110-6168-EN-R3 SANHQ Guide V3.0 Web PDF
110-6168-EN-R3 SANHQ Guide V3.0 Web PDF
110-6168-EN-R3 SANHQ Guide V3.0 Web PDF
Table of Contents
1 Overview of SAN Headquarters
SAN Headquarters Features
SAN Headquarters Environment
SAN Headquarters Operation
Starting the SAN Headquarters GUI
Start SAN Headquarters from Windows
Starting the SAN Headquarters GUI Using a Command Line
Preinstallation Review
Installation Procedure
Full Installation Client and Server
Client-Only Installation
Post-Installation Tasks
Restart the SAN Headquarters Server
1
1
2
3
5
6
8
11
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11
12
13
14
15
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27
31
41
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51
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52
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iii
Remove a Server
Upgrading the Client Monitoring Multiple Servers
Verifying and Modifying Access to Log Files
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58
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63
63
64
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81
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85
92
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96
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99
100
100
101
Polling Status
Reported Alerts
Alert Priorities
Display Alerts
Export Alerts
Copy Alerts to the Clipboard
SAN Headquarters Alerts
Syslog Events
Event Priorities
Displaying Events
Search Events
Export Events
Copy Events to the Clipboard
Audit Messages
Displaying Audit Logs
Search Audits
Export Audit Logs
Copy Audit Logs to the Clipboard
1:
2:
3:
4:
5:
6:
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105
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151
152
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158
Configuring SupportAssist
Prerequisites for Configuring SupportAssist
Configuring SupportAssist When Adding a New Group
Configuring SupportAssist for an Existing Group
Using SupportAssist
Running an On-Demand Data Collection
Decrypting Local Data Packages
Display Support Case Information
Index
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159
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Preface
Dell EqualLogic SAN Headquarters (SAN HQ) enables you to monitor multiple PS Series groups from a
single graphical interface. It gathers and formats performance data and other vital group information. Analyzing
the data might help you improve performance and more effectively allocate group resources.
Audience
This manual is designed for administrators responsible for installing SAN Headquarters and using it to monitor
PS Series groups.
Administrators are not required to have extensive network or storage system experience. However, it is useful to
understand:
RAID configurations
Note: Detailed information about network configuration is beyond the scope of this manual.
Related Documentation
For detailed information about PS Series arrays, groups, volumes, array software, and host software, log in to the
Documentation page at the Dell Support site.
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Preface
Contacting Dell
1. If you have an Express Service Code, have it ready. The code helps the Dell automated support telephone
system direct your call more efficiently.
2. If you are a customer in the United States or Canada in need of technical support,
call 1-800-945-3355. If not, go to step 3.
3. Visit eqlsupport.dell.com.
4. Log in, or click Create Account to request a new support account.
5. At the top right, click Contact Us, and call the phone number or select the link for the type of support you
need.
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Obtain comprehensive information about group performance based on latency, IOPS, I/O rate, I/O size, and
other data. Using 95th percentile reporting, remove the top 5% of data spikes for a more accurate picture of
your storage performance.
View real-time data for group member or volume I/O and save the results for future analysis.
From a single SAN HQ Client, monitor group performance data from multiple servers.
Determine how the group is performing, relative to a typical I/O workload of small, random I/O operations.
This information can help you determine if a group has reached its full capabilities, or whether you can
increase the group workload with no impact on performance.
Enable multiple individuals to access and monitor the same performance data.
Deploy Dell SupportAssist for diagnostic data collection on a weekly basis, on-demand as needed, or when
critical events occur. Diagnostic data collections are automatically uploaded to Dell Support for analysis; if
you disable automatic uploads, the data is encrypted and stored locally.
Display Dell Customer Support cases created as a result of SupportAssist diagnostic uploads and from traditional support calls.
Automatic weekly update of the SAN HQ local repository, including newly supported disks and hardware,
used for Estimated IOPS calculations. This local repository is also used to verify member configuration and
disk drive support. You can also choose to update the local repository manually at any time.
For a selected group, pool, or member, apply different RAID policies to analyze the performance benefits
and determine the reliability of your current RAID policy.
View the percentage of all TCP segment packets sent by the member port.
View 512-byte or 4-Kbyte disk sector size for each disk per menber and for each volume in the group.
See the number of Ethernet ports with active and inactive data center bridging (DCB), and the number of
ports incompatible with DCB.
SAN HQ does not disrupt access to group storage or degrade performance on the hosts or groups.
SAN HQ ServerIssues SNMP requests to collect configuration, status, and performance data from one or
more PS Series groups and stores the information in log files. To keep you informed of potential problems,
the SAN HQ Server can send email notification of group alerts. The SAN HQ Server also includes a syslog
server. You can configure groups to log events to the syslog server.
Note: For the best performance, Dell recommends that you have only one SAN HQ Server installation mon-
itor a group. Do not have multiple servers monitoring the same group.
Log filesContain the data that the SAN HQ Server collects from a group. The SAN HQ Server maintains
one set of log files for each monitored group. Each set of log files can contain up to 1-years worth of data.
After a year, the SAN HQ Server overwrites the oldest data. You can put the log files on a network-accessible resource to share the data with computers running the SAN HQ Server.
SAN HQ ClientProvides a graphical user interface (GUI) for managing the SAN HQ environment and
viewing data collected by one or several SAN HQ servers. A SAN HQ Client accesses the log files maintained by the SAN HQ Server and formats the group data into tables and graphs. You can run the SAN HQ
Client on multiple computers.
SupportAssistProvides a diagnostics gathering facility configured and run from the SAN HQ Client to collect diagnostics and configuration information from the PS Series arrays and upload it to Dell Support for
analysis. For more information, see How SupportAssist Works on page 175.
for a group.
The SAN HQ Server stores the data in the group log files. Computers running the SAN HQ Client access the log
files and display the data in the SAN HQ GUI.
Figure 1 shows the general layout of a SAN HQ single-server environment.
In Figure 1, a remote SAN HQ Client accesses the local SAN HQ client/server via the network. The SAN HQ
Server issues a series of SNMP requests (polls) to each group for configuration, status, and performance
information. When the first set of polls returns from a group, the server stores this baseline information in the
group data and log files for future reference. It issues subsequent polls at regular intervals (by default, 2
minutes), averaging the data from these consecutive polling operations. (For more information about polling, see
Polling Status on page 112.)
The SAN HQ Server also includes a syslog server to which a PS Series group can log events (see Syslog Event
Logging on page 96).
Figure 2 shows an example of a SAN HQ multiserver environment.
In Figure 2, a remote SAN HQ Client accesses two SAN HQ servers at different sites. Both SAN HQ servers
are monitoring groups on separate networks. The client can access the data and log files that are being monitored
by those servers, displaying the information in the client GUI.
The SAN HQ Server can monitor multiple groups. The server issues a series of polls to each group it monitors
for configuration, status, and performance information.
Either double-click the SAN HQ shortcut on the desktop or click Start, then Programs, then EqualLogic,
then SAN Headquarters.
You can also double-click SANHQClient.exe in the directory where you installed SAN HQ. By default, the
installation location is:
C:\Program Files\EqualLogic\SAN HQ
You can also start SAN HQ from a command line. See Starting the SAN Headquarters GUI Using a Command Line on page 8.
When you start the GUI, the Servers and Groups window appears, showing all groups monitored by the default
server. The Servers and Groups window displays the status of each connected server and monitored group and
any active alerts. You can also modify GUI settings. When you configure additional servers for monitoring, a
similar window appears for each server.
Figure 3 shows a typical Servers and Groups window.
Figure 3: Servers and Groups Window
Table 1 describes the options that can be specified with this command to customize the view.
Note: The default behavior is to start with the normal view, which is the standard latest 8-hour format.
Supported Values
-NavigateToGroup: value
-View: value
-TimeRange: value
-TimeLatest: value
-TimeAll
For example:
SanHQClient.exe -NavigateToGroup:"SanHQ-D" -View:"Capacity" -TimeLatest:"8"
The following actions occur if the command line contains any errors when you enter it:
Error
Resulting Display
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3. Identify the computers that will run the SAN HQ Client. The SAN HQ Client enables you to run the SAN
HQ GUI, which obtains group data from the log files maintained by the SAN HQ Server and formats the
data in graphs and tables.
Note: If you install the SAN HQ Server, the SAN HQ Client is also installed on the computer.
See Requirements for Running the SAN Headquarters Client on page 13.
4. Collect the information you need for the installation. See Required Installation Information on page 15.
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Network connectivity must be established between the group and the computer running the SAN HQ Server.
At least one SNMP community name must be configured in the group. See the Dell EqualLogic Group Manager Administrator's Manual for information about configuring SNMP access to a group.
Dell recommends that you use a dedicated SNMP community name for SAN HQ. You can specify up to five
SNMP community names in a group.
Network connectivity to all network interfaces in each monitored group, with at least one ethernet port on
each member configured to support management traffic, in either of the following scenarios:
No dedicated management configurationSAN HQ must have access to at least one ethernet port on
each member
Dedicated management configurationSAN HQ must have access to the dedicated management port
configured on each member
Host O/S recommended memory requirement plus 512 MB base memory plus 20 MB RAM per member for
each monitored group.
Directory for log files. The SAN Headquarters Server stores group data in the log files. The directory must
meet the requirements described in Log File Directory Requirements on page 14.
Table 2 lists the protocols and ports for standard SAN HQ functionality.
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Description
TCP/IP (8000)
SAN HQ TCP/IP client to server communication. You can modify this port
number and host name/IP address on the SAN Headquarters Service Configuration page (for information, see SAN Headquarters Server Configuration
Settings on page 67).
HTTP (80)
SAN HQ Client communication to the Web for retrieving recent updates information (http://psonlinehelp.equallogic.com). For more information, see Obtain
SAN Headquarters Update Notifications on page 22.
UDP (514)
SNMP/UDP (161)
Communication between the SAN HQ Server and PS Series array for standard data collection.
SSH (22)
TCP/IP (2606)
SupportAssist data collection port for communicating with the PS Series array.
HTTPS (443)
SAN HQ Server communication to the Dell Support server for uploading SupportAssist data and weekly updates to local repository (including newly-support disks and hardware).
For SAN HQ Servers that use a proxy, the ports must be opened for full functionality. Enable an exception to
allow https://apwebservice.dell.com for the SupportAssist secure web server.
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Note: The SAN Headquarters installation application installs Microsoft .NET 4.5 Client Profile if it is not
Host O/S recommended memory requirement plus 512 MB base memory plus 20 MB RAM per member for
each monitored group.
Local directory for cached data (at least 30 MB of free space for each monitored group).
Read access to the log file directory used by the computer running the SAN Headquarters Server. See Log
File Directory Requirements on page 14.
For each monitored group, the directory must have at least the following amount of free space:
log_file_size x 13 + 100MB
You specify the log file size during the installation. The default data log file size is 5MB, the minimum size
is 2MB, and the maximum size is 10MB.
To use the computer running the SAN HQ Server as a syslog server to store event messages and audits, the
default size of the event and audit log file is 5MB, the minimum size is 2MB, and the maximum size is
20MB. You can later modify the syslog size. When messages have consumed all the free space in the event
and audit file, new messages overwrite the oldest messages. For more information about event messages,
see Syslog Event Logging on page 96. For information about audit logs, see Audit Messages on page 123.
Note: Using a log file size that is larger than the default size (5MB) enables you to store more-precise data;
however, it might have a slightly negative impact on response time. If you use a log file size that is
smaller than the default size, data will be less precise, but response time might improve. See How
Data Is Compressed in Log Files on page 101.
Network device. For example, you can use a directory on a PS Series group volume or a network file
share. Dell recommends that you specify the UNC name for a network file share (for example
\\monservice\log). If you specify a mapped network drive, SAN HQ converts it to a UNC name.
Because of the potential for network disruption, Dell recommends that you not locate the log file directory on the same group that you are monitoring.
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By default, the SAN HQ Server (EQLXPerf) runs as a local user with the name LocalService. If you are
using a log file directory that is on a network file share, you must configure EQLXPerf to run as a domain
user that has full access to the network file share. During the SAN HQ installation, you will be prompted for
the domain user name and password.
