HP ProLiant management tools for Ubuntu / Debian based server

So you just got yourself a brand new and shiny HP ProLiant server to play with, installed your favorite distribution and life is good. Except… unless your distribution of choice is RHEL or SuSE, there’s no way to monitor or even configure all those nice little gadgets that made you go with a ProLiant server instead of some random white box server.

If you go to the HP support site to download drivers and software, usually all you get is a choice between various versions of Windows, NetWare (anyone still using that?), Solaris, VMware ESX and for Linux: RHEL and SuSE. Sure, you can convert the RPM packages to deb using alien, but it’s kind of a PITA and doesn’t necessarily work reliably. Wouldn’t it be much nicer if there were packages for Ubuntu or Debian?

Guess what? There are packages for Debian based systems. There’s even a repository containing all the versions and architectures you need. But for some reason unbeknown to man, HP decided not to put it in there with the other OSes, but hide it instead.

Just add this to your APT sources (/etc/apt/sources.list or equivalent):

deb http://downloads.linux.hp.com/SDR/downloads/ProLiantSupportPack/ lucid current/non-free

(nothing for Maverick yet, but the packages for Lucid worked just fine for me)

Then run apt-get update and install any of the packages you might need:

cpqacuxe
hp-health
hpsmh
hp-smh-templates
hp-snmp-agents
hpacucli
hponcfg

Say you want to monitor your servers temperatures using Monitorix or check your fan-status and PSU redudancy:

# apt-get install hp-health
# hplog -t
ID     TYPE        LOCATION      STATUS    CURRENT  THRESHOLD
 1  Basic Sensor I/O Zone        Normal   114F/ 46C 158F/ 70C
 2  Basic Sensor Ambient         Normal    68F/ 20C 102F/ 39C
 3  Basic Sensor CPU (1)         Normal    86F/ 30C 260F/127C
 4  Basic Sensor CPU (1)         Normal    86F/ 30C 260F/127C
 5  Basic Sensor Pwr. Supply Bay Normal   123F/ 51C 170F/ 77C
 6  Basic Sensor CPU (2)         Normal    86F/ 30C 260F/127C
 7  Basic Sensor CPU (2)         Normal    86F/ 30C 260F/127C

Or take a look at your internal cciss RAID configuration, see if all disks are still in working condition or change your array setup without having to reboot your server to do it at the BIOS level:

# apt-get install hpacucli
# hpacucli ctrl all show status
 Smart Array P400 in Slot 1 
 Controller Status: OK
 Cache Status: OK 
 Battery/Capacitor Status: OK

Change your iLO parameters or reboot the management processor if it got stuck for some reason?

apt-get install hponcfg
# hponcfg -h
Firmware Revision = 1.94 Device type = iLO Driver name = hpilo
HPONCFG RILOE II/iLO setup and configuration utility
Version 3.1.0 (c) Hewlett-Packard Company, 2010

hponcfg  -?
hponcfg  -h
hponcfg  -m minFw
hponcfg  -r [-m minFw ]
hponcfg  [-a] -w filename [-m minFw]
hponcfg  -g [-m minFw]
hponcfg  -f filename [-l filename] [-s namevaluepair] [-v] [-m minFw]
hponcfg  -i [-l filename] [-s namevaluepair] [-v] [-m minFw]

-h,  --help           Display this message
-?                    Display this message
-r,  --reset          Reset the RILOE II/iLO to factory default
-f,  --file           Get/Set RILOE II/iLO configuration from "filename"
-i,  --input          Get/Set RILOE II/iLO configuration from the XML input
                      received through the standard input stream.
-w,  --writeconfig    Write the RILOE II/iLO configuration to "filename"
-a,  --all            Capture complete iLO configuration to the file.
                      This should be used along with '-w' option
-l,  --log            Log replies to "filename"
-v,  --xmlverbose     Display all the responses from RILOE II/iLO
-s,  --substitute     Substitute variables present in input config file
                      with values specified in "namevaluepairs"
-g,  --get_hostinfo   Get the Host information
-m,  --minfwlevel     Minimum firmware level

Way better than having to unwrap the documentation packages and pop in a CD or having to find and download a RPM, upload it to your server, convert it with alien and hope it kinda works, isn’t it?