SMS Inventory Tool for HP ProLiant and Integrity Update User Guide

Overview
In this section
Introduction ............................................................................................................................................. 6
About this guide....................................................................................................................................... 7
Benefits ................................................................................................................................................... 7
Features .................................................................................................................................................. 8
HP ProLiant Support Pack requirements ....................................................................................................... 8
HP Integrity Support Pack requirements ....................................................................................................... 8
Management protocol requirements............................................................................................................ 8
Supported hardware platforms................................................................................................................... 8
Supported operating systems ..................................................................................................................... 9
SMS platform support ............................................................................................................................... 9
System requirements ................................................................................................................................. 9
Related documents ................................................................................................................................. 11
SMS site hierarchy ................................................................................................................................. 11
Introduction
HP is providing a new integration tool, called the SMS Inventory Tool for HP ProLiant and Integrity Update
(also referred to as the "inventory tool"), that facilitates the use of existing software management features
for HP ProLiant and Integrity servers through Microsoft® SMS 2003 SP1 and SP2. This tool expands the
existing ProLiant integration with SMS 2.0 and SMS 2003. The new tool adds SMS support for HP
Integrity servers that are managed as clients by HP ProLiant SMS site servers.
When you use SMS 2003 to manage system hardware inventory and software update deployments, you
can do so more effectively with ProLiant and Integrity servers than in the past. This functionality is
complementary to HP Systems Insight Manager and to the HP OpenView suite of system management
tools. The kit containing the tool and associated documentation can be downloaded from the HP website
at no cost.
The inventory tool enables SMS 2003 SP1 and SP2 users to use SMS to manage and distribute HP system
software, firmware (ROM and BIOS updates), and ProLiant or Integrity Support Packs to a group of
servers. With the inventory tool, you can perform the following tasks:
• Perform an inventory of HP ProLiant and Integrity servers within the scope of the management
collection. You can limit and adjust management collections to suit your needs. For example, a
collection of servers related to a specific application can be created to ensure that servers for that
application are managed consistently.
• Sort server inventory by server model or Microsoft® Windows® version. This feature simplifies the
definition of update requirements and facilitates large-scale software deployments using SMS.
• Scan HP servers within a management collection to determine the current configuration of software,
firmware, and support packs. Reviewing currently installed components is simplified by predefined
SMS reports provided with the inventory tool.
• Authorize and deploy software updates to servers. Deployment of full ProLiant and Integrity Support
Packs is comprehensive and complete. Support packs are pretested together to ensure smooth
integration. Deployment of user-defined groups of components is possible with the inventory tool but
Overview 6