HP has released the 3^rd version of their management pack for monitoring HP Storage devices. Previous version was with number 2.1.2 which hints that there are lot of changes in this management pack. Let’s take a look at the change log in the web site of HP Storage Management Pack for System Center:

• Diagram view with health state of the HP 3PAR StoreServ Storage
• Diagram view of the components and health state of the HP StoreVirtual Storage
• Diagram view with health state of the HP P2000 MSA Storage
• Diagram view with health state of HP StoreEasy 5000 Storage System with Multi enclosure Topology (JBOD)
• Supports events and alerts generated by HP StoreEasy 1000 and HP StoreEasy 3000 Storage
• New Product name representation of HP Storage device

Old representation	New representation
HP 3PAR Storage System	HP 3PAR StoreServ Storage
HP Storage P4000	HP StoreVirtual Storage
HP Storage P2000/Modular Smart Arrays	HP P2000 MSA Storage
HP Storage P6000/Enterprise Virtual Arrays	HP EVA P6000 Storage
HP Storage P9000	HP XP 9000 Storage
HP Tape Drives	HP StoreEver Tape Drives
HP E5000 Messaging System	HP E5000 Messaging System
HP X5000 System	HP StoreEasy 5000 Storage
HP D2D Backup System	HP StoreOnce Backup

Note:  Monitoring for HP Storage B-series Switches and HP B-series Switch Device Management Software has been discontinued from this version.

So we have these changes described in the web site which is not so bad. On first look definitely there are changes for a new major version but let’s look a little bit deeper.

Inspired by Marnix Wolf’s blog posts of Dell MP Suite I will try to review this MP in a similar way using MPViewer 2.2.1 and MPBA (Management Pack Best Practices Analyzer).

MPViewer enables you to take a quick look into any MP in order to see what it does and how. No, it won’t protect you totally from nasty and unwanted surprises but it will rule out the most nasty ones, like Discoveries which run way too often for instance. When such a thing is at hand you know exactly what overrides to make and when overrides can’t be set, you simply don’t import that MP.

Another nice thing of this tool is you’re able to export the view dump to an Excel XML file (makes it more easy to filter, count and to sort everything since per topic a tab is created) or as an HTML file making it easier to get a quick overview with the underlying code, thus revealing more information compared to the Excel XML file which doesn’t show the underlying code.

MPBPA is the tool which checks to what extend any given MP adheres to a set of Best Practices for MP Authoring. It’s part of the MP Authoring Console used for MP development in the days of SCOM 2007. Even though it’s a bit outdated it’s still a good tool to give you an insight into the overall build quality of any given MP.

Note: Description of the tools is borrowed from Marnix’s article

First let’s look at the requirements of the HP Storage management pack:

• SCOM 2007 R2
• SCOM 2012

So we have full support for the current and previous version of SCOM which is great. There are lot of customers who still have SCOM 2007 R2. Nothing is mentioned about SCOM 2012 SP1 because it is still in Beta but I’ve managed to install the MP on it without a problem so I guess there will be no issues with SP1. Of course do not try this scenario on production environment because it is not supported by HP.

What are the requirements for operating system:

• Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Standard and Enterprise edition (x64 and x86)
• Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Standard and Enterprise edition (x64 and x86)
• Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard and Enterprise edition
• Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 Standard and Enterprise edition

As the MP is supported only on SCOM 2012 and SCOM 2007 R2 so Windows Server 2012 is still not supported. Again I’ve managed to install this MP on Windows Server 2012 without issues and as it is simple application probably there is no reason not to be working on the latest Microsoft Server operating system. Of course do not try this in production environment.

