Discovering systems

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You can configure or discover multiple hosts that can be monitored by IBM® Electronic Service Agent™ .

Before you begin

The IBM Electronic Service Agent monitors multiple hosts (like OpenBMC, BMC, or IBM® Enterprise Storage Server (ESS) remotely from a PowerLinux™ server, which is on the same network. The Electronic Service Agent communicates with all the remote hosts through various protocols, for example, uses Rest services for OpenBMC and Enterprise Storage Server systems, and IPMI for BMC systems.
Note: To discover BMC devices, it is mandatory to install IPMI tool on the ESA installed system.

About this task

When the problems are received, ESA processes them and sends to IBM support, if it is a call home problem. The serviceable events include the hardware problems that require IBM service in resolving the problems. ESA also identifies if it is a test or a real problem. For more information, see Displaying problem information.

Procedure

To discover the hosts, follow these steps:
  1. Access and log in to the IBM Electronic Service Agent graphical user interface.
  2. Click Main menu from left navigation.
  3. Click Discovery. You can add BMC, OpenBMC, single or multiple remote systems in a single instance.
    Note: The ESA discovers only the IBM BMC and OpenBMC hosts. No other types of systems are supported.
    1. BMC
      Problem reporting through IPMI
      1. Enter the BMC Host Name or the IP address.
      2. Enter the admin User ID and Password of the system.
      Diagnostics data through SSHAdditionally, to enable EED collection for BMC device, you need to provide sysadmin credentials.
      1. For Admin User, enter the BMC system administrator ID.
      2. For Admin Password, enter the password of the system administrator ID.

      Click Verify Connectivity to test the connectivity to the BMC systems.

      Click Discover Now to discover the respective system. You can view the discovery status in the discovery log table.
      Note: The user IDs are used to create a new user on the BMC and the credentials are not stored anywhere. The password for the new user ID (esaXXXXX) is updated periodically by ESA.

      Click Clear to clear the Host Name, User ID, and Password fields.

    2. OpenBMC
      1. Enter the Host Name - IBM BMC host name or the IP address.
      2. Enter the User ID and Password of the system.
      3. Click Verify Connectivity to test the connectivity to the OpenBMC systems.
      4. Click Discover Now to discover the respective system. You can view the discovery status in the discovery log table.
      5. Click Clear to clear the Host Name, User ID, and Password fields.
      Note: For ESS devices, the Spectrum Scale RAID application is responsible for controlling and monitoring the status of the storage subsystem. When Spectrum Scale RAID determines that a disk in an external storage unit is failed, it manages to move the data from the failed disk. The Spectrum Scale RAID also updates the status of the disk to "prepare for removal". When an accumulation of two disk units within the same resource group is failed, the Spectrum Scale RAID code initiates a call for service by notifying the ESA through a defined RESTful interface. The Spectrum Scale RAID code passes all of the relevant failure information to the ESA code, which then creates a Problem Management Record (PMR) with IBM Support. Each of the failed disks within the resource group has a separate Call Home for service event and resultant PMR. The PMR triggers IBM to initiate a service action and notify the client to make the necessary arrangements for servicing the storage unit. All of the reported failed disks are repaired at the time of service.
    3. Advanced

      Discover multiple remote systems

      1. Discover from local file: Browse the data file from the local system.
        Note: Click Data Format File to download the template and make sure that your data is in the format specified.
      2. Discover from remote file: Enter the remote file name and path.
      3. Click Discover Now to add the respective system to the discovery log table and discovery. You can check the discovery log for details.
      4. Click Clear to clear the Discover from local file or Discover from remote file fields.
    4. Discovery Logs
      After you discover a system, the discovery log table is updated with the following system information:
      • Host Name - Displays the name of the system that is discovered. To filter or search for a particular system that you require, enter the initial letters or digits of the respective system in the Search field. A list of filtered systems is displayed.
      • User Id - Displays the user ID to log in to the system.
      • Start Time - Displays the time at which the discovery was started.
      • Updated Time - Displays the time at which the status is last updated.
      • Status - Displays the status of the discovery of a system.
        • Running - If the system is in discovery process.
        • Success - If ESA discovers the system successfully.
        • Failed - If ESA is unable to discover the system.
      • Status Details - Displays the details or reason for failure. For example,
        • If the discovery fails, the Status Details column displays - Discovery Action Failed.
        • If the discovery is successful, the Status Details column displays - Discovery Completed Successfully.
      • Click Refresh Log to update the discovery log details with the most recent discovery operations.
      Note: The discovery log details persist for 24 hours only, after which, the log details are deleted.

What to do next

On successful discovery of remote hosts, you can view the problems that are reported by each discovered system. For information on problem details, Displaying problem information