For HP servers, there are a few things you can do to check hardware:
for Disks use hpacucli:
– how to install: http://computergod.typepad.com/home/2012/09/install-hpacucli-on-redhat-enterprise-linux-server.html
– how to use:
http://jreypo.wordpress.com/2011/02/16/hp-proliant-servers-management-with-hpasmcli/
Basically it is two rpm’s that you can get from HP
DELL also has a similar suite of tools called Open Manage –
http://stuff.mit.edu/afs/athena/dept/cron/documentation/dell-server-admin/en/Dosa/CLI/index.htm
omreport: (for checking disks) – http://linux.dell.com/wiki/index.php/OpenManage_command_line_interface
Both HP and Dell hardware interfaces can be scripted – so you can generate a report on all servers – Combined with the Linux command “dmidecode”, you can grab serial numbers and models to attach to your report.
Both utilities also show predictive failures to hardware (so you can fix a hardware before it becomes an actual problem).
if you really want to automate stuff, you can check to see if the servers are under warranty by automating the web based check here: http://biff.freeshell.org/warranty_lookup.html
Most other hardware manufactures have similar products for linux.
