMS), managed systems, and network clients. Authorized users can
access the CMS through a web browser GUI from any network client running Internet Explorer or
Mozilla. It also provides a command line interface (CLI) to allow scripted operations.
Central management server
Each management domain has a single CMS. The CMS runs the HP SIM software and initiates all
central operations within the domain. The CMS can be a Windows, HP-UX, or Linux machine.
However, this paper assumes that you install the HP SIM software on a Windows system. The CMS
can be a server or a desktop PC that meets the hardware requirements specified in Installation
overview and requirements in a Windows environment later in this paper.
HP SIM uses a database to store vital management domain information, including authorizations,
systems, users, and more. HP SIM in a Windows environment supports SQL Express 2005, Microsoft
SQL 2005, and Oracle databases. SQL Server 2005 Express Edition Service Pack 2 is shipped
standard with HP SIM and is usually sufficient to support an environment of up to 500 managed
servers and storage devices. You do not need a Microsoft SQL server license to use SQL Express
Edition.