For example, to assign a domain user name to EQLXPerf:
1. In the Windows Control Panel, click Administrative Tools and then Services.
2. Right-click EqlxPerf in the list of services and select Properties.
3. Click the Log On tab.
4. Select This account, enter the domain user name and password for EQLXPerf, and then click Apply.
Optionally, you can assign a domain user name to EQLXPerf from the SAN HQ menu bar by selecting Settings, then Server Settings.
After you modify the EQLXPerf login credentials, you must stop and start the SAN HQ Server, as described
in Restart the SAN Headquarters Server on page 20.
Each computer running the SAN HQ Client must have read access to the log file directory and any network
resources being used.
In addition, if you want to allow a SAN HQ Client computer to add groups to the monitoring list, configure email
notification, or change the SNMP community name for a group, the computer must have read/write access to the
directory and any network resources. If you choose to enable TCP/IP communication during a full client/server
installation (see Installation Procedure on page 16), SAN HQ uses the folder's permission to determine user
access to the log file data.
Use the standard Microsoft NTFS security mechanisms for the log file directory. Right-click the directory and
select Properties. Then, click the Security tab and specify the access information.
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Log file directory and optional network share name (if installing the SAN HQ Server). See Log File Directory Requirements on page 14.
Note: If you were previously running SAN HQ and you chose to keep the log files when you removed the
software, you must specify the same log file location when you reinstall SAN HQ.
Network file share where the log files are located (if installing only the SAN HQ Client).
Local cache directory (if installing only the SAN HQ Client). For each monitored group, you need 30MB of
free space.
This version of SAN HQ requires the Microsoft .NET 4.0 Client Profile or later. As a convenience, it is
included in the installation application. Dell recommends that you use .NET 4.0 to update all SAN HQ
Server and Client installations. Otherwise, the .NET 4.0 Client Profile will need to be installed before connecting a previous client to an upgraded server. The upgrade provided by the server does not contain the
required Microsoft .NET 4.0 Client Profile update.
Preinstallation Review
For each set of groups that you want to monitor, you must install the SAN HQ Server on one computer. You can
install the SAN HQ Client on additional computers. If you are already running SAN HQ, you can upgrade to a
new version and retain the data already collected.
Before starting the SAN HQ software installation, review the prerequisites for installing SAN HQ described in
Prerequisites for Installing SAN Headquarters on page 11 and perform the necessary preinstallation tasks.
If you are upgrading from a previous version of SAN HQ, see Upgrading SAN Headquarters on page 21 before
installing the software.
Installation Procedure
To install SAN HQ:
1. Double-click the SAN HQ executable file, SANHQSetup32And64.exe. If you had a previous version of SAN
HQ installed, you can choose to update or repair the previous installation (see Upgrading SAN Headquarters
on page 21) or uninstall it (see Uninstall the SAN Headquarters Software on page 20). Otherwise, the
welcome screen appears, followed by the End User License Agreement (EULA). Accept the license terms
to continue.
2. When you install SAN HQ for the first time, you must specify the location for the installation files.
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3. Choose either the full installation (SAN HQ Server and Client) or a client-only installation.
Continue with the following steps for either type of installation.
4. Accept the EULA.
5. Accept the default directory for the application files. Click Next.
6. Choose to install the SAN HQ Server and Client.
a. Accept the default TCP/IP port for SAN HQ, which you can change later from Settings then Server
then Connection Settings for Client. (This option is available only after performing a full installation. It is not available from a client-only installation.)
3. (Optional) If the computer running the SAN HQ Server is behind a firewall, the installation asks if you want
to add firewall rules to enable TCP/IP communication for the required processes. Click Yes.
The firewall must not block the following access:
Ping (ICMP) for IPv4 and, if configured, IPv6.
TCP/IP communication to the default TCP/IP port for SAN HQ, specified during the installation.
Dell recommends that you set an individual rule for all SAN HQ executables for IPv4 and, if configured, IPv6.
For detailed information about adding and configuring firewall rules, refer to the TechNet article, Configuring Firewall Rules, at the Microsoft Windows Server TechCenter:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd448559(WS.10).aspx
4. An installation dialog box displays as the application is installed. When complete, click Finish.
By default, Launch SAN Headquarters is selected. You will be asked to start the SAN HQ service
(EQLXPerf), which will poll and record requested group monitor data. If you do not start this service, you can
continue by using existing data logs, but not gather new data. For more information, see Log File Directory
Requirements on page 14.
5. (Optional) Enter the login credentials for remote SAN HQ server login. If you do not provide the user name
and password to authenticate the remote server, the connection to the server will be degraded and advanced
SAN HQ features will be disabled.
SAN HQ has advanced features that operate through TCP/IP (for example, SupportAssist and Live View).
If you do not enable TCP/IP communication and later want to use advanced features, then you must reinstall
the software. To enable TCP/IP communication:
17
a. Check the box and enter or accept the default host name/IP address. Dell recommends using a static IP
address.
b. Accept the default TCP/IP port for SAN HQ, which you can change later from Settings then Server
then Connection Settings for Client. (This option is available only after performing a full installation. It is not available from a client-only installation.)
3. (Optional) If the computer running the SAN HQ Server is behind a firewall, the installation asks if you want
to add firewall rules to enable TCP/IP communication for the required processes. Click Yes.
The firewall must not block the following access:
Ping (ICMP) for IPv4 and, if configured, IPv6.
TCP/IP communication to the default TCP/IP port for SAN HQ, specified during the installation.
Dell recommends that you set an individual rule for all SAN HQ executables for IPv4 and, if configured, IPv6.
For detailed information about adding and configuring firewall rules, refer to the TechNet article, Configuring Firewall Rules, at the Microsoft Windows Server TechCenter:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd448559(WS.10).aspx
4. An installation dialog box displays as the application is installed. When complete, click Finish.
By default, Launch SAN Headquarters is selected. You will be asked to start the SAN HQ service
(EQLXPerf), which will poll and record requested group monitor data. If you do not start this service, you can
continue by using existing data logs, but not gather new data. For more information, see Log File Directory
Requirements on page 14.
5. (Optional) Enter the login credentials for remote SAN HQ server login. If you do not provide the user name
and password to authenticate the remote server, the connection to the server will be degraded and advanced
SAN HQ features will be disabled.
Client-Only Installation
1. Specify the local cache directory where group performance data will be stored. Each monitored group
requires 30MB. Dell recommends using a directory on drive C: if you have sufficient space.
2. Specify the network file share where the log files are located, in the form:
IP-address-of-server\Monitor
3. An installation dialog box displays as the application is installed. When complete, click Finish.
After the installation completes, by default the SAN HQ GUI is launched automatically (see Post-Installation Tasks on page 19).
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Post-Installation Tasks
After the installation completes, by default, the SAN HQ GUI starts. To manually start the GUI, see Starting the
SAN Headquarters GUI on page 5.
The following conditions apply:
If the TCP/IP settings were enabled during the SAN HQ Server installation, you will be asked to provide
user credentials of the SAN HQ Server before continuing. The client-only installation asks for the credentials on first use. If the system is not on a domain, supply machine login information using either of these
forms:
.\user-name or system-name\user-name.
If you are installing the SAN HQ Server for the first time, the Add Group wizard starts, enabling you to add
groups to the monitoring list.
If you were previously running SAN HQ and you are using the same log files, the SAN HQ Server automatically locates the log files and resumes monitoring the groups. Some data points might be missing for the
time period that SAN HQ was not installed.
See Getting Started with SAN Headquarters on page 23 for information about adding groups to the monitoring list
and performing other post-installation tasks.
Preserve Data
SAN HQ provides several methods that you can use to preserve group performance data. For example, you can:
Create reports from group data (see Group Data Reports on page 157)
You can preserve data at the current time or use a command line to perform the task regularly.
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Note: If you already configured single sign-on from Group Manager, do not configure single-sign on in SAN
HQ. Configuring single sign-on does not share credential information when the group is already configured to
use the firmware version of single sign-on.
For more information about launching the Group Manager GUI with single sign-on, see Launch Group Manager
with Single Sign-On on page 74.
Optionally, you can set up email event notification and designate email addresses to receive messages when
an alert occurs in the group. See Configure Email Notification for Group Alerts on page 72.
Optionally, you can configure a group to log events to the syslog server that is part of the SAN HQ Server.
Events appear in the Events panel at the bottom of each window and also in the Events window. See Syslog
Event Logging on page 96.
Optionally, you can set up audit logs to track administrator actions. See Displaying Audit Logs on page 123.
20
Uninstallation Procedure
To uninstall SAN HQ:
1. Open the Windows Control Panel.
2. Click Programs and Features.
3. Select Dell EqualLogic SAN Headquarters and then click Uninstall.
4. Choose whether to keep the log files.
If you choose to keep the log files, when you reinstall SAN HQ on the same computer and specify the same
log file location, the SAN HQ Server automatically locates the log files and starts monitoring the groups
again.
Configure update notifications from Dell about recent updates for SAN HQ, Host Integration Toolkits, and
firmware
21
When you upgrade SAN HQ, the SAN HQ Server attempts to reconnect to the groups via SNMP. You should
expect performance impact to your groups to be minimal to none.
When you install a new version of SAN HQ without first removing the current software, SAN HQ automatically uses the log files from the previous installation.
When you upgrade an existing full client and server installation, the installation wizard asks if you want to
first back up the existing SAN HQ log file data. Accept the Backup SAN HQ data to the specified location option (selected by default) when running the installation wizard to upgrade a full installation.
Caution: Do not back up your data to the EqualLogic folder on the same drive under any circumstances. Dell
strongly recommends that you back up your data to a different physical drive before upgrading SAN HQ. If you
do not back up the log file data, you might not be able to restore your existing environment.
If you remove SAN HQ before reinstalling, you can also choose to keep the existing log files. Make sure
you specify the current log file directory when prompted by the installation procedure.
If you upgrade to a new version of SAN HQ, any new type of data that the version collects will not appear
for dates before the time of the upgrade.
If you upgrade to version 3.0 of SAN HQ, the installation automatically archives all data from previous versions.
Automated news updatesConfigure a set amount of time before SAN HQ checks for more recent information when launched. By default, SAN HQ checks for updates every 7 days. If new updates are available,
an icon is displayed in the Updates Notification button in the lower-right corner of the SAN HQ Client.
ManuallyAt any time, select Check for Updates from the Help menu to gather the most recent updates
available. The Recent Updates dialog box displays, showing recent updates. Click OK to apply the updates.
You can disable this option by selecting Never from the Check for updates drop-down menu.
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23
Options / Information
SAN HQ
SupportAssist
Configuration Wizard
See Configuring SupportAssist for an Existing Group on page 191
Run Now
See Running an On-Demand Data Collection on page 206
SupportAssist Settings
See SupportAssist Configuration Settings on page 68
Activity Log
See SupportAssist Activity Log on page 200
Customer Support Cases
See Display Support Case Information on page 209
Decrypt Local Data Packages
See Decrypting Local Data Packages on page 207
Group
24
Menu Item
Options / Information
Settings
General Settings
See SAN Headquarters Settings on page 63
Email Settings
See Configure Email Notification for Group Alerts on page 72
Group Settings
See Configuring and Managing the Group Monitoring Environment on page 63
Hidden Group Settings
See Hide Groups in the GUI on page 70
Favorite Settings
See Adding and Managing Favorite Views on page 77
Server Settings
See SAN Headquarters Server Configuration Settings on page 67
Reports
Favorites
Add to Favorites
See Add a View to the Favorites List on page 77
Manage Favorites
See Adding and Managing Favorite Views on page 77
Make This Home Page
See Set a View As the Home Page on page 78
Default Home Page
Help
About, Navigation Help, User Guide, Release Notes, and Check for Updates
See Starting the SAN Headquarters GUI on page 5
Under the menu bar, the tool bar buttons perform the following actions:
Back or ForwardReturns to a previously visited window or moves forward to a previously visited window. You can also click the down arrow next to the Forward button to display the navigation history.