Next we need to look at what HP Storage devices are supported:

HP Storage ESL E-Series, EML E-Series, ESL 6000/9000/12000, and MSL Series

• HP 3PAR StoreServ Storage System
• HP P2000 G3 MSA Storage
• HP Storage EVA P6000, 4×00, 6×00, 8×00, P6300, P6500, and HP P6000 Command View EVA Software
• HP Storage XP 24000 and P9500 Arrays
• HP Storage ESL E-Series, EML E-Series, ESL 6000/9000/12000, MSL Series
• HP StoreVirtual Storage with SANIQ 9.5 and 10.0
• HP E5000 Messaging System
• HP StoreEasy 5000 Storage System
• HP StoreOnce Backup
• HP StoreEasy 1000 and HP StoreEasy 3000 Storage

As you can see there is no information on what version of firmware you should have in order this management pack to work which is quite disappointing. I can only guess that only the latest firmware versions are supported because for example on HP 3PAR StoreServ Storage and on HP P2000 MSA Storage SMI-S service should be running on 5988 port in http mode. For other requirements look at the guide that is coming with the management pack or at my previous article about this MP.

When I’ve download and extracted the files they are in the same structure and number as in the previous version – One MP guide, installation file for HP Storage Management pack and installation file for WEBES Listener. When I’ve started the installation of the MP I’ve noticed a lot of differences.

There are now two main options for installing this MP. You can choose to install the MP on a SCOM management server or on a server that has only the SCOM agent installed. For both options you have to have SNMP feature installed before actually installing the MP. If you choose to install it on SCOM management server or on collection point server you have to provide the path where SCOM or the SCOM agent is installed:

In the guide there is information how to find the right path.

The management pack has been supporting these two path in the previous versions but it was only described in the documentation and it was not provided as option in the installation wizard.

After providing the path and clicking next there is another nice surprise:

Now you can choose to install monitoring for only those devices that you will monitor in your environment. This hints that there are probably different management packs for the different HP Storage devices. In previous version monitoring for all devices was located in one single management pack and when you install it you get the views for all devices even if you do not use them. SCOM will also be filled with unneeded rules, monitors, discoveries and etc. that will be taking additional resources. So it seems HP has listened to its customers and improved the management pack with this best practices by dividing the MP in smaller MPs for the different storage devices. In order to verify my assumption I’ve selected only 4 devices from the list and installed the MP. The installation wizard does not provide you a location where to install the MPs but in the guide it is stated that they can be found in the following location:

I’ve opened the location in Windows Explorer and I’ve found the following files:

Only ConfigFile.xml and HPStorage.tlb files you will not find after fresh installation as they are generated when you configure HP Storage Management Pack User Configuration Tool. When looking at the files we can now confirm that there is e separate MP for every HP Storage device. This is great even for this only change it is worth upgrading to 3.0 version of HP Storage Management Pack. As the installation of the MP imports the management packs automatically in SCOM let’s see if only the selected by me storage devices have management packs imported:

Indeed the separation of the MPs matches with the installation wizard also. I now have only imported the management packs I need. It is great that the non-selected management packs are extracted in the installation folder. That way if you want to add a new kind of device for monitoring you can only import its management pack in SCOM.

In the guide for HP Storage management pack I didn’t saw if upgrade of previous version is supported. However even if it supported I will strongly recommend to write document every overrides you have made in your environment for the previous version of this MP. When you have that documentation it is better to remove the old version first completely by uninstalling it and deleting the management pack from the SCOM console. After you complete that task you can install the latest version, select only the management packs you need and make the same overrides you had in previous version. If you had some routing of alerts from SCOM to SCSM based on custom properties now it is a good time to change that routing based on management pack name of course if that fits your case.

Before we review every MP one by one let’s see how MPs are referenced against each other.

As we can see HPEnterpriseStorageLibraryMP is the main management pack and all other MPs are referencing it.

Now it is time to look at every management pack one by one with MPViewer and MPBPA:

MPEnterpriseStorageLibraryMP.mp

Looking at the main management pack with MPViewer shows that this MP defines only 4 views and nothing more:

So this management pack is only used as container for other views defined in the other MPs.

