Monitoring Compaq or HP Smart Array RAID status on CentOS

This howto will step you through the process of setting up the required software to be able to check the status of a Compaq or HP Smart Array and the attached physical and logical drives on CentOS 6 or RHEL.
The required program to be able to talk to the Smart Array is called ‘hpacucli’, which can be found in the ‘HP Service Pack for ProLiant’ package.
(Note: Some of the commands below require root privileges.)
Obtaining and Installing the ‘hpacucli’ utility
You have two options here. Downloading the full HP service pack package and extracting the required RPM, or downloading the single required RPM.
Download Option 1: Download the full ‘HP Service Pack for ProLiant’ package.

wget "ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softlib2/software1/cd-generic/p1959651341/v78385/SPPMDSLRH-2012.06.0B-0.zip"

Unzip the downloaded package:

[root@localhost ~]# unzip SPPMDSLRH-2012.06.0B-0.zip
Archive:  SPPMDSLRH-2012.06.0B-0.zip
  inflating: SPPMDSLRH2012060B.2012_0525.1.iso
  inflating: SPPMDSLRH2012060B.2012_0525.1.iso.md5sum
  inflating: README.txt

Create a temporary folder and mount the ISO image so we can access the required package:

[root@localhost ~]# cd ~
[root@localhost ~]# mkdir cdimage
[root@localhost ~]# mount SPPMDSLRH2012060B.2012_0525.1.iso -o loop,ro cdimage
[root@localhost ~]# cd cdimage
[root@localhost cdimage]# cd hp/swpackages
[root@localhost swpackages]#

Download Option 2: Downloading the individual RPM file.

wget ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softlib2/software1/pubsw-linux/p1257348637/v71527/hpacucli-9.10-22.0.x86_64.rpm

(Please see the comment from “fvanler” at the bottom of this article for a link to the HP site for the above RPM.)
Install the hpacucli RPM package:

yum install hpacucli-9.10-22.0.x86_64.rpm

Note: If you used download option 1, make sure you are in the cdimage/hp/swpackages folder before running the above command.
Output:

[root@localhost swpackages]# yum install hpacucli-9.10-22.0.x86_64.rpm
Loaded plugins: fastestmirror, presto
Loading mirror speeds from cached hostfile
 * base: mirror.internode.on.net
 * extras: mirror.internode.on.net
 * updates: mirror.internode.on.net
Setting up Install Process
Examining hpacucli-9.10-22.0.x86_64.rpm: hpacucli-9.10-22.0.x86_64
Marking hpacucli-9.10-22.0.x86_64.rpm to be installed
Resolving Dependencies
--> Running transaction check
---> Package hpacucli.x86_64 0:9.10-22.0 will be installed
--> Finished Dependency Resolution
Dependencies Resolved
============================================================================================
 Package          Arch           Version           Repository                          Size
============================================================================================
Installing:
 hpacucli         x86_64         9.10-22.0         /hpacucli-9.10-22.0.x86_64          17 M
Transaction Summary
============================================================================================
Install       1 Package(s)
Total size: 17 M
Installed size: 17 M
Is this ok [y/N]: y
Downloading Packages:
Running rpm_check_debug
Running Transaction Test
Transaction Test Succeeded
Running Transaction
  Installing : hpacucli-9.10-22.0.x86_64                                                1/1
DOWNGRADE NOTE: To downgrade this application to any version prior to 9.10.x.x, the current
RPM must be manually uninstalled using the "rpm -e" command before any prior versions can be
installed.
LOCKING NOTE: The locking mechanism starting with versions 9.10.X.X, are not compatible with
prior versions of the applications. Therefore, mixing older and newer versions of the various
applications (ACU, HPACUCLI, HPACUSCRIPTING) is not recommended.
Installed:
  hpacucli.x86_64 0:9.10-22.0
Complete!

Unmount the ISO image, as it is no longer required:
(This is only required if you used the full HP package.)

[root@localhost swpackages]# cd ~
[root@localhost ~]# umount cdimage

The installation is now complete, and you are ready to check the status of your Smart Array.
Check the controller status

hpacucli controller all show status

Sample Output:

Smart Array 6i in Slot 0 (Embedded)
   Controller Status: OK
   Cache Status: Temporarily Disabled
   Battery/Capacitor Status: Failed (Replace Batteries/Capacitors)

Keep note of the slot number, as this will be used when checking the logical and physical drives.
Check the logical drive

hpacucli controller slot=0 logicaldrive all show status

Sample Output:

   logicaldrive 1 (67.8 GB, RAID 5): OK

Check the physical drives

hpacucli controller slot=0 physicaldrive all show status

Sample Output:

   physicaldrive 2:0 (port 2:id 0, 36.4 GB): OK
   physicaldrive 2:1 (port 2:id 1, 36.4 GB): OK
   physicaldrive 2:2 (port 2:id 2, 36.4 GB): OK
   physicaldrive 2:3 (port 2:id 3, 36.4 GB, spare): OK

Setting up periodic monitoring
Now that the ‘hpacucli’ tool is installed, you can configure a monitoring tool such as Nagios to periodically check the status of your array/drives.
To do this with Nagios, you will need to use the ‘check_hparray’ plugin.
This can be downloaded from the following site:
http://exchange.nagios.org/directory/Plugins/Hardware/Server-Hardware/HP-(Compaq)/check_hparray/details.