Add New ServerAdds an additional server to monitor groups on that server. Similar to selecting
SAN HQ from the menu bar, then Add New Server.
Add GroupAdds a new group to monitor. Similar to selecting SAN HQ from the menu bar, then Add New
Group.
New WindowProduces a new window displaying the current view. When you exit from the new window, the original window remains open.
Launch Group ManagerWhen you select a group from the Servers and Groups tree, the Launch Group
Manager button appears, letting you start the Group Manager GUI for the group. Similar to selecting
Group from the menu bar, then Launch Group Manager.
25
Create ArchiveSaves group data to a compressed archive (.grpx) file. Similar to selecting SAN HQ from
the menu bar, then Create Archive.
PrintPrints the current window.
26
The All Groups Summaries page provides links to summary views across all groups. Hover over the link for a
brief description of the summary view. Click a link (for example, Capacity Summary) to see the All Groups
summary for capacity. Data on the summary pages is refreshed every 2 minutes, or manually when you click the
Refresh button.
You can obtain the following information from this page:
Alerts SummaryProvides a quick look at the total number of alerts by severity level: Critical, Warning,
Caution, and Information. Click the Alerts Summary link to navigate to the Alerts panel for the default
server. For more information about SAN HQ alerts, see Reported Alerts on page 112.
Capacity SummaryDisplays the capacity information gathered from the most recent poll of each group.
For more information, see Capacity Information on page 32.
Replication SummaryDisplays outbound replication information gathered from the most recent poll of each
group. For more information, see Replication Summary on page 29.
SyncRep SummaryDisplays synchronous replication information per group or individual volume, gathered
from the most recent poll of each group. For more information, see SyncRep Summary on page 29.
27
Volume Capacity SummaryDisplays volume capacity information per group or individual volume, gathered
from the most recent poll of each group. For more information, see Volume Capacity Summary on page 30.
Volume I/O SummaryDisplays the individual volume I/O information gathered from the most recent poll
of each group. For more information, see Volume I/O Summary on page 30.
Capacity Summary
The All Groups Capacity Summary page displays capacity information gathered from the most recent poll of
each group. For each group, SAN HQ provides the group capacity, volume reserve (that is, space allocated to
the volume), snapshot reserve, delegated space, and replication reserve. Total, in-use, and free-space statistics
are shown for each of these categories.
For group thin-provisioned space, SAN HQ provides the following information:
Unreserved SpaceAmount of unallocated space for thin-provisioned volumes in the group. The reported
size of a thin-provisioned volume can be larger than the volume reserve.
Free SpacePercentage of free group space required to fulfill the maximum in-use space for all thin-provisioned volumes.
Thin Provisioned VolumesNumber of thin-provisioned volumes in the group. The reported size of a thinprovisioned volume can be larger than the volume reserve.
Template VolumesNumber of thin-provisioned volumes in the group that are template volumes.
Thin Clone VolumesNumber of thin-provisioned volumes in the group that are thin clone volumes.
For all information categories, you can click the icon in the column heading to sort by size criteria. For additional
definitions of capacity and replication terms, see Capacity and Replication Terms on page 108.
Hardware/Firmware Summary
The All Groups Hardware/Firmware Summary page displays the hardware and firmware configuration for all
groups monitored by the server. The information is gathered from the most recent poll of each group.
Information presented on the Hardware/Firmware Summary page includes:
Group MemberName of the group where the Hardware/Firmware information is displayed. Expand the
group name to display individual members of the group.
MemberSummary of the current member status for the group or the individual status of the member:
online, offline, unconfigured, initializing, vacating-in-progress, or vacated.
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RAID status and RAID policyThe current RAID status and RAID policy type for the group or member. A
degraded, reconstructing, or verifying RAID status might adversely affect performance.
RAID reliability score and RAID reliability ratingA SAN HQ feature that helps you make decisions about
the resilence of the RAID policy on your group, reported both as a numerical score and starred rating. For
information, see RAID Policy Reliability Reporting on page 85.
For related information about potential hardware problems, see Identifying Hardware Problems on page 130.
Replication Summary
The All Groups Replication Summary page displays outbound replication gathered from the most recent poll of
each group. SAN HQ displays the following information:
Group/VolumeGroup or volume name. Expand a group to display individual volumes configured for replication.
StatusCurrent status of outbound replication for a group or volume. For a group, the value indicates the
group's configured replication status. For a volume, the value indicates a volume's individual replication
status.
Active ReplicationActive replicas count; that is, the number of volumes actively replicating data to a partner site. An individual volume indicates if it is actively replicating to a partner site.
Paused ReplicationOutbound replication paused count; that is, the number of volumes currently paused
from replicating data to a partner site. An individual volume indicates if it is currently paused, and the Status
column provides additional details.
Waiting ReplicationNumber of volumes waiting for outbound replication to begin. An individual volume
indicates if it is currently waiting for replication to begin.
For more information about replication terms, see Capacity and Replication Terms on page 108.
SyncRep Summary
The All Groups SyncRep Summary page displays information about volumes configured for synchronous
replication. The information shows the total number of SyncRep volumes, in-sync volumes, out-of-sync volumes,
paused volumes, amount of changes for the group since the last SyncRep operation, and the remaining amount of
changes for the group to be synced.
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For conceptual information about SyncRep, see About Synchronous Replication on page 78. To display SyncRep
volumes from the Servers and Groups tree, see Display SyncRep Volumes in SAN Headquarters on page 79.
Group/VolumeName of the group displaying the volume capacity information. Expand the group/volume
name to display the individual volumes for the group.
Volume typeTemplate for a template volume; Thin Clone for a thin clone of a template volume; Thin for a
thin-provisioned volume; or Standard for a standard, fully provisioned volume.
Total CapacityVolume size as seen by iSCSI initiators. For volumes that are not thin provisioned, the
reported size is the same as the volume reserve. For thin-provisioned volumes, the reported size can be
greater than the volume reserve.
Allocated SpaceTotal, in-use, and free space allocated to the volume or group. For thin-provisioned volumes, as volume reserve is consumed more space is allocated to the volume, up to the user-defined limit.
Snapshot SpaceTotal, in-use, and free snapshot space for the volume or group.
Replication SpaceTotal, in-use, and free replication space for the volume or group.
Replication StatusCurrent replication status for the volume or group, either enabled or disabled.
For more information about these items and additional capacity and replication terms, see Capacity and
Replication Terms on page 108.
Group/VolumeName of the group displaying the volume I/O information. Expand the group/volume name
to display the individual volumes for the group.
Volume typeTemplate for a template volume; Thin Clone for a thin clone of a template volume; Thin for a
thin-provisioned volume; or Standard for a standard, fully provisioned volume.
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Volume average I/OAverage rate of iSCSI read and write data transfers to and from the volume.
Volume average latencyAverage time it takes to complete the iSCSI read and write operation for the volume.
Volume average I/O sizeAverage size of the I/O read and write operations for the volume.
Volume average queue depthAverage number of outstanding I/Os at the time of each incoming I/O. A
queue depth of zero indicates no outstanding I/Os.
Volume read/write percentagesRead and write operations for the volume, expressed as percentages of the
total I/O for the volume.
Volume member bindingMember to which a volume is bound (by default, none). Load balancing across
members does not occur if a volume is bound to a member.
For more information about these items and additional I/O terms, see I/O Terms on page 109.
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The following sections describe the information that the categories and related subcategories provide.
Capacity Information
For a selected group in the Servers and Groups tree, click Capacity to show the Capacity of Group window.
This view shows similar group capacity information as on the All Groups Capacity Summary page (see Capacity
Summary on page 28), and shows total unused space in the group that is reserved but currently not storing data.
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Description
Replica Set
Replica set name, based on the volume name and dot-number extension for uniqueness.
The number in the extension reflects the order in which each partner was configured as
a replication partner to the group.
Pool
Volume Size
Volume reserve; that is, the actual amount of pool space allocated to the volume.
Reported Size
Reported size of the replica volume, as seen by the iSCSI initiators. This number can
be more or less than the volume reserve size.
Reserve Size
Current amount of replica reserve for the volume, shown in GB and as a percentage
(Reserved Percent). The replica reserve is the portion of delegated space reserved for
storing replicas of the volume.
Reserve Free
Amount of replica reserve that is not in use (not storing replicas of the volume), shown
in GB and as a percentage (Reserve Free Percent).
Reserve In Use
Amount of replica reserve in use (storing replicas of the volume), shown in GB and as
a percentage (Reserve In Use Percent).
Inbound Replicas
Primary Group
For complete information about replication, see the Dell EqualLogic Group Manager Administrators Manual.
Outbound Replicas
The Outbound Replicas view displays all outbound replicas for the group. (Replication of the volume is
considered outbound from the view of the primary group.) You can also set the context link bar option (see
Context Link Bar Options on page 44) to show outbound replicas for all pools in the group, members in the group,
volumes, and volume collections.
Table 5 describes the information below the outbound replicas chart.
Table 5: Outbound Replicas
Column
Description
Replica Set
Replica set name, based on the volume name and dot-number extension for uniqueness.
The number in the extension reflects the order in which each partner was configured as
a replication partner to the group.
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Column
Description
Partner
Replication partner to the primary group, to which the volume data is replicated.
Pool
Volume Size
Volume reserve; that is, the actual amount of pool space allocated to the volume.
Reported Size
Reported size of the replica volume, as seen by the iSCSI initiators. For volumes that
are not thin provisioned, the reported size is the same as the volume reserve. For thinprovisioned volumes, the reported size can be larger than the volume reserve.
Reserve Size
Current amount of replica reserve allocated from delegated space for storing replicas
of the volume, shown in GB and as a percentage (Reserved Percent).
Delegated Space
on Partner
Status
Replication status for a volume. See the Group Manager online help for a complete list
of replication statuses.
Replicas
For complete information about replication, see the Dell EqualLogic Group Manager Administrators Manual.
Recoverable Volumes
The Recoverable Volumes view displays all pending deleted volumes on the group that can be undeleted and
recovered. SAN HQ displays information in two categories: General and Original. For information about the
fields for this view, see Display Recoverable Volumes in SAN Headquarters on page 93. For conceptual
information about recoverable volumes, see About the PS Series Firmware Volume Undelete Feature on page
92.
You can also set the context link bar option (see Context Link Bar Options on page 44) to show recoverable
volumes on all pools in the group.
Space Borrowing
The Space Borrowing view displays the amount of free space available for a group to borrow. SAN HQ shows
the free space that is available and currently borrowed, and the actual snapshot reserve space available and
borrowed.
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Space borrowing allows you to temporarily increase the available snapshot space for a volume by borrowing
from the snapshot reserve of other volumes and from pool free space. For more information about this view, see
Snapshot Space Borrowing on page 95.
Combined Graphs
For a selected group in the Servers and Groups tree, click the Combined Graphs link to show the Combined
Graphs of Group window. You can also set the context link bar option (see Context Link Bar Options on page
44) to show combined graphs for all pools in the group, members in the group, volumes, and volume collections.
The combined graphs show the following information:
Network and I/OPresents several graphs showing network and I/O data: average I/O size (KB), average
number of IOPS operations, average latency (ms), average I/O rate (KB/sec), TCP retransmit percentage,
network rate (KB/sec), and average queue depth. This information is similar to information displayed on the
I/O and Network information windows (see I/O Information on page 37 and Network Information on page
41). For information about I/O terms, see I/O Terms on page 109. For information about network terms, see
Network Terms on page 111.
CapacityFor the selected time period, shows total capacity; in-use, free, and total snapshot reserve capacity; and snapshot reserve in-use and free space.
Total CountsFor the selected time period, shows total iSCSI connections and snapshots, I/O operations per
second against the weighted I/O latency, and I/O throughput rate against the average I/O latency.
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Hover over an increment in the graph to display this information for a given point in time.
Table 6 describes the information below the Disk Status chart.
Table 6: Disk Status
Column
Description
Member
Lists all members in the group. Select a member name to navigate to the hardware
information for that particular member, including health conditions for that member
(for example, more spare disks were expected for the member's RAID policy).
