HP Operations Smart Plug-in for Virtualization Infrastructure Release Notes

for HP Operations Manager for Windows

Software version: 1.00

Publication date: October 2008

This document is an overview of the features in HP Operations Smart Plug-in for Virtualization Infrastructure (Virtualization Infrastructure SPI). It contains important information that is not included in included in the manual or the online help. You can find information about the following in this document:

In This Version
Installation Notes
Verified Environments
Product Documentation
Known Problems, Limitations, and Workarounds
Documentation Updates
Local Language Support
Support
Legal Notices

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In This Version

HP Operations Smart Plug-in for Virtualization Infrastructure manages VMware ESX server. The features provided by the SPI are detailed below:

Service Discovery: Discovers all the virtual machines (VMs) configured on the VMware ESX server and creates the service map in HPOM console.
Policies: Collects data and monitors the capacity, availability, and utilization of virtualized infrastructure.
Tools: Help to administer and manage the virtualized infrastructure.
Graphs: The graphs on the host machine show the resource (disk, CPU and network) utilization of the virtual machines.

Installation Notes

Instructions for installing the Smart Plug-in for Virtualization Infrastructure are documented in the following guide provided in PDF (.pdf) format:

HP Operations Smart Plug-in for Virtualization Infrastructure Deployment and Reference Guide

Software Requirements

Before installing the Virtualization Infrastructure SPI, make sure that the following requirements are met. For the installation requirements for the management server, see the HP Operations Manager Release Notes.

HPOM management server requirements:

HP Operations manager 8.10
HP Performance Manager 8.10
HP Performance Agent Deployables 8.70 (optional)

HPOM managed node requirements:

HP Operations Agent (HTTPS) 8.52.006
HP Performance Agent 4.62.500/ 4.73.100
VMware ESX Server 3.0.1/ 3.0.2/ 3.5.0*

*For VMware ESX Server 3.5.0, install the API build 39850 on the Server Console and add the following in /etc/vmware/config file : vmcontrol.server.forcessl=TRUE. To download API build, go to the http://www.vmware.com/download/sdk/api.html web site.
*VMware ESX Server 3.5.0 Update 2 is not supported in this software version due to issues found in ESX Server 3.5.0 Update 2. See the VMware service request - SR #1152280581 at the http://www.vmware.com/support/. As a workaround VMware recommends that you upgrade to ESX Server 3.5.0 Update 3.

Verified Environments

The Virtualization Infrastructure SPI version 1.00 supports only HP Operations Manager for Windows 8.10. Earlier versions of HP Operations Manager for Windows are not supported.

HP Performance Agent versions supported for the VMware ESX server 3.0.1 and 3.0.2:

If you have HP Performance Agent 4.70 installed, apply the OVPALX_00008 patch to upgrade the HP Performance Agent version to 4.73.100.
If you have HP Performance Agent 4.60 installed, apply the OVPALX_00007 patch to upgrade the HP Performance Agent version to 4.62.500.

HP Performance Agent versions supported for the VMware ESX server 3.5.0:

If you have HP Performance Agent 4.70 installed, perform the following tasks:
- Apply the OVPALX_00008 patch to upgrade the HP Performance Agent version to 4.73.100.
- Apply the hotfix for the defect ID-QXCR1000861433-OVPA support for VMware ESX 3.5 platform, VMControl error -10.
If you have HP Performance Agent 4.60 installed, perform the following tasks:
- Apply the OVPALX_00007 patch to upgrade the HP Performance Agent version to 4.62.500.
- Apply the hotfix for the defect ID-QXCR1000802479-HP Performance Agent to be supported on Vmware ESX server 3.5.x.

HP Virtualization Infrastructure SPI is supported in a HPOM for Windows 8.10 cluster environment.

Product Documentation

The following documentation is available for Virtualization Infrastructure SPI:

HP Operations Smart Plug-in for Virtualization Infrastructure Deployment and Reference Guide

This is available on the product media/ HP Download Center URL.

HP Operations Smart Plug-in for Virtualization Infrastructure Online Help

This can be accessed from the HP Operations console. Under the SPI for Infrastructure tool group, Double-click the VISPI Online Help tool to launch the online help.

HP Operations Smart Plug-in for Virtualization Infrastructure Online Help in PDF (.pdf) format

This can be accessed from the HP Software Product Manuals web site. See Documentation Updates.

Known Problems, Limitations, and Workarounds

This release contains certain unresolved problems, and there are workaround to help solve certain problems:

The service discovery map takes time to get updated when a virtual machine is deleted from an ESX server or migrated from an ESX server to another using VMotion®.

Problem: When a virtual machine is deleted or moved from one ESX server to another, the service map takes time to get updated. The discovery agent by default takes 5 consecutive cycles to update the service map.
Fix: Set the XPL configuration setting INSTANCE_DELETION_THRESHOLD to 1. This will ensure that the discovery agent updates the service map in the next run of the Virtualization Infrastructure discovery. To set the threshold, run the following command on the managed node:
ovconfchg -ns agtrep -set INSTANCE_DELETION_THRESHOLD 1

Virtual machine state change alert takes time to appear on the HPOM for Windows console.

Problem: Delayed alerts from the VI-VMStateMonitor policy to the HPOM for Windows console reporting a VM state change.
Fix:
- Set the HP Performance Agent data collector interval to 60 seconds as follows:
  1. Edit /var/opt/perf/parm file and set the collectioninterval global=60.
  2. Restart the HP Performance Agent processes.
- Apply the monitor agent deployable hotfix for defect ID-QXCR1000838797-Need awareness of varying summarization needs for HP performance sources.

The Virtualization Infrastructure service discovery policy VI-Discovery fails to instantiate the service map creation.

Problem: Virtual infrastructure service elements are not displayed under the Virtualization Infrastructure root element in the service map.
Fix: Apply the discovery agent deployable hotfix for defect ID-QXCR1000829845-AgtRep to honor new svc map attach points for HA Cluster, Virtualization Infrastructure SPI. To apply the deployable hotfix, use the Hotfix Deployment tool and follow the installation instructions mentioned in the deployable hotfix.

Status.scope reports an error when running scopeux with HP Performance Agent 4.70 on ESX Server 3.5.

Problem: When running scopeux with HP Performance Agent 4.70 on the ESX server 3.5, status.scope reports VMControl error -10.
Fix: Apply the hotfix for defect ID-QXCR1000861433-OVPA (HP Performance Agent) support for VMware ESX 3.5 platform,VMControl error -10. See Verified Environments

Documentation Updates

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Localization Support

The Smart Plug-in for Virtualization Infrastructure software and documentation are not provided in localized languages. However it can be deployed successfully on a non-English HP Operations Manager for Windows server.

HP Software Support

This web site provides contact information and details about the products, services, and support that HP Software offers. For more information, visit the HP Support web site at: HP Software Support Online.

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Legal Notices

Confidential computer software. Valid license from HP required for possession, use or copying. Consistent with FAR 12.211 and 12.212, Commercial Computer Software, Computer Software Documentation, and Technical Data for Commercial Items are licensed to the U.S. Government under vendor's standard commercial license.

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