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HPE ProLiant Diagnostics: How to Generate a Survey Log (Online & Offline) | Lazy Admin Blog

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An HPE Survey Log provides a deep-dive look at your server’s hardware configuration, firmware levels, and error counts. Depending on whether your OS is healthy or the server is “down,” you have two ways to get this data.

Method 1: The Offline Approach (Non-Booting Servers)

Use this method if the OS is corrupted or you need to test the hardware in a “clean” state using the SmartStart CD (Gen8 and older) or Service Pack for ProLiant (SPP).

  1. Boot the server using the SmartStart CD or SPP ISO.
  2. Navigate: From the homepage, click Maintenance > HP Insight Diagnostics.
  3. Default View: The Survey tab will open by default.
  4. The “Pro” Settings: * Change Category from ‘Overview’ to ‘All’.
    • Change View Level from ‘Summary’ to ‘Advanced’.
  5. Save: Click Save. Note that you will need a USB flash drive plugged in to export the .html or .txt log file.

Method 2: The Online Approach (Live Production)

If the server is running Windows or Linux, you can pull the logs without a reboot by using the HP Insight Diagnostics Online Edition.

For Windows Admins:

  • Via Start Menu: Go to Start > All Programs > HP System Tools > HP Insight Diagnostics.
  • Via Web Browser: Open the HP System Management Homepage (SMH), click Webapps, and select HP Insight Diagnostics.

For Linux Admins:

  1. Open your browser and navigate to: https://localhost:2381
  2. Log in with root credentials.
  3. Click Webapps > HP Insight Diagnostics.

Exporting the Online Log:

Once the interface opens, follow the same “Advanced” steps:

  1. Set Category to ‘All’.
  2. Set View Level to ‘Advanced’.
  3. Click Save to download the file directly to your workstation.

How to Install Online Diagnostics (If Missing)

If the tool isn’t installed, you’ll need the HPE Service Pack for ProLiant (SPP):

  1. Mount the SPP ISO.
  2. Navigate to /hp/swpackages and run hpsum.exe (Windows) or ./hpsum (Linux).
  3. Select Localhost as the target and ensure HP Insight Diagnostics Online Edition is checked for installation.

Lazy Admin Tip 💡

For modern Gen9, Gen10, and Gen11 servers, you can bypass these tools entirely by using the iLO (Integrated Lights-Out). Simply log into the iLO web interface and download the Active Health System (AHS) log. It’s the modern replacement for the Survey log and is much faster to collect!

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