Pool
Firmware
Model
PS Series array model number, set if the supported firmware is running on that
member.
Status
Service Tag
PS Series array service tag, set if the supported firmware is running on that member.
Enclosure Serial
Number
PS Series array serial number, set if the supported firmware is running on that
member.
Disks
Disk Model
Controller Type
Controllers
Uptime
Estimated Last
Boot
Date and time when the secondary control module was turned on and started.
Expand the tree for Hardware/Firmware information to show the Disks subcategory (see Disk Information on
page 37).
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Disk Information
The Disks on Group view shows read and write IOPS in graphical form and as a total and percentage for disks
on the member.
Table 7 provides information about all disks (numbered zero through highest) for the member.
Table 7: Disk Information
Column
Description
Description
Average IOPS
Average number of I/O operations processed each second by the disk drive. Read and
write IOPS are not tracked separately for disk IOPS. Members on the group take advantage of idle periods to perform background operations on the disk drives.
Average Disk
Queue Depth
Average number of outstanding I/O operations when the disk receives a new I/O command. For more information about this term and other I/O terms, see I/O Terms on
page 109.
Model
Firmware Revision
Serial Number
Disk serial number, typically used with the model number to provide the disk's identity.
Sector Size
Disk drive sector size, either 512 bytes or 4K bytes. You can create volumes that use
either 512-byte or 4K-byte sectors, but cannot change them after they are created. For
information, see the Dell EqualLogic Group Manager Administrators Manual.
I/O Information
For a selected group in the Servers and Groups tree, click I/O to show the I/O for Group window.
Table 8 describes the group I/O rate information displayed in the Group I/O chart.
Table 8: Group I/O
Column
Description
Average size of the iSCSI read and write operations for the group.
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Column
Description
Average size of the iSCSI operations associated with inbound replication to the
group (PS Series firmware 5.0 groups only).
Average number of iSCSI read and write operations processed each second in the
group.
Number of write operations processed each second by the group for inbound replication (PS Series firmware 5.0 groups only).
Average time it takes to complete iSCSI read and write operations in the group.
Average rate of iSCSI read and write data transfers in the group.
Average rate of iSCSI data transfers for inbound replication to the group
(PS Series firmware 5.0 groups only).
Table 9 describes the group I/O rate information displayed in the Group I/O Load Space Distribution chart.
Table 9: Group I/O Load Space Distribution
Column
Description
High load*
Amount of I/O load space with a large number of I/Os running at a given time.
Medium load*
Amount of I/O load space with an average number of I/Os running at a given time.
Low load*
Amount of I/O load space with a low number of I/Os running at a given time.
SSD space
Amount of space available on all SSD drives (displayed only on groups with at least
one member using tiered storage).
*See the general information to the left of the graphs for an estimated indication of high, medium, or low
load. Hover over a chart in the graph to display corresponding numerical information.
For the selected group, the tables present similiar I/O information as the graphs, including general information
about the average size of the iSCSI read and write operations for the group and estimated I/O load. For more
information about I/O terms used on the I/O for Group window, see I/O Terms on page 109.
Expand the tree to show the subcategories of I/O information.
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Poll intervalLength of time SAN HQ polls the group, from 1 second to 15 seconds
From the Live View Sessions for Group window, you can:
Set save options after the session is run: always save, always discard, or prompt
Filter information by target type (volume, member, or all) or by a specific volume or member
For more information about the Live View feature, see Displaying Live Data on page 81.
For prerequisites for running a Live View session, see Prerequisites for Establishing a Live View Session on
page 81.
For step-by-step instructions for running a Live View session, see Run a Live View Session on page 82.
Experimental Analysis
The Experimental Analysis view provides estimated information about PS Series group performance, relative to
a specific workload, to help you understand your group performance and plan storage expansion. Because this
information is only an estimate, you should not use this data as the sole measure of your group's performance
potential.
This view provides the following estimated data, graphically and in tables:
Estimated IOPS workloadFor the group, provides the percentage of average IOPS relative to the average
estimated maximum IOPS, the percentage of read and write operations in the group, and the RAID policies
configured on a member's disk drives and spare drives. The workload percentage is an indicator of how
much work the group is performing, relative to how much it can do, based on maximum IOPS. "Work" is
defined as the number of small (8KB), random I/O operations the group performs each second.
Estimated Max IOPSEstimated maximum IOPS the group can process, based on the current configuration
and I/O load. This estimate also shows the estimated IOPS that can be processed when a RAID set is
degraded.
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For more information about estimated Experimental Analysis data, see Experimental Analysis Data on page 134.
The Experimental Analysis view also shows average IOPS, average I/O size, average latency, and average
queue depth. For information about these I/O terms, see I/O Terms on page 109.
For information about accessing the Experimental Analysis view, see Access the Experimental Analysis Window
on page 133. For examples of interpreting Experimental Analysis estimated performance data, see Examples of
Interpreting Estimated Performance Data on page 135.
RAID Evaluator
The RAID Evaluation for Group view displays the current RAID policy information and lets you apply a
different RAID policy to compare and analyze performance benefits. Information is presented in tables and
graphs, and you can immediately see the results of applying a new RAID policy in the RAID policy reliability
meter. This view also provides a link to best practices for choosing a RAID member policy.
Refer to the following sections for complete information about RAID evaluation for a group:
For conceptual information about RAID evaluation, see RAID Policy Evaluation and Reliability on page 83.
For information about using the RAID evaluator, see Use the RAID Evaluator on page 84.
For information about RAID policy reliability reporting, which includes understanding the RAID reliability
score shown in the table data and meters, see RAID Policy Reliability Reporting on page 85.
This section also provides examples of evaluating the reliability of your current RAID policy and possible
improvements, describes how to display RAID policy reliability alerts, and provides additional information in
the form of frequently asked questions.
SyncRep
For PS Series groups running firmware version 6.0 and later, the SyncRep for Group view lets you monitor
information about synchronous replication (SyncRep) volumes that have been configured for the group. By
default, this view shows a summary of all SyncRep volumes, the number of in-sync and out-of-sync volumes,
paused volumes, the amount of changes for this group since the last SyncRep operation, and the remaining
amount of changes for the group to be synced. The timeline graph shows the remaining changes to be completed.
For conceptual information about SyncRep volumes, see About Synchronous Replication on page 78.
For more information about the SyncRep for Group view, see Display SyncRep Volumes in SAN Headquarters
on page 79.
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connections to the group, which includes connections to volumes, snapshots, active inbound replication,
replication management, and host control management. It also shows the total data read from and written to the
group targets.)
Table 10 describes the group iSCSI connection information provided for each iSCSI target.
Table 10: All iSCSI Connections
Column
Description
Target
Host Initiator
Name
Host IP Address
Port
Connection Time
Total Read
Amount of data that has been read over the iSCSI connection.
Total Write
Amount of data that has been written over the iSCSI connection.
Target Type
Volume IQN
iSCSI qualified name of the volume or snapshot, using the format: IQN, year-month
date, reversed domain name, and optional prefix.
Network Information
For a selected group in the Servers and Groups tree, click Network to show the Network for Group window.
Click an option on the context link bar to view network information for all pools on the group or network
information for all members on the group (see Context Link Bar Options on page 44).
For the sample period for the data, the following charts show the total number of iSCSI connections, network
load percentage, percentage of all TCP segment packets sent to the group, and sent I/O and received I/O
(MB/sec).
Table 11 describes the general configuration information provided for the group.
Table 11: General Network Configuration Information
Column
Description
Number of
Number of iSCSI connections to the group, which includes snapshots, volumes, active
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Column
Description
iSCSI connections
Yes or no. If yes, the group has configured a dedicated management network, which
separates iSCSI traffic from group network management traffic. If no, a management
network is not configured.
Total number of Ethernet ports with data center bridging enabled and active.
Total number of Ethernet ports with data center bridging enabled but inactive.
Ports incompatible
with DCB
Table 12 describes the network load information provided for the group.
Table 12: Network Load Information
Column
Description
Sum of the negotiated link speeds for all active network interfaces in the group,
reported at half-duplex data transmission rate.
Active ports
Number of active network interfaces in the group. Ports connected to redundant control
modules are counted as one network interface.
Percentage of all retransmitted TCP segment packets sent by the group. This TCP
retransmit percentage is tracked on each member, not on each network interface. A
TCP retransmit percentage greater than 1% might indicate insufficient bandwidth. For
more information, see How Your Group Monitoring Environment Affects TCP Retransmission Reporting on page 102.
TCP retransmits
Number of TCP segment packets retransmitted during the sample data period.
Number of TCP segment packets successfully sent during the sample data period.
Table 13 describes the network rate information provided for the group.
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Description
Received
Sent
Total
Total group network trafficTotal average per-second rate of network traffic sent and
received by the group.
The Network Link meter indicates the estimated network load on the group as a percentage of total bandwidth.
The percentage displayed is either for sent data or received data, whichever is higher.
Expand the tree for Network information to show the Ports subcategory (see Network Port Information on page
43).
Description
Member
Member in the group, repeated for each network interface. Select a member name to
view network information for that member (for example, glengrp - eth1).
Pool
Interface
Network interface name (for example, eth1). Selecting a member in the table shows
information for that particular network interface.
IPv4
IPv6
Received
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Column
Description
Sent
Link Speed
Negotiated link speed for all active network interfaces, reported at half-duplex transmission rate.
Operational Status
Up or down. Indicates whether the network interface is operational. This status can
appear as down even though the administrator status is up.
Packet Errors
Last Modified
Date and time the network interface was last modified or when the array restarted.
Port Type
Indicates whether the port can be used for iSCSI and management traffic or only for
management traffic.
Indicates whether the Ethernet port is compatible and enabled for DCB, or disabled.
Retransmit Percentage
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By default, Group is selected when you view any information category for a group. Click an option on the
context link bar to show information restricted to that object:
Group (default)Displays groupwide data for the group information category you are viewing. For example,
for I/O information, SAN HQ displays the average I/O size, average IOPS, average latency, average I/O
rate, and average queue depth.
PoolsDisplays data for all pools on the group (for example, the capacity of all pools on a group) or for an
individual pool. When viewing all pools on the group, you can access individual pools from the list in the
lower panel.
MembersDisplays data for all members or for individual members. When viewing all members in the
group, you can access individual members from the list in the lower panel.
VolumesDisplays data for all online volumes. The drop-down menu lists the individual volumes you can
select. The volume icons indicate the type of volume: standard (fully provisioned), thin-provisioned, template, thin clone, and NAS (see Identifying Volumes on page 51).
Volume CollectionsDisplays data for all volume collections or for individual volume collections.
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In some cases, the Volume Collections windows display data for the group. Click the GUI tooltip for details.
An option on the context link bar that does not apply to an information category appears dimmed, with the
exception of the Group object, which always appears dimmed when selected.
Group
Pools
Members
Volumes
Volume Collections
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By default, SAN HQ sets the view to Standard. For example, the standard view for group I/O might resemble
the example in Figure 8, where write I/O data spikes reach 30KB and write IOPS spikes are 1100 seconds.
Figure 8: Standard View for Group I/O
To set 95th percentile reporting, click the 95th% button in any of the views indicated in Table 15. For example,
when you set the view to 95th% in the example in Figure 8, SAN HQ filters out the data spikes; in this case, the
maximum write I/O is under 12KB and write IOPS under 900 seconds (see Figure 9). For more information, see
Control Chart Display on page 66.
Figure 9: 95th Percentile View for Group I/O
Note: When switching from Standard view to 95th percentile reporting, both summary and specific data can
show missing data if either the beginning or ending data points appearing in Standard view are the high point of
the graph. Because 95th percentile reporting factors out the top 5% spikes, the polling period appears shorter at
either the beginning or end of the graph.
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48
Click Show Latest to show data up to the most recent poll. If you move the selector to the far right of the
timeline, Show Latest is automatically selected. If you move the selector to the left, Show Latest is automatically deselected.
Click 1hr, 8hr, 1d, 7d, or 30d to set the time range selector to 1 hour, 8 hours, 1 day, 7 days, or 30 days,
respectively.
The link for a specific time range appears only after SAN HQ has gathered data for this amount of time.
Click All to show all the dates for which data is available in the timeline.
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Click a point in time to display data in tables and circle graphs from that time.
Use the pointer to select a time range in a graph. Tables and circle graphs will show data that is averaged
over this time range.
Use the left and right arrow keys to move back and forth in a graph.
If your pointer has a wheel, use it to zoom into and zoom out of a graph.
If SAN HQ is unable to communicate with a group because of a significant event in the group, such as control module restart or failover or a firmware upgrade operation, or if you have an unsupported hardware configuration, some data points might be missing from the graphs.
If you click a point in time in a graph, shows data from that specific time.
If you select a time range in the graphs, shows data averaged over that time range.
Place the cursor over the question mark next to a table or over a circle graph legend to obtain help information
about the data.
Callout 9 Display mode
Toggles between a display of the currently selected data in either 95th percentile or Standard mode. The 95th
percentile mode factors out the top 5 percent of data spikes for a more accurate representation of your activity.
Standard mode displays all data points including spikes.
Callout 10 Polling status
Shows the status of the most recent polling operation. A successful SNMP poll is required to obtain up-to-date
group information. Status can be as follows:
FailedIndicates that SAN HQ cannot contact the group. In this case, an alert describing the problem is generated and displays in the Alerts tab at the bottom of the window.
An increasing polling period indicates that group performance is degrading or a network problem prevented the
group from responding to SNMP requests in a timely manner. SAN HQ increases the default polling period (2
minutes) by increments of 20% until the group responds to SNMP requests. When the workload returns to normal
or the network problems resolve, SAN HQ decreases the polling period by decrements of 20% until it returns to
the default interval.
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If SAN HQ is unable to communicate with a group because of a significant event in the group, such as control module restart or failover or a firmware upgrade operation.
If you have an unsupported hardware configuration that prevents SAN HQ from obtaining certain information.
You reinstalled SAN HQ (using the previous installations log file directory) after some period of time. No
data was collected for the time during which SAN HQ was not installed.
Identifying Volumes
SAN HQ provides several ways to quickly identify online volumes by type. When you select a group from the
Servers and Groups tree to display groupwide data, click the down arrow for the Volumes context link option. A
drop-down list of all volumes in the group appears, with icons indicating the volume type: standard (fully
provisioned), thin-provisioned, template, thin clone,and NAS (see Table 16). For information about these volume
types, see the Dell EqualLogic Group Manager Administrators Manual.
Table 16: Volume Type Icons
Volume Type
Icon
Description
Standard
Yellow cylinder
Thin Provisioned
Template
Blue cylinder
Thin Clone
NAS
Purple cylinder (NAS volumes use the NAS cluster name as a prefix)
You can also determine volume types from the following views:
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The group must meet the requirements in PS Series Group Requirements on page 11.
To add a group, the computer running the SAN HQ GUI must have read/write access to the log file directory
and the network file share, if applicable. If the Add Group button is not active in the GUI, you do not have
the correct permission. See Log File Directory Requirements on page 14.
To configure single sign-on for the group when adding a group, you must meet the requirements described in
Single Sign-On Requirements on page 75. You can configure single sign-on at a later time.
To enable automatic diagnostic data gathering by SupportAssist, you can choose to enable SupportAssist
when adding a group. For information, see Configuring SupportAssist When Adding a New Group on page
184.
problem, right-click the server name in the Servers and Groups tree and select Change Login Credentials. Enter the credentials for the SAN HQ Server monitoring this group.
4. In the PS Series Group Information dialog box, enter:
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Group IP addressIP address for the group (or management address if a dedicated management network
is configured in the group). Alternatively, you can enter the DNS name for the group.
SNMP community nameThis name must already be configured in the group. You can obtain the SNMP
community name by using the Group Manager GUI or CLI. For example, in the Group Manager GUI,
click Group Configuration, then select SNMP.
SupportAssist functionalitySelected by default, enables SupportAssist to be configured for diagnostic
data collection. For information about configuring SupportAssist, see Configuring SupportAssist When
Adding a New Group on page 184.
Single sign-on credentialsOptionally, select Enable and specify a group administration account name
and password that SAN HQ stores for future use. After you enter these credentials, you can run the GUI
as a standalone application and log in to the group without entering an account name and password. You
can also configure single sign-on at a later time. See Launch Group Manager with Single Sign-On on
page 74 for more information and requirements.
Select Disable if you do not want to configure single sign-on at this time.
5. Click Next.
Note: If you chose to enable SupportAssist in the previous step, you will be directed to the EULA page for
the SupportAssist feature, and additional configuration steps. See step 4 in Configuring SupportAssist
When Adding a New Group on page 184 for accepting the EULA, and then follow the remaining steps
in that section to configure SupportAssist when adding a new group.
6. In the E-Mail Notification dialog box, you can optionally set up email notification of alerts. In the dialog box,
you can select:
this time.
7. Click Next.
8. In the Size Information for Log Files and Event and Audit Log Files dialog box, enter:
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Log file sizeFor each monitored group, SAN HQ maintains 13 log files. The default size for each log
file is 5MB, the minimum size is 2MB, and the maximum size is 10MB. Use the slider to change the
default log file size.
Using a larger log file size than the default size (5MB) enables you to store more-precise data, but it
might have a slightly negative impact on response time of the SAN HQ GUI. If you use a log file size
that is smaller than the default size, data will be less precise, but response time might improve. See How
Data Is Compressed in Log Files on page 101.
Event file sizeOptionally, if you want to use the computer running the SAN HQ Server as a syslog
server for the group, use the slider to change the default size of the event log file, which stores event
messages from the group. The default size of the event log file is 5MB, the minimum size is 2MB, and
the maximum size is 20MB. When messages have consumed all the free space in the event file, new
messages overwrite the oldest messages. See Syslog Event Logging on page 96.
9. The Completing the Wizard dialog box presents a summary of the information you provided. Click Add Group
to add the group to the monitoring list. Click Back to make changes.
For valid information, SAN HQ tries to connect to the group. This attempt might take several minutes. If SAN
HQ cannot connect to the group, it displays a dialog box allowing you to reenter the group IP address or
DNS name, and the SNMP community name. Click Retry to attempt the connection again.
After successfully adding a group, the SAN HQ Server starts to gather group data. Data appears in the SAN HQ
GUI graphs and tables as successive polling operations occur. Polling can take up to 10 minutes, depending on
the group workload.
You can also add a group using a script/CLI-based method, which provides a subset of the options in the GUIs
Add Group wizard. For information, see Adding a Group to the Monitoring List from the Command Line on page
54.
Command Parameter
Description
Server Selection
DefaultServer
Requests that the group be added to the current default SAN HQ Server.
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Option
Command Parameter
Description
ServerName=server-name
Log=server-log-direc-
tory
Operation
AddGroup
Group Identifier
IPAddress=group-IP-
address
Name=group-DNS-name
Table 18 defines the required and optional parameters for the -AddGroup parameter.
Table 18: Optional and Required Parameters for AddGroup
AddGroup
Parameter
Parameter
Description
Community=
Specifies the groups read-only SNMP community name used to collect detailed group data
during SAN HQ polling.
Required Parameters
AddGroup
snmp-community-name
Optional Parameters
AddGroup
LogSize=[210]
EventLogSize=[220]
UseGroupEmail
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AddGroup
Parameter
Parameter
Description
UseGroupEmailSettings
SMTPServer=SMTPserver-IP or DNS-name
To=email-recipient-
list
AddGroup
Email
SMTPPort=
SMTP-servers-portnumber
Subject=subject-line
Specifies the port number to be used when sending alert email notifications to the specified
SMTP server. This command cannot be used
with UseGroupEmail or
UseGroupEmailSettings.
Specifies the subject line used when sending
alert email notifications to the specified SMTP
server. This command cannot be used with UseGroupEmail or
Use-GroupEmailSettings. The default is
SAN HQ Notification Alert.
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The Servers and Groups tree shows a summary of all servers available. Selecting a server shows all groups
monitored by that server.
To add a server, see Add a Server on page 57. To remove a server, see Remove a Server on page 58. Note that
you cannot remove the default server, nor the last server monitored. To upgrade the client monitoring the server,
see Upgrading the Client Monitoring Multiple Servers on page 58.
Add a Server
To monitor groups on additional servers, from client-only installations you can add a new server from the SAN
HQ GUI:
1. Select the SAN HQ menu item, then select Add New Server or click Add New Server from the toolbar.
Alternatively, right-click SAN HQ Servers from the top of the Servers and Groups tree, then select Add New
Server. The Add New SAN Headquarters Server wizard appears, which guides you to provide all required
information. Click Next.
Note: The servers you add can be in different physical locations, provided that you have network con-
will not be able to add the server until the server restarts to reflect the changed port number.
4. The Add Server Connection Summary dialog box shows a summary of the information you entered for the
new connection. If the information is correct, click Add Server. Otherwise, use the Back button to reenter
information.
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When you click Add Server, you are connected to the server you added. It might take a few minutes for the
groups on the server to poll. If the connection cannot be made, a message appears indicating the problem (for
example, invalid credentials).
Remove a Server
To remove a new server from the SAN HQ GUI:
1. Right-click the server you want to remove from the Servers and Groups tree, then select Remove Server.
You are asked to confirm removing the server.
2. Click Yes to remove the server from monitoring.
Note: You cannot remove the default server to SAN HQ. The Remove Server options appear dimmed.
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Scenario 2: A newer version of the client exists on two servers. In this scenario, the selected server (fservice)
is at a lower client version than the default server (vm2). Continuing to select that server will require a second
upgrade, as indicated in the warning message at the bottom of the dialog box (Figure 12).
Figure 12: Scenario 2SAN HQ Client Requires Upgrade
Scenario 3: In this scenario, SAN HQ detected a newer version of two servers running the client. The nondefault server (fservice) is running the newest version and therefore is selected by default. However, SAN HQ
determined that the log files are incompatible with the current version and added a Remove button to that line
(Figure 13).
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Figure 13: Scenario 3SAN HQ Client Requires Upgrade or Incompatible Server Removed
When you click Remove, the dialog box reappears with the default server (vm1) selected. As before, the top
message indicates that the current SAN HQ Client version (2.5) should be upgraded to the selected version (in
this case, server vm1 at version 3.0, Figure 14).
Figure 14: Scenario 3Incompatible Server Removed
When you upgrade to the newest version, SAN HQ informs you that the files are being copied and when the
copy operation is complete.
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61
62
General Settings, including the GUI theme and graph colors, installation settings (and log file directory), tooltips settings, display format of charts, temperature settings, and alert display settings. For more information,
see:
Control GUI Appearance on page 64
Display Installation Settings on page 64
Change the Log File Directory on page 65
Control Client Startup Settings to Detect Firewall Rules on page 65
Control Tooltips on page 66
Control Chart Display on page 66
Control Temperature Display Settings on page 66
Hide Disabled Email Alerts on page 67
E-mail Settings (see Configure Email Notification for Group Alerts on page 72 ).
Group Settings, which enable or disable single sign-on (see Enable Single Sign-On / Modify Login Credentials on page 75).
Hidden Group Settings, which filter out the display of specific groups from monitoring by a user. By hiding
groups, you do not disrupt data gathering, you only hide the group from a user (see Hide Groups in the GUI
on page 70).
Favorites Settings (see Adding and Managing Favorite Views on page 77), from which you can select the
favorite settings that you want to remove.
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If you configured multiple servers, view information about the servers from Server Settings (see
SAN Headquarters Server Configuration Settings on page 67). You must perform a full installation of the
SAN HQ Server and Client for the Server Settings option to appear.
If you configured and enabled SupportAssist to monitor your PS Series groups, you can view information for
all configured groups from SupportAssist Settings (see SupportAssist Configuration Settings on page 68). For
more information about setting up and using SupportAssist to collect and upload PS Series group diagnostics,
see Configuring and Using SupportAssist on page 175.
Set the theme for the GUI windowsYou can use the theme that matches your operating system or you
can select another theme available on the system.
Change the colors used in the GUI graphsYou can use a predefined color scheme or select your own
colors.
Installation TypeClient Only, when connected remotely to a SAN HQ Server; or Full, when running
on the system with the SAN HQ Server.
Installation DirectoryWhere you installed the SAN HQ software.
Log File DirectoryLocation of the log files maintained by the SAN HQ Server. If you have the correct
permission, you can change the location of the log files. See Change the Log File Directory on page 65.
This information does not appear if you are running a multiserver remote client.
Log File Directory In-Use SpaceServer only. The current amount of space in use by the log files.
Server InformationFor a client-only installation, provides the installation directory location, servers
monitored, and client cache directory location.
Client Cache DirectoryLocal directory for caching data related to SAN HQ. The directory does not
appear if you are running the SAN HQ Server.
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To modify the log file directory, you must be running the SAN HQ Server.
Before changing the log file directory, close any SAN HQ GUI sessions that are accessing the log files,
except for the GUI session that will perform the change.
Make sure the new log file directory meets the requirements described in Log File Directory Requirements
on page 14.
Note: SAN HQ automatically restarts the SAN HQ Server after the log file location is changed.
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Control Tooltips
From the General Settings page, you can determine how tooltips appear in the GUI. By default, when you move
the pointer over a point in time in a graph, tooltips appear that display data from the selected time. Similarly,
when you move the pointer over a graph legend, tooltips appear with definitions of the data.
To control tooltip behavior:
1. Click Settings in the lower-left GUI panel. The General Settings page appears.
2. In the Tooltip Settings panel, turn tooltips on or off by selecting or deselecting the choices listed.
3. Click Apply to implement and save the changes.
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67
68
From the SAN HQ menu bar, select SupportAssist and then SupportAssist Settings.
The SupportAssist Settings Configuration Settings page appears. Use the upper-left panel to navigate to the
activity log for recent SupportAssist activity, to a list of customer support cases reported back to SupportAssist,
or back to the SupportAssist configuration page.
For information about the SupportAssist configuration settings, see SupportAssist Configuration Settings on page
196. For information about recent SupportAssist activity reported in the activity log, see SupportAssist Activity
Log on page 200. For information about open Dell Support cases reported to SupportAssist, see Display Support
Case Information on page 209.
read/write permission to the log file directory and the network file share, if applicable. On Windows Vista
operating systems and later, if the group was added by a client running as the administrator, then the group might
require that you set Run as administrator to enable administrative privileges to make any group modifications.
To remove a group from the list of monitored groups:
1. Select the group from the Servers and Groups tree. The Summary of Group window appears (Figure 4).
2. (Optional) To preserve logged data, create an archive. See Group Data Archives on page 165.
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70
The option to increase log file size can be selected only by a user with full access to the log location.
Increasing the log size might cause the amount of time required to load the logs to also increase due to the
extra levels of detail.
After you increase the log size, you cannot decrease the size without removing the group from SAN HQ and
deleting the existing logs.
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read/write permission to the log file directory and the network file share, if applicable. See Log File Directory
Requirements on page 14.
To change the SNMP community name for a group:
1. From Settings, select Group Settings. The Group Settings page appears.
Note: If the page is labeled as read-only, you do not have the correct credentials for changing the SNMP
community name.
2. Select the groups SNMP community name and modify the name.
3. Click Apply.
occur.
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To set up or modify email notification for a monitored group, the computer running the SAN HQ GUI must have
read/write permission to the log file directory and the network file share, if applicable. See Log File Directory
Requirements on page 14.
Dell recommends that you use the PS Series group email notification feature as the primary notification method
for group events. The SAN HQ alert notification system augments the group email notification feature and
should be considered a supplementary method of providing notification.
To configure email notification for a group:
1. From Settings, select E-Mail Settings. The E-Mail Settings page appears.
Note: If the page is labeled as read-only, you do not have the correct credentials for configuring email noti-
fication.
2. In the row with the group name, select the checkbox in the Enabled column.
3. In the E-Mail Settings panel, select Send E-Mail Alerts.
4. Select Use group e-mail settings if you want to populate the fields with the email notification settings
already set up in the group.
Select Use these e-mail settings if you want to use the email settings you enter in this panel. Enter the
following information:
IP address of the SMTP server that will deliver the email. Alternatively, you can enter the DNS name
for the server.
(Optional) A port for the SMTP server. The default port is 25.
(Optional) Text for the Subject field.
Email address for the From field.
Email addresses to receive notification. Specify only one address on each line.
Dell recommends that you send a test message to ensure that the email settings are correct. Click Test Eto send a test email message.
7. To customize the type of alerts that result in notification, click the Notifications tab on the E-Mail Settings
page. The E-Mail Settings Notification dialog box appears.
8. Select the group in the top table, select the type of alerts for which you want notification, and then click
Apply.
9. (Optional) Click the Informational, Caution, Warning, and Critical tabs to display a list of alerts for each
alert type.
10. Select the alerts for which you want notification and then click Apply.
To modify the existing email notification configuration for a group, in the E-Mail Settings Notification dialog
box, select the group in the top table and edit the data in the top table and click Apply, or edit the fields in the EMail Settings panel and click Apply.
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You can also change the alert selections in the E-Mail Settings Notification dialog box. Click Apply when
finished.
permission to the log file network file share and directory. See Log File Directory Requirements on page 14. On
Windows Vista operating systems and later, if the group was added by a client running as the administrator, then
the group might require that you set Run as admininistrator to enable administrative privileges to make any
group modifications.
To temporarily stop monitoring a group and then resume monitoring the group:
1. In the All Groups window (Figure 3), select the group in the Servers and Groups tree. The Summary of
Group window appears.
2. From the Group menu, select Stop Monitoring.
Group data will still appear in the GUI, but the monitoring status is disconnected.
Note: If Stop Monitoring is not active in the Group menu, you do not have the correct credentials to stop
group monitoring.
3. To resume monitoring the group, from the Group menu select Start Monitoring.
HQ. Configuring single sign-on does not share credential information when the group is already configured to
use the firmware version of single sign-on.
To launch Group Manager, either:
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b. From the SAN HQ menu bar, select Settings, then Group Settings. The Group Settings page appears
for the server, showing a list of all groups on that service.
c. Select a group and click Launch in the Single Sign-On Action column.
The credentials you supply are encrypted and stored in the domain user account and used to automatically log in
to Group Manager from SAN HQ clients connected to this SAN HQ service. For more information about
requirements for single sign-on, see Single Sign-On Requirements on page 75. For information about deleting
login credentials for a group, see Delete Login Credentials for a Group on page 76.
You can also configure single sign-on when adding the group to the monitoring list or at a later time (see Enable
Single Sign-On / Modify Login Credentials on page 75).
Single sign-on has a 5-minute timeout. If the system is idle for 5 minutes, SAN HQ displays a dialog box
indicating that unless you click Continue Session, the single sign-on session will close.
The user account running the SAN HQ GUI must be a domain user account with write privileges to the log
file directory.
Note: The saved login credentials for a group can be used only if you are running this domain user account
The computer running the SAN HQ GUI must be running Java 1.5.0 or a later version. Dell recommends
using Java 1.6.0 Update 7.
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4. In the table row that contains the group, click Add to add login credentials or click Modify/Delete to modify
the existing login credentials.
5. In the Single Sign-On dialog box, enter or modify a group administration account name and password and
click Save.
Note: The login credentials you enter are not tested until you launch Group Manager.
account name and password. Also, make sure you are using the same domain user account and the same
computer that you used to configure single sign-on.
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1. From the Settings menu, select Group Settings. The Group Settings page appears.
2. Select the group in the table.
3. Click Modify/Delete.
4. In the Single Sign-On dialog box, click Delete and confirm that you want to delete the credentials.
Use the Toolbar menu. This method applies the active window as a favorite.
Select a specific node as a favorite from the Servers and Groups tree. This method adds the view associated
with that node as a favorite.
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How to access information for SyncRep volumes from the SAN HQ GUI (see Display SyncRep Volumes in
SAN Headquarters on page 79)
SyncActiveThe active copy of the volume to which iSCSI initiators connect when reading and writing
data.
SyncAlternateWhen data is written to the SyncActive volume, the group simultaneously writes the same
data to this copy of the volume in the alternate pool.
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To switch the roles of the SyncActive and SyncAlternate copies of the volume, use Group Manager.
SAN HQ displays information about three synchronous replication states:
out of syncSyncActive volume and SyncAlternate volume might not contain the same data; the SyncActive
volume contains the most recent data. A volume can become out of sync if synchronous replication is
paused, or if one of the volumes becomes unavailable or has no free space. The volume can become out of
sync when the snapshot reserve in the SyncAlternate volume is full, but only when the snapshot space recovery policy sets volumes offline when the snapshot reserve is depleted.
pausedAdministrator has paused synchronous replication. While synchronous replication is paused, the volume is still online, and initiators can connect to and write to the SyncActive volume. An administrator might
pause and later resume synchronous replication.
For complete information about requirements for and setting up synchronous replication, see the Dell EqualLogic
Group Manager Administrator's Manual.
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4. Select a volume name listed under Volume Name in the table of SyncRep volumes. Information about that
single volume appears in the SyncRep for Volume window (Figure 18).
Figure 18: SyncRep for Volume Window
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When a SyncRep volume's state is in sync, the SyncRep summary indicates whether the SyncActive pool or the
SyncAlternate pool is the default. When the copies of the volume are out of sync, the SyncRep Summary
indicates read and write rates for the SyncAlternate pool, total changes made, and the remaining changes to be
made.
You can also view information about SyncRep volumes on groups or volume collections by selecting the object
on the context link bar.
The SAN HQ Server must be running and have the correct SNMP community name and IP address specified
for the group.
The TCP/IP communication infrastructure must be enabled on the SAN HQ Server with the appropriate firewall rules established. If this infrastructure is not enabled, the SAN HQ Server is still listed as Connected, showing a green circle icon next to the server name in the Servers and Groups tree. However, the
Live View feature is disabled.
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To correct this problem, rerun the SAN HQ installation on your server in Modify/Repair mode. During the
reinstallation process, the Installation wizard presents a dialog box asking you to select Enable
TCP/IP Communication, enter an IP address (or server name), and enter the port number for communication.
The SAN HQ Client must not have a degraded connection to the server. For information about rectifying a
degraded connection, see Degraded Connection Status on page 67.
You must have approximately 100KB of disk space for each Live View session.
Run a Live View session from the I/O for Group window:
a. Select a group from the Servers and Groups tree, then select I/O. The I/O for Group window appears.
b. Select an individual member or volume from the I/O for Group window. For example, selecting
Members for Group A shows all members for Group A. Select an individual member from the list in the
bottom panel. I/O information for that member appears.
c. In the upper-right corner of the I/O for Member (or I/O for Volume) window, click Live View to start a
Live View session.
Run a Live View session directly from the Live View Sessions for Group window:
a. From the Servers and Groups tree, select I/O then Live View Sessions.The Live View Sessions for
Group window appears.
b. Click the New Session button.
2. The Live View Session window appears. In the window, set the following session parameters:
3. Click the arrow button. (The arrow button turns to a square, allowing you to stop collecting data.) SAN HQ
begins collecting data and displays it at the chosen interval. Data continues to display until the session length
is reached. A status message at the top of the window indicates how many polls were completed in the
selected timeframe.
4. To establish a new Live View session, click the arrow button again. You can change the target, session
length, or polling interval each time. A dialog box appears asking you if you want to save the previous session. You can set the default to always save, always discard, or always prompt (default).
To view previously saved Live View sessions:
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1. Select the group member in the Servers and Groups tree, then I/O, and then Live View Sessions. Live
View sessions appear in the main panel for the member.
2. Select the saved session. The session name includes the member or volume name, and the date and time the
session was run. The saved session appears in the Live View window, from which you can select a target
and rerun Live View.
Note: If multiple clients initiate a Live View session on the same member or volume, the second client is unable
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presented in tables, meters, and graphs, shows the maximum IOPS growth potential, current estimated maximum
IOPs, possible maximum IOPS, total IOPs, pool read/write distribution as a percentage, the current RAID policy
reliability score, and the possible RAID reliability score.
The RAID policy reliability feature scores your current RAID policy for overall effectiveness based on Dell's
baseline recommendations for all members in a group. The RAID policy reliability meter provides a quick
indication of whether your current or possible RAID policy is poor, fair, or excellent, and helps you make
informed decisions about whether to reconfigure your RAID policy for the group (see RAID Policy Reliability
Reporting on page 85).
changed.
If a group or pool contains a mixture of XVS arrays and standard arrays, you might erroneously select an
unknown configuration (that is, RAID 6 Accelerated evaluated on a pool with non-XVS arrays). SAN
HQ displays a notification label in the GUI that an incorrect selection was made.
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Poor (red, 5.00 to 0.00)Dell recommends changing the RAID policy for the group.
Fair (yellow, 0.00 to 1.18)The potential exists for a failure. You should consider changing your
RAID policy.
Excellent (green, 1.19 to 5.00)Your current RAID policy is reliable (the higher the reliability score, the
more resilient the policy).
Unknown (gray, 0.00)SAN HQ does not recognize the group's configuration (see Unknown RAID Policy
Reliability Status on page 90).
The View Best Practice link between the meters connects you to a Dell Support page with information to help
you remedy or improve your RAID policy reliability score. For a RAID policy reliability status of unknown, a
More Info link appears with information about possible causes for the unknown configuration.
By default, information is displayed at the group level, while the RAID policy is set at the member level. The
RAID policy reliability meter also appears for all members in a group, an individual member, all pools on the
group, or an individual pool.
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Figure 20 shows the initial view when you first access the RAID Evaluator.
Figure 20: RAID Reliability Initial View
Description
The current RAID policy is indicated here. Initially, the possible RAID policy is the same as the
current policy. From the drop-down list, you can select and evaluate a different RAID policy.
RAID policy reliability scores are indicated in the Possible Statistics table and in the reliability
meters.
The current RAID policy reliability score is indicated by numerical score, quality rating, and graphically in the meter. In this example, an excellent rating is evaluated. The RAID policy reliability
score of 5.00 is above Dells recommended threshold of 1.19. The green color in the meter reflects
excellent reliability.
A link to Dell Support provides information for remedying a suboptimal RAID policy. In this case,
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Callout
Description
the RAID policy reliability score is high and no changes are needed.
6
The possible RAID policy reliability initially defaults to the current evaluation. Changing the
RAID policy in callout 2 would change the data in this meter (for more information, see Evaluating
Possible RAID Policy Improvements on page 87).
The data graph shows current and possible estimated maximum IOPS. In this example, the maximum IOPS are the same.
87
Description
Select a new RAID policy from the drop-down list. In this example, RAID 6 is selected.
RAID policy reliability scores are indicated in the Possible Statistics table and in the reliability
meters.
In this example, the Max IOPS Growth rate is negative with the new policy, which means performance growth is less than before. Although negative, ample headroom still exists, as indicated
by the Possible Max IOPS rate in the graph (callout 5). Capacity remains relatively the same.
The current RAID policy reliability score is rated fair because the reliability score is less than
1.19 (in this example, 0.86). A negative reliability score would have generated a poor rating.
The possible RAID reliability score is indicated by numerical score and rating in the RAID policy
reliability meter. In this example, an excellent rating is evaluated. The RAID policy reliability
score of 5.00 is above Dells recommended threshold of 1.19. The green color in the meter indicates excellent reliability.
The data graph shows a lower Max IOPS rate, but ample headroom with the new RAID policy.
In the table, only one member has a current RAID policy reliability score of fair. Current scores
and ratings for all members are displayed. Select a member name to obtain more information (see
Figure 22).
Member HandsOnLabSumo01 shows a RAID policy reliability score of fair. The Max IOPS Growth rate is even
less at the member level than reported for the group (see Figure 22).
Figure 22: Possible RAID Reliability Improvements on Member
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Description
The graph shows lower headroom for the Possible Max IOPS rate.
Changing to RAID 10 continues to show an excellent reliability rating and increases room for performance
growth (see Figure 23).
Figure 23: Changed RAID Policy for Member Shows Improvements
Description
This RAID policy continues to show an excellent rating, even though the reliability score
dropped slightly from 5.00 to 2.33.
The graph shows a higher Possible Max IOPS rate and increased headroom with the new
RAID policy. Total capacity is reduced, however.
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1. Click the Alerts tab at the bottom of the RAID policy reliability view.
2. Select the alert to display the RAID policy reliability score.
3. Click the alert's priority to view information about the object that generated the alert.
A member is offline.
Occasionally, SNMP timeouts during RAID verification might cause critical information to be temporarily
unavailable and an unknown status to display.
In Figure 24, the current RAID 10 policy shows a gray reliability meter with a RAID policy reliability score of
zero and status of unknown. Changing to RAID 6 does not alter the result.
Figure 24: Unknown RAID Policy Reliability
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Description
No RAID policy reliability scores are indicated in the Possible Statistics table.
The current RAID policy reliability score is rated as unknown and no reliability score can be calculated.
The More Info link provides additional information about possible causes of the unknown configuration.
Changing the RAID policy from RAID 10 to RAID 6 does not change the status of an unknown
configuration.
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Question: To me, the term reliability typically refers to a single disk drive or other single component. How
should I understand it?
Answer: Dell uses this term as it relates to the pool and members RAID policy.
Question: How do you determine the RAID policy reliability score for a group with a mixed RAID policy,
especially when it contains one or more pools and members?
Answer: The RAID policy reliability score displayed for a mixed pool or group represents the lowest score
throughout the object. For example, in a two-member mixed pool, where one member with RAID 5 has a
reliability score of 0.8 and another member with RAID 6 has a reliability score of 1.3, the group and pool
RAID policy reliability score would be 0.8. Extending this scenario to a multipool group, where the second pool
(Pool 2) has a member with a RAID policy reliability score of 2.0, then the group's score would continue to be
0.8 (0.8 for Pool 1 and 2.0 for Pool 2). Assume further that if Pool 2 has a score of 1.0 (instead of 2.0), then the
group would have a RAID policy reliability score of 1.0.
Overview of the PS Series firmware Volume Undelete feature, including the types of volumes supported
(see About the PS Series Firmware Volume Undelete Feature on page 92)
How to access information for recoverable volumes using the SAN HQ GUI (see Display Recoverable Volumes in SAN Headquarters on page 93)
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The SAN HQ GUI visualizes these pending deleted volumes (shown as Recoverable Volumes in the Servers
and Groups tree) and displays the following information:
Date and time the group will automatically purge the volume
Manual purge operations are displayed in the audit log. Automatic purge operations performed by the firmware
are logged in the event log.
From the Servers and Groups tree, select a group, then Capacity, then Recoverable Volumes.
The Recoverable Volumes on Group window appears, showing the total space available for borrowing,
recoverable volume borrowing, and snapshot borrowing.
You can also view information about deleted volumes for all pools on the group by clicking Pools on the context
link bar (see Navigating the GUI on page 23).
Figure 25 shows information about recoverable volumes for a group.
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In Figure 25, hover over the graph to display the amount of storage space available for borrowing, the amount of
space borrowed for recoverable volumes by the group, and the amount of space borrowed for snapshots by the
group. The pie chart shows estimated percentages.
Below the graph, the General data table shows the following information:
The Original data table shows information about the volume before it was deleted:
Reported SizeSize of the volume as seen by iSCSI initiators before it was deleted. For volumes that are
not thin provisioned, the reported size is the same as the volume reserve. For thin-provisioned volumes, the
reported size can be greater than the volume reserve.
TypeOriginal volume type, either Thin for a thin-provisioned volume or Standard for a fully provisioned
volume.
Due to Be PurgedDate and time when the volume will be purged automatically, after which the deleted
volume can no longer be recovered. Note that if the group runs low on free space, the deleted volume might
be purged before this date.
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From the Servers and Groups tree, select a group, then Capacity, then Space Borrowing.
The Space Borrowing on Group window appears (see Figure 26), showing the actual free space for borrowing
and percent borrowed. For the snapshot reserve, it also shows the actual free space for borrowing and percent
borrowed.
Figure 26: Space Borrowing on Group Window
In Figure 26, hover over the graph to display the amount of storage space available for borrowing, the amount of
free space in the group, the snapshot reserve space, and the time period for which the data applies.
The pie charts shows estimated percentages for free space borrowing and snapshot reserve borrowing:
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Borrowed FreeAmount of unreserved group capacity that is temporarily being used for volumes that
are oversubscribed or in the volume recovery bin
The information data table below the graph shows the following information:
Borrowing EnabledShows Enabled status when a volume is configured to support snapshot borrowing for
oversubscription.
Total Snapshot ReserveTotal amount of group space allocated to the volume's snapshot reserve.
BorrowedAmount of volume snapshot reserve currently in use due to oversubscription. This space can be
borrowed from other volumes' free snapshot reserve or from the pool's free space.
Borrowed PercentagePercentage of borrowed volume snapshot reserve compared to the total volume snapshot reserve.
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If you are using the SAN HQ Server as a syslog server, do not run another syslog server on the computer running the SAN HQ Server.
A firewall must not block UDP port 514 on the computer running the SAN HQ Server.
able part of the functionality for SupportAssist data collections. For more information, see SupportAssist Requirements on page 179.
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You must change the syslog server configuration using a domain user account on the computer that is running
the SAN HQ Server.
The domain user account must have write privileges to the log file directory.
Before changing the syslog configuration, back up or make a copy of the SyslogConfig.xml file that is located in
the log file directory.
To change the syslog server configuration and enable only specific network interfaces for use as listening UDP
sockets:
1. Edit the SyslogConfig.xml file that is located in the log file directory used by the SAN HQ Server. For
example:
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<SyslogConfig xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
<Enable>true</Enable>
<IPv4Interface>ANY</IPv4Interface>
<IPv6Interface>ANY</IPv6Interface>
<Port>514</Port>
</SyslogConfig>
2. In the <IPv4Interface> tag or the <IPv6Interface> tag, whichever applies to your network configuration,
specify either:
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ANYSpecifies
that any network interface can be used as a listening UDP socket. This option is the
default.
IP addressSpecifies that only the network interface associated with the IP address can be used as a listening UDP socket.
Empty stringDisables the use of all network interfaces for a specific network protocol. For
example, specify the following string to disable use of IPv6:
<IPv6Interface></IPv6Interface>
You must disable the SAN HQ syslog server using a domain user account on the computer that is running the
SAN HQ Server.
The user account must have write privileges to the log file directory.
3. Restart the SAN HQ Server, as described in Restart the SAN Headquarters Server on page 20.
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Note: If the SyslogConfig.xml file has a syntax error or some other problem, SAN HQ logs the event to the
Stop monitoring the group but retain the group log files. You can still view the group data in the SAN HQ
GUI, but no new data will be collected for the group at the obsolete network address. See Stop Group
Monitoring on page 74.
Note that the data associated with the obsolete network address still appears in the GUI under the group
name; however, the monitoring status is disconnected. If you try to resume monitoring the group using the
obsolete network address, the operation will fail.
Remove the group from the monitor list. The log files are deleted and the GUI no longer shows group
data. See Remove a Group from the Monitor List on page 69.
3. Add the group to the list of monitored groups, specifying the new network address. See Add a Group from
the SAN Headquarters GUI on page 52.
Cannot connect to a groupMake sure an SNMP community name is configured in the group and the same
name is configured in the SAN HQ GUI for that group.
In addition, for each monitored group, the computer running the SAN HQ Server must have network access
to all the configured network interfaces on all the group members, the group IP address, and the management
address (if applicable). Use the ping command to determine if you can access all IP addresses.
Cannot add a groupMake sure the computer running the SAN HQ GUI has read and write access to the
log file directory.
Cannot set up email notification or change the SNMP community nameMake sure the computer running
the SAN HQ GUI has read and write access to the log file directory.
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however, a larger log file size might have a slightly negative impact on response time. If you use a log file size
that is smaller than the default size, data will be less precise but response time might improve.
Table 24 shows how compression over time affects different types of performance data. For example, some data
is understated because intermittent idle time in typical workloads decreases averages. See Performance and
Capacity Terms on page 107 for a description of the terms used in Table 24.
Table 24: Compression Impact on Performance Data
Latency
Throughput
IOPS
I/O Size
Read/Write
Distribution
No
Yes
Yes
No
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
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For related information about increasing the size of the log file, see Increase the Log File Size on page 71.
The Network for Group window shows the percentage of all retransmitted TCP segment packets sent to the
group. This information is refreshed at SAN HQs regular polling interval (see Polling Status on page 112). SAN
HQ tracks TCP retransmits by group, member, and pool, and shows retransmit percentage averages from each
perspective. TCP retransmits for individual member network interfaces or iSCSI targets are shown in the
Network Ports view or the All iSCSI Connections view, respectively. Figure 27 shows TCP retransmission rate
information at the group level.
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The Network Ports for Group window (see Figure 28) shows the percentage of all retransmitted TCP packets
sent by the individual network port. The percentage shown is based on all active TCP connections to a given
Ethernet port at any given time. This information is refreshed at regular intervals that are typically longer than
the TCP retransmission data presented at the group level.
Figure 28: TCP Retransmission Rates for a Volume
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The All iSCSI Connections to Group window (see Figure 29) lists all iSCSI targets to the group, pool, members,
volumes, or volume collections. When you select an individual target, the TCP retransmission rate displayed is
based on the iSCSI-only traffic sent to a specific Ethernet port for a specific iSCSI target. Note that the iSCSI
Connection TCP retransmit percentage is a subset of the individual Ethernet Port TCP retransmit percentage,
which might cause the values to differ.
Figure 29: TCP Retransmission Rates for an iSCSI Target
Retransmission data on the port and target levels are acquired in regular TCP retransmit intervals for the
network ports and iSCSI targets. For all groups, the reported retransmit rate percentages can differ greatly,
depending on the view you are using. Further, if your environment has more than one SAN HQ Server
monitoring the same group, the TCP retransmit rates displayed by all servers and individual servers can differ
significantly.
For example, in Figure 30, Server A and Server B are monitoring the same group and currently show the same
TCP retransmit percentage. Both servers can potentially acquire data every 15 minutes. At the first retransmit
interval (T1), only Server B acquires the data. Server A acquires data at T2, or 30 minutes since its last polling
cycle. Server B then acquires the data at T3, or 30 minutes since its last polling cycle. Server B acquires data
again at the regular 15-minute TCP retransmit interval (T4). Server A must wait until T5, which is 45 minutes
since it last acquired data. In this scenario, the retransmission rates are significantly different between Server A
and Server B.
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A sustained high TCP retransmit rate (greater than 1%) might indicate a network hardware failure, insufficient
server resources, or insufficient network bandwidth. Dell recommends that you evaluate your network for any
TCP retransmit rates greater than 1%.
Note: Dell recommends that you not use multiple SAN HQ servers to monitor the same group.
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Performance and capacity dataTo analyze the group data in the GUI, you must understand the terminology. See Performance and Capacity Terms on page 107.
Polling statusGetting a complete set of data points in the GUI depends on how frequently SAN HQ can
successfully poll the group. If polls are not successful, you should investigate the cause. See Polling Status
on page 112.
AlertsAlerts notify you when hardware or performance issues occur in a group so that you can take action
to prevent problems. See Reported Alerts on page 112.
Events and audit logsIf you configure a group to use the syslog server that is part of the SAN HQ Server,
you are notified when group events occur so that you can take action to prevent problems. See Syslog Events
on page 120 and Audit Messages on page 123.
Note: When displaying group data, make sure you select the correct time range. By default, the GUI displays
data from the most recent 8-hour time period. Use the Zoom links above the timeline to quickly set the value of
the time-range selector and also to control the range of dates seen in the timeline. For example, click Show
Latest to show data up to the most recent time. See Navigating the GUI on page 23.
data, move the pointer over a graph legend or the question mark icon next to a table title.
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See the Dell EqualLogic Group Manager Administrators Manual for detailed information about the status that
appears in the SAN HQ GUI, in addition to information about PS Series group operation.
Delegated spaceSpace on the secondary group reserved for storing all replica sets from the primary group.
If free delegated space is low, you might want to increase it to ensure space is available for additional replicas. Space delegated to a primary group must be increased by the secondary group administrator.
When viewed from the primary group, delegated space on the secondary group is called replica space.
Note: Failback replica set space is tracked as delegated space.
Local replication reserveSpace on the primary group reserved for storing volume changes during replication and the failback snapshot.
Overall group capacityAvailable space. Capacity depends on a number of variables. For example, group
capacity depends on the number of members, the number and size of the disks installed in the members, and
each member's RAID policy.
Make sure free space in a pool does not fall below the lesser of these values:
5% of pool capacity
100GB times the number of pool members
Otherwise, load balancing, member removal, and replication operations do not perform optimally, and
performance for thin-provisioned volumes degrades.
Recoverable volumesPending deleted volumes that the firmware places in the recovery bin that can be
restored. SAN HQ shows the name of the volume, the pool in which it resides, the amount of space borrowed by the recoverable volume, the date when the volume was deleted, the size of the volume, the type of
volume, and date and time when the volume will be purged from the recovery bin.
Replica reservePortion of delegated space reserved for storing the replica set for a volume. After replica
reserve has been consumed, the oldest replicas are deleted to free space for new replicas. To retain more
replicas, increase the replica reserve percentage.
Snapshot reserveSpace reserved for storing snapshots. After snapshot reserve has been consumed, the oldest snapshots are deleted to free space for new snapshots. To retain more snapshots, increase the snapshot
reserve percentage.
Space borrowingAbility to temporarily increase the available snapshot space for a volume by borrowing
from the snapshot reserve of other volumes and from pool free space. This temporary increase enables you
to prevent the oldest snapshots in your collection from being deleted automatically.
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Thin provisioning statisticsNumber of volumes that are thin provisioned, the amount of unreserved (unallocated) space for thin-provisioned volumes, and the percentage of group space required to fulfill the maximum in-use space requirements for thin-provisioned volumes.
Volume reserveSpace allocated to a volume. For thin-provisioned volumes, the volume reserve is based on
usage patterns. As more data is written to the volume, more space is allocated to the volume, up to the userdefined limit.
Volume typeType of volume: template, thin-provisioned, thin clone, or standard (a fully provisioned volume).
ReservedSpace that is reserved for some purpose (might include reserved space that is storing data and
space that is not storing data).
Unused SpaceSum of free space and space that is reserved but not in use.
I/O Terms
In general, I/O data measures traffic between iSCSI initiators and iSCSI targets (volumes and snapshots) in the
group. I/O data is provided for reads and writes (total I/O), only reads, and only writes. The data represents the
average for the polling period.
The SAN HQ GUI provides the following I/O statistics:
Average I/O rateAverage data transfer rate (also called I/O throughput). This rate is the average amount
of data that is transferred each second.
Usually, the I/O rate for reads and writes is not a significant indicator of performance. All storage systems
have a maximum throughput capacity. Because most I/O is random and not sequential, storage systems
rarely reach this threshold. If the threshold is reached, it indicates a sequential workload.
Note: As data is compressed over time, the I/O rate in the GUI becomes less precise.
Average IOPSAverage number of I/O operations processed each second. The GUI displays data for all
Ethernet activity, including iSCSI traffic and SAN HQ SNMP polling.
Note: As data is compressed over time, the IOPS values shown in the GUI become less precise.
Average latencyAverage time required to process and complete an I/O operation. Latency (also called
delay) is the best gauge for measuring the storage load and is the principal method for determining if a group
has reached its full capabilities.
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In SAN HQ, latency is measured from the time the group acknowledges an I/O request to the time the group
completes the I/O operation. Latency is measured in milliseconds and is reported as an average for the I/O
operations in a polling period.
Latency that occurs in the server is not included in the SAN HQ data.
Note: Increasing the period of time over which latencies are averaged does not make the latency data in the
GUI less precise. While some volatility is lost, idle time does not affect the average latency. Therefore, older latency data is still a good indicator of performance.
See Identifying Performance Problems on page 131 for information about interpreting latency values.
Average I/O sizeAverage I/O operation size. The size of the I/O operations can help you obtain a better
understanding of your applications and workload. For example, a workload that consists of many small, random I/O operations will have different performance characteristics than a workload with large, sequential
I/O operations.
Note: Increasing the period of time over which I/O sizes are averaged does not make the data in the GUI
less precise. While some volatility is lost, idle time does not affect the average I/O size. Therefore,
older I/O size data is still a good indicator of the workload.
Distribution of read and write IOPSPercentage of IOPS that are reads and the percentage of IOPS that are
writes in the group. The read and write percentages are not an indicator of performance. However, this information is important when sizing and configuring groups for specific workloads.
For example, certain RAID configurations perform better for a certain read/write distribution. In general,
RAID 50 and RAID 5 do not perform as well as RAID 10 for workloads consisting predominantly of random
writes. If latencies for a specific member suggest a performance problem, and the member performs more
than 70% of write I/O operations, moving the random write workload to a pool with a RAID 10 member
might solve the problem.
Note: Increasing the period of time over which the read/write distribution is averaged does not make the
data in the GUI less precise. While some volatility is lost, idle time does not affect the average
read/write distribution. In some cases, older read/write distribution data might give a more precise
indication of the workload than newer data.
Estimated I/O loadEstimated load, relative to the theoretical maximum capability of the group, pool, or
member. The estimated I/O load is based on latencies, IOPS, hardware, and the RAID configuration. The
load value is an estimate. Use it only as a general indicator.
See Identifying Performance Problems on page 131 for information about interpreting the estimated I/O load.
I/O Load Space DistributionShows the amount of space associated with three different levels of I/O load:
low, medium, and high. The SSD Space, displayed only on groups with at least one member using tiered storage, indicates the amount of disk space available from solid state drives.
IOPS versus latencyRelationship between average latency and IOPS. A graph on the Combined Graphs
windows plots I/O operations each second against the average I/O latency. Each SNMP poll is represented
by a circle that shows the IOPS and latency at the time of the poll. This information can help you understand
the relationship between IOPS and latency. For example, a high number of IOPS usually means a longer
latency time.
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Queue depthAverage number of outstanding I/O operations at the start of each incoming I/O operation.
SAN HQ shows the queue depth for disk drives (raw I/O), volumes (only iSCSI traffic), groups, and pools.
A queue depth of zero indicates no outstanding I/Os are present.
Requirement: A group must be running PS Series firmware version 4.2 or later to display iSCSI queue
depth.
Replication IOPSNumber of write operations processed each second for inbound replication.
Synchronous replicationSimultaneous writing of data to two pools in the same PS Series group, resulting in
two hardware-independent copies of the volume data.
Network Terms
In general, network data measures all network traffic, including iSCSI operations, GUI operations, SNMP
requests, and replication operations.
The SAN HQ GUI provides the following network statistics:
Ethernet port last modified dateDate when the network interface configuration was changed or the
member restarted.
umes and snapshots, in addition to connections due to replication and Microsoft Service operations.
Link speedNegotiated link speed for all the active network interfaces. Link speed is reported at the halfduplex data transmission rate. Double the rate to obtain the full-duplex rate.
Network loadPercentage of the theoretical maximum network bandwidth that is being used for sending I/O
or receiving I/O, whichever has the highest value. The theoretical maximum bandwidth is based on the negotiated link speed for all active network interfaces on the group members. The network is rarely a bottleneck
in a SAN. Usually, network bandwidth is underutilized, especially with random I/O workloads.
Network rateThroughput for all Ethernet traffic sent and received, including traffic from iSCSI initiators,
mesh traffic, and SNMP requests.
Sent and Received trafficAverage per-second rate of network traffic sent and received.
TