Blade Information Collector

(BIC)

Version PG.06.10
June 2013

Copyright 2010 Hewlett-Packard Company

User Guide

06/15/13

NOTICE
The information contained in this document is subject to change without notice.
Hewlett-Packard makes no warranty of any kind with regard to this material, including, but not limited to, the
implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. Hewlett-Packard shall not be liable
for errors contained herein or for incidental or consequential damages in connection with the furnishing,
performance or use of this material.
Hewlett-Packard assumes no responsibility for the use or reliability of its software. Any use of this program
without the consent of Hewlett-Packard is prohibited.
This document contains proprietary information, which is protected by copyright. All rights are reserved. No
part of this document may be photocopied, reproduced or translated to another language without the prior written
consent of Hewlett-Packard Company.
Copyright (c) 2010 by Hewlett-Packard Company.

User Guide

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Table of Contents
NOTICE ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 2
INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................................................................... 4
RUNNING BIC ON YOUR COMPUTER .............................................................................................................................. 5
Extract the Zip File .......................................................................................................................................................... 5
Modify the CONFIG.ini File ........................................................................................................................................... 5
Modify the DEVICES.txt File ......................................................................................................................................... 5
Run BIC.CMD ................................................................................................................................................................. 6
Remove Credential .......................................................................................................................................................... 6
CONFIG FILE ........................................................................................................................................................................... 7
VC Module ...................................................................................................................................................................... 7
Other Options................................................................................................................................................................... 7
BIC OPTIONS ........................................................................................................................................................................... 8
SHOWALL (Default) ...................................................................................................................................................... 8
FIRMWARE .................................................................................................................................................................... 8
TEST ................................................................................................................................................................................ 8
COMMAND .................................................................................................................................................................... 9
TASK ............................................................................................................................................................................... 9
PASSWORD.................................................................................................................................................................... 9
BIC OPTION (TASK) ............................................................................................................................................................. 10
HP Disclaimer ................................................................................................................................................................ 10
PURPOSE ...................................................................................................................................................................... 10
OVERVIEW .................................................................................................................................................................. 10
EXAMPLE .................................................................................................................................................................... 11
APPENDIX A (EXAMPLE OF FILES) ................................................................................................................................ 12
CONFIG.INI .................................................................................................................................................................. 12
DEVICES.TXT .............................................................................................................................................................. 12
APPENDIX B (USING NAME SUFFIX) .............................................................................................................................. 13

User Guide

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INTRODUCTION

The BIC Tool gathers information from:

Onboard Administrator (OA)

Virtual Connect (VC)

Here is the process used to gather the information needed by Hewlett-Packard:

1. You install the BIC application on a desktop running Windows XP and above
2. You configure BIC to include credentials and a list of OA/VC Module(s)
Name/IP (Active Module Only)
3. The BIC program will connect to the OA/VC Module(s) and execute a list of
commands to gather the information needed
4. It will save the data into an ASCII file for each module
5. You will ZIP the DATA Folder and send it to HP
6. You can delete files and folders and remove the credential in the configuration
file

Important Note:
There is NO PASSWORD saved in the DATA files sent to HP. However, the information
contains Computer Name and IP Address
For the OA Data only, using the FIRMWARE Option, you can SANITIZE the data to
remove that information. The enclosure name is replaced by its serial number
If desired, you can look at the ASCII files under the DATA Folder for detail

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RUNNING BIC ON YOUR COMPUTER

Note: BIC is distributed as a Windows Zip file

Extract the Zip File

Unzip the BIC.ZIP File under C:\BIC

Go to C:\BIC

Modify the CONFIG.ini File

Insert the OA User & Password

Important: Dont have any special characters in your password
such as: ! @ # $ % ^ &, etc
If you do, use the PASSWORD option as described in the BIC OPTIONS"
section below

See the CONFIG Section for more detail about other options

Modify the DEVICES.txt File

For each OA Module, add the ACTIVE Name or IP Address in the appropriate section

1 Name or IP per line

Note: For troubleshooting purpose, you can insert a # sign at the beginning of the line
to skip the connection

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Run BIC.CMD

Right-Click the BIC.CMD File and Select Run As Administrator

Enter the Customer Information and the HP Representative:

Company Name
Street Address
City, State
Zip Code

HP Representative
HP Title (ASM/MCHS/RCAA, etc)

Note: This will create a file called Customer.txt under the DATA Folder.
Deleting that file will prompt you again for the customer information

The program will connect to each module as configured in the CONFIG.INI and
DEVICES.TXT files and display the individual result

Fix any issues encountered. Look at the files under the LOG Folder for troubleshooting
help. If needed, it can be re-run as often as you want. It will override the DATA files

When completed, zip the DATA Folder as DATA.ZIP and send the File to HP
Important: You must zip the DATA Folder as instructed above to get the optional
Blade Assessment Report

Remove Credential

User Guide

In the CONFIG.INI File, for security purpose, remove the credential

If the PASSWORD_OA.txt or PASSWORD_VC.txt file exists, delete them as they

contain your password

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CONFIG File

VC Module

Important: You dont need to include the Virtual Connect credential to gather firmware
information. The firmware version is included in the OA Data. Leave it blank

As an optional step, if you want to collect Virtual Connect Data, do the following:

Insert the VC User & Password

Note: You can leave the User and Password blank. This will indicate the program
to skip any connection to VCs

Important: Dont have any special characters in your password

such as: ! @ # $ % ^ &, etc
If you do, use the PASSWORD option as described in the next section

Other Options

If you dont wish to store the SSH Key for the plink connection on your desktop
StoreKey= N
Note: The Cache Location of the SSH Key used by plink.exe is:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\SimonTatham\PuTTy\SshHostKeys