The warnings generated by MPBPA show that views are not sorted correctly and management pack elements do not have display names. Not so serious warnings but the fact that this MP contains only views and they are not sorted correctly shows negligence by the developers.

HPEnterpriseStorageStoreVirtualMP.mp

This management pack monitors HP StoreVirtual Storage Arrays.

This MP contains total number of 149 classes, 8 discoveries, 1 group, 96 unit monitors, 33 rules, 132 dependency monitors, 160 relationships and 4 views.

MPBPA shows a lot of errors and warnings like:

• WMI queries should not use “Select *” statements
• Discovery interval should not be too short
• Alerts should have name and description defined
• Management pack elements should have knowledge articles
• Management pack elements should have display names
• Views should be sorted in the expected order
• Workflows should not use WMI queries
• Script time-out should be 300s or more
• Elements should not use the same display names
• All scripts should include the US locale

All these errors and warnings hints that best practices are not used and this MP could affect the performance of your SCOM environment.

I suspect that all MPs will have the same errors.

HPEnterpriseStorageStoreMP.mp

This management pack monitors HP StoreOnce Backup.

MPViewer shows 1 class, 1 discovery, 9 rules and 4 views.

This MP is only used for SNMP alerts and because of that does not have any discoveries or diagram views.

Even that MP is very small it has a lot of errors like:

• WMI queries should not use “Select *” statements
• Alerts should have name and description defined
• Management pack elements should have display names
• All scripts should include the US locale
• Workflows should not use WMI queries
• Views should be sorted in the expected order
• Script time-out should be 300s or more

HPEnterpriseStorageStoreEverTapeDrivesMP.mp

This management pack monitors HP StoreEver Tape Drives.

MPViewer shows 1 class, 1 discovery,9 rules and 4 views.

This MP is identical to the previous one. The share the same code for different devices. The errors from MPBPA are the same also.

HPEnterpriseStorageStoreEasyMP.mp

This Management pack monitors HP StoreEasy 1000 and HP StoreEasy 3000 Storage.

MPViewer shows 1 class, 1 discovery, 1 relationship, 68 rules and 8 views.

This MP is different the previous two mainly because it uses WMI. Because of that MPBPA also shows different errors and warnings:

• Alerts should not use hardcoded names or descriptions
• Alerts should have name and description defined
• Views should be sorted in the expected order
• Management pack elements should have display names

The errors and the warnings are again a lot but not so critical for the performance of SCOM to my opinion.

HPEnterpriseStorageStoreEasy5000MP.mp

This management pack monitors HP StoreEasy 5000 Storage.

MPViewer shows 9 classes, 3 discoveries, 1 group, 6 dependency monitors, 5 unit monitors, 9 relationships, 4 rules and 6 views.

This MP is more complicated than the previous one described. The reason behind that is because this one monitors a higher class device. Benefit of that is that you get diagram for the monitored devices.

MPBPA reveals less errors and a lot of warnings again:

• WMI queries should not use “Select *” statements
• Discovery interval should not be too short
• Alerts should have name and description defined
• Management pack elements should have display names
• Management pack elements should have knowledge articles
• Views should be sorted in the expected order
• Script time-out should be 300s or more
• All scripts should include the US locale

HPEnterpriseStorageP2000MSAMP.mp

This management pack monitors HP P2000 MSA Storage.

MPViewer reveals 15 classes, 3 discoveries, 1 group, 9 dependency monitors, 10 unit monitors, 14 relationships, 6 rules and 6 views.

Again not so complicated MP but still have the capabilities to make the diagram of the monitored devices.

MPBPA shows the same errors and warnings as the previous described MP which probably means they share the same code.

HPEnterpriseStorageEVAP6000MP.mp

This management pack monitors HP Storage EVA P6000.

MPViewer shows 4 classes, 4 discoveries, 4 unit monitors, 4 recoveries, 5 rules and 8 views.

This is also pretty simple MP and the reason behind that is because it relies on WEBEs Listener Service.

