Hey everyone,
I'm in a bit of a bind here and hoping someone can guide me. We have a ProLiant ML350 G10 server running Windows Server 2016 at a customer site that's pretty remote. Unfortunately, I can't send someone there unless it's an absolute emergency since the folks working there aren't really the type I would trust to handle rebooting the server and running diagnostics. Plus, we just can't afford to reboot mid-week anyway.
Recently, someone mentioned a flashing light that might indicate a RAID issue, so I thought it would be best to run HP's diagnostic software to check on the drive health. But here's the kicker: I'm not very experienced with HP servers—I've dealt with them only a few times over the last five years.
Can someone point me toward the right diagnostic software, or is there some freeware solution out there that would let me check the health and SMART data of the drives? I'd really appreciate any help so I can determine if we need to send someone out next weekend.
Thanks a ton! 🍪🍪🍪
4 Answers
Yeah, iLO is definitely your best bet here. It can give you a lot of insights without needing to restart the server.
Don't forget to check out the iLO exporter or the smartctl_exporter. These tools can really help with monitoring without needing to reboot.
Have you checked if you have iLO set up and accessible? The Gen10 and iLO 5 come with a lot of built-in monitoring features, and if there's something wrong with the server, the iLO's health status page will likely show it. Also, the Integrated Management Log (IML) gives you a hardware health log for the server.
You could explore SNMP MIBs for the ML350. If you're using PRTG, there's an SNMP monitor already set up for ProLiant systems, which could make things easier. But if you're okay setting up SNMP traps, check out this documentation from HPE for more guidance.
I appreciate it, but PRTG is a bit out of our budget. We're a small operation and need to stick to more affordable options.
Thanks for the tip! Do you have any screenshots? I'm not too familiar with using iLO.