Product architecture

Central management server

Each management domain has a single CMS. The CMS is the system in the management domain that executes the HP SIM software and initiates all central operations within the domain. In addition to the HP SIM software, the CMS maintains a database for storage of persistent objects that can reside locally or on a separate system. Typically, applications for the MSA tools also reside on the CMS. However, these applications are not required to reside on the CMS. They can reside anywhere on the network.

Because the CMS is a system within the management environment, it manages itself as part of the domain. You can add the CMS as a managed system within another management domain if you want to manage the domain using a separate CMS.

Managed systems

Systems that comprise a management domain are called managed systems. A system can be any device on the network that can communicate with HP SIM, including servers, desktops, laptops, printers, workstations, hubs, storage systems, SANs, and routers. In most cases, these devices have an IP address associated with them. A managed system can be managed by more than one CMS, if desired.

Managed systems to be managed must have one or more management agents installed. There is a wide variety of agents, such as the ProLiant Insight Management Agents based on SNMP, or the WMI for Windows systems, , or WBEM providers, and System Fault Management providers for HP-UX. These agents provide management information and alerts (indications) to the CMS. The SSH agent (service) then enables the HP SIM CMS to log in to the managed system to execute commands through scripts.

Web-browser clients

You can access HP SIM from any supported browser client. The network client can be part of the management domain. However, you must run a compatible browser to access the GUI or an SSH client application to securely access the CLI. You can restrict access to the web server on the CMS to specific IP address ranges for specific users.