MPBPA shows the usual errors and warnings which are not so many:

• Alerts should have name and description defined
• Alerts should not use hardcoded names or descriptions
• Discovery interval should not be too short
• All scripts should include the US locale
• Management pack elements should have display descriptions
• Script time-out should be 300s or more
• Views should be sorted in the expected order
• Views should define a resolution state

HPEnterpriseStorageE5000MessagingSystemMP.mp

This management pack monitors HP E5000 Messaging System.

MPViewer reveals 5 classes, 3 discoveries, 1 group, 5 relationships, 4 rules and 5 views.

As this is again a simple MP there are not so many errors and warnings:

• WMI queries should not use “Select *” statements
• Discovery interval should not be too short
• Alerts should have name and description defined
• Script time-out should be 300s or more
• Management pack elements should have display names
• Views should be sorted in the expected order
• Workflows should not use WMI queries

HPEnterpriseStorage3PARStoreServMP.mp

This management pack monitors HP 3PAR StoreServ Storage.

MPViewer reveals 14 classes, 3 discoveries, 1 group, 7 dependency monitors, 8 unit monitors, 13 relationships, 3 rules and 6 views.

MPBPA shows not so many errors and the usual big number of warnings:

• Discovery interval should not be too short
• WMI queries should not use “Select *” statements
• Alerts should have name and description defined
• Management pack elements should have display names
• Script time-out should be 300s or more
• All scripts should include the US locale
• Discoveries should have discovery types defined
• Workflows should not use WMI queries

As a lot of changes are introduced in this management pack it seems it is written pretty decent.

HPEnterpriseStorageXP9000MP.mp

This management pack monitors HP XP 9000 Storage.

MPViewer reveals 1 class, 1 discovery, 6 rules and 4 views.

This is another simple MP with a few errors and warnings:

• WMI queries should not use “Select *” statements
• Alerts should have name and description defined
• Management pack elements should have display names
• Workflows should not use WMI queries
• Script time-out should be 300s or more
• All scripts should include the US locale

Now that we reviewed all separate MPs there is a new service that needs to be reviewed. This new service is called HP Storage Management Pack User Configuration Tool. Quite a long name for service J. This service resembles other service of HP Management pack – HP Device Monitor service in HP BladeSystem Management pack. This new service allows you to connect to HP 3PAR StoreServ Storage, HP StoreVirtual Storage, HP StoreEasy 5000 Storage, HPP2000 MSA Storage or HP E5000 Messaging System. By connecting to these HP Storage devices with this service you will be able to get diagram view of them. This improves the experience with SCOM by providing architectures for these devices and bringing them as CIs in SCOM database. When you start the tool for first time you will be prompted to connect to SCOM server:

When you connect to the SCOM server you will have the option to add HP Storage System:

When you use the feature to add HP Storage System the following window appears:

From the drop down menu you have to select the type of the device. When you select it IP for that device have to be entered and also credentials to be provided in order to connect successfully. Keep in mind that for HP StoreVirtual Storage, HP StoreEasy 5000 Storage and HP E5000 Storage, only IP

Shoul be provided and for 3PAR StoreServ Storage and P2000 MSA Storage the account have to have SMI-S rights.

Summary

As a summary of all the changes introduced in this major version of HP Storage Management Pack I can fairly say that HP are on the right move. Making so many improvements on this MP in such short time shows that they are determined to provide better added value to their storage products. When you compare this management pack with the other management packs from HP you can clearly see that they are trying to provide the same experience in all management packs created by them. This simplifies the experience of installing and configuring their management packs and increases the experience of using them. With changes introduced we can see that HP 3PAR Storage is the flagmen product of these storage devices and improvements for monitoring it will continue to be developed by HP. I strongly recommend to upgrade to HP Storage Management Pack version 3 if you are still using one of the old ones.

The latest version of HP Storage Management pack you can download from here.

All the reports from MPViewer and MPBPA you can download from my SkyDrive.