If you are using a different port than 22 to connect with SSH, change those options
OAPort=
VCPort=

If you dont know which OA/VC is active, you can use the Suffix Option. See Appendix B
for detail usage
OA1=
OA2=
VC1=
VC2=

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BIC OPTIONS

There are different options available for the BIC tool. To run any of these options, you open a command
prompt window; go to that folder (C:\BIC) and type: BIC.CMD <option>

SHOWALL (Default)

This will execute the SHOW ALL command for the OA and the SHOW ALL *
command for the VC

FIRMWARE

This will execute only the command needed to gather firmware information. This option
is valid for the OA and VC Modules

If you use this option, you will be asked if you want to SANITIZE the OA data. The
enclosure name will be replaced by its serial number. The components name, servers
names and IP address will be left blank
Note: This interaction will be available if there are no errors. The default is NO
Important: Sanitization will not work for the Default Option SHOWALL

TEST

This will connect to the Module without gathering any data. This is used to test your
communication with devices or to stored/cached the SSH key
Note: You must use this option prior to use the PASSWORD Option

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COMMAND

This will execute a single SHOW command. This option is valid for the OA and VC
Modules

The result of this command will be in the following folder location:

C:\BIC\COMMAND\LOG\<Module>_<Command Name>\Date
Compile Result
o _ALL_<Date>.wri
Individual Device
o <Device Name>.wri
Example:

TASK

See next page for details

PASSWORD

If your password has a special character as described earlier, you will need to use this
option. You will be asked for the password. Be aware that your password will be
displayed on the screen

Prior to use the PASSWORD option, you must use the TEST Option first and answer y
if you are asked to stored/cached the SSH key
Run the following Command: BIC.CMD TEST PASSWORD
Note:
If you will use the PASSWORD Option with other options, make sure that the
PASSWORD Option is the last one in the command line
Example: BIC.CMD FIRMWARE PASSWORD

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BIC OPTION (TASK)

HP Disclaimer
You use this option at your own risk. HP assumes no responsibility for the use of this option and the
damage caused in your environment. This option could modify the configuration and can have a
serious impact on your environment

PURPOSE
You can use this tool to run multiple commands on multiple OA or VC easily. This tool makes it
convenient to gather information or push a configuration change that applies to your Blade
Environment
Important: Please make sure that you have tested and re-tested the command(s) prior to execute it
to your environment.

OVERVIEW
1) Create a Folder called TASK under the BIC Folder
2) Create a Sub-Folder called OA or VC under the TASK Folder
3) Create a File that includes your command(s) under the OA/VC Sub-Folder
Note: Make sure that your last line is EXIT
4) Run BIC.CMD TASK OA/VC <Filename>
5) The result will be in the following folder location:
C:\BIC\TASK\LOG\<Module>_<TaskFile>\Date
Compile Result
o _ALL_<Date>.wri
Individual Device
o <Device Name>.wri

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EXAMPLE
This will set the SNMP Configuration for the OA
1) Create a Folder called TASK under the BIC Folder
2) Create a Sub-Folder called OA or VC under the TASK Folder

3) Create a File that includes your command(s) under the OA/VC Sub-Folder

Note: Make sure that your last line is EXIT

4) Run the Command
BIC.CMD TASK OA SETSNMP.TXT
Important: Include only 1 IP/Name in the Devices.txt File for Testing
Note: If you have special characters in your password, you can add the PASSWORD
Option at the end of the Command (BIC.CMD TASK OA SETSNMP.txt PASSWORD)

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APPENDIX A (Example of Files)

CONFIG.INI
# Leaving the User Blank will Skip the Component/Module
[Enclosure]
OAUser=Administrator
OAPwd=HP
VCUser=
VCPwd=
[SSH]
StoreKey=Y
OAPort=22
VCPort=22
[Suffix]
OA1=
OA2=
VC1=
VC2=
Important:
If you have connection failure, it might be because of a password containing special character:
such as ! @ # $ % ^ & * ( ), etc and will cause communication failure. Use the password
option to resolve the issue

DEVICES.TXT
# It can be an IP Address or Name
# Insert a "#" at the beginning to skip
[OA]
#Onboard Administrator
10.10.10.10
BLADEDEMO.USA.HP.COM
[VC]
#Virtual Connect

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APPENDIX B (Using Name Suffix)

There is a new option in this version. This is mostly in situation where you dont know which OA or VC
is the Active one. The tool will figure out which one it is and will gather information from the Active
device. It will also create a file called Devices_ActiveOA.txt or Devices_ActiveVC.txt that you can
use later if needed.
You must configure the 2 following files as following:
Example:
Enclosure 1 has 2 OAs named as ENC1A and ENC1B
Enclosure 2 has 2 OAs named as ENC2A and ENC2B
CONFIG.INI
[Suffix]
OA1=A
OA2=B
VC1=
VC2=
DEVICES.TXT
[OA]
ENC1
ENC2
Note: When using Suffix, obviously, you cant use IP address, only name

Important:

If you are using Suffix, you cannot use the TASK option as you might have unpredictable
result. Instead, run the tool to collect firmware information. This will create a file called
Devices_ActiveOA.txt; which will include all the Active OAs. Copy the content of that file
and paste it in the Devices.txt file under the [OA] section. Make sure that you remove the
suffix in the Config.ini file. Now, you can use the TASK Option

If you need to use the TEST option, run the tool once and then change the suffix order in the
CONFIG.INI file and run it a second time. This will connect to both OAs and let you proceed
with the PASSWORD Option

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