Edit: I just recommended this tool the other day, I still love it. This video is a nice demo as well. Updated the first link, the second link is the old download link that will be going away.
Originally posted July 17, 2012 on AIXchange
I recently downloaded the latest version of the HMC Scanner tool:
“HMC Scanner is a Java program that uses SSH to connect to an HMC, downloads the system configuration and produces a single Excel spreadsheet that contains the configuration of servers and LPARs. The result is a simple way to document configuration and to easily look at most important configuration parameters.
“Information is organized in tabs:
* System summary: name, serial number, cores, memory, service processor IP for each server.
* LPAR summary: list of all LPAR by serve with status, environment, version, processor mode.
* LPAR CPU: processor configuration of each LPAR.
* LPAR MEM: memory configuration of each LPAR.
* Physical slots: list of all slots of each system with LPAR assignment, description, physical location and drc_index.
* Virtual Ethernet: network configuration of each virtual switch and each LPAR.
* Virtual SCSI: configuration of all virtual SCSI adapters, both client and server.
* VSCSI map: devices mapped by each VIOS to partitions.
* Virtual fibre: virtual fibre channel configuration of client and server with identification of physical adapter assigned.
* SW cores: LPAR and virtual processor pool configuration matrix to compute the number of software licenses. Simulation of alternative scenarios is possible.
* CPU pool usage: easy to read history of CPU usage of each system. Based on last 12 months of lslparutil data.
* Sys RAM usage: easy to read history of physical memory assignment to each LPAR. Based on last 12 months of lslparutil data.
* LPAR CPU usage: easy to read history of CPU usage of each LPAR. Based on last 12 months of lslparutil data.”
After downloading and opening the .zip file, I opened a DOS prompt and went to the directory I chose when I unzipped the file. Then I followed these directions:
“Unzip the downloaded file and edit the hmcScanner.bat or hmcScanner.ksh in order to make the BASE variable point to the directory where the ZIP file has been decompressed.”
Once I pointed the BASE variable to the directory containing my extracted files, I ran hmcScanner.bat and saw:
HMC Scanner Version 0.3
Missing or wrong arguments. Syntax is:
hmcScanner.Loader [-p ] [-dir ] [-perf ] [-readlocal] [-key file] [-stats] is the directory where data will be stored. Default is current directory.
and is data collection retrieval interval. Syntax is: YYYY MMDD d=daily data samples; h=hourly data samples
-readlocal will force reading of existing local data without contacting HMC
-key will use OpenSSH private key (default $HOME/.ssh/id_rsa)
-stats will produce system statistics
I tried running hmcScanner.bat hmchostname hscroot –p password (obviously using a real hostname and password). It ran for a few minutes and started to gather data. After it finished, it generated an .xls file that had summary information about my HMC-managed systems. (Sample here.)
The system summary displays the serial number, the number of cores installed and active, memory installed and active, service processor IP information, etc.
The next tab is labeled LPAR Summary. It provides a view of the LPARs on the machine and whether they’re running or not. It also displays the OS version and the mode the processors are running in.
The LPAR CPU tab displays processor information including entitlement, weight, minimums and maximums, and whether the processors are shared or capped.
The LPAR MEM tab displays similar information for memory statistics.
The Physical Slots tab shows which LPARs are assigned which physical cards on the machine.
The Virtual Ethernet tab displays the virtual slot numbers, whether the network adapters are trunked together, the virtual Ethernet MAC address, the virtual switch it’s attached to and the VLAN ID.
The Virtual SCSI tab displays the slots that are set up, and which slots they’re attached to.
The VSCSI Map tab shows how disks — including LUN IDs, backing devices, etc. — are mapped. There are also Virtual Fibre and SW cores tabs.
The HMC Scanner is useful on its own, but when coupled with the HMC system plans you can generate from your HMC (select System Plans/Create System Plan if you don’t already run these in your environment), it provides some fantastic resources to help you document your system.