When troubleshooting an HP ProLiant DL360 G7 running ESXi 5.1, I discovered several critical HP management utilities were unavailable compared to Windows/Linux environments:

# Notable missing tools:
hpasmcli  # (present on Linux/Windows)
hplog     # (present on Linux/Windows)

Since iLO isn't accessible in this case, here are viable ESXi-side approaches:

Method 1: Using hpasmcli via SSH

First check if the HP Advanced Server Management CLI is installed:

esxcli software vib list | grep hpasm

If available, use these commands:

# Processor information
/opt/hp/hpasmcli/bin/hpasmcli -s "show server"
    
# Fan status  
/opt/hp/hpasmcli/bin/hpasmcli -s "show fans"
    
# IML dump
/opt/hp/hpasmcli/bin/hpasmcli -s "show iml" > /tmp/iml_dump.txt

Method 2: Using ESXi Syslog Collector

If HP agents aren't installed, check ESXi's own logs for hardware events:

# View recent system events
vim-cmd hostsvc/hosthardware | grep -A 10 log
    
# Specific hardware errors
cat /var/log/vmkernel.log | grep -i "hardware"

Method 3: Temporary Linux Live CD

When all else fails, boot a Linux live environment to access native HP tools:

1. Download HP SPP ISO
2. Mount as virtual CD-ROM
3. Run: hplog -v from rescue shell

To avoid this situation in future deployments:

• Always install HP ESXi vibs: esxcli software vib install -n hp-health
• Configure iLO during initial setup
• Set up SNMP traps for hardware events

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While working on an HP ProLiant DL360 G7 running ESXi 5.1, I noticed some critical HP management tools were unavailable compared to Windows/Linux environments. The installed HP VIBs showed:

# esxcli software vib list| grep -i hewlett
char-hpcru                     5.0.3.09-1OEM.500.0.0.434156        Hewlett-Packard  PartnerSupported  2013-01-24  
char-hpilo                     500.9.0.0.9-1OEM.500.0.0.434156     Hewlett-Packard  PartnerSupported  2013-01-24  
hp-ams                         500.9.2.0-11.434156                 Hewlett-Packard  PartnerSupported  2013-01-24  
hp-smx-provider                500.03.01.10.2-434156               Hewlett-Packard  VMwareAccepted    2013-01-24  
hpacucli                       9.20-9.0                            Hewlett-Packard  PartnerSupported  2013-01-24  
hpbootcfg                      01-01.02                            Hewlett-Packard  PartnerSupported  2013-01-24  
hponcfg                        04-00.10                            Hewlett-Packard  PartnerSupported  2013-01-24  

Noticeably absent are hpasmcli and hplog - the tools we'd normally use to check the Integrated Management Log (IML).

When iLO isn't accessible, try these approaches:

Method 1: Using ESXi Shell Commands

The esxcli command provides some hardware visibility:

# esxcli hardware ipmi sel list

For more detailed output:

# esxcli hardware ipmi sel list --output-format=csv | more

Method 2: Checking System Logs

Some IML events may appear in ESXi logs:

# grep -i "hardware" /var/log/vmkernel.log
# grep -i "error" /var/log/hostd.log

Method 3: Temporary Linux Rescue Environment

Boot a live Linux environment and install HP tools:

wget https://downloads.linux.hpe.com/SDR/repo/mcp/ubuntu/pool/non-free/h/hp-health/hp-health_10.91.0.0_amd64.deb
dpkg -i hp-health_10.91.0.0_amd64.deb
/usr/sbin/hplog -v

For future management:

• Always configure iLO during initial setup
• Consider installing the HP ESXi Custom Image
• Set up SNMP traps for hardware events

While not as convenient as native tools, these methods can help diagnose hardware issues when iLO isn't available. The ideal solution remains proper iLO configuration combined with HP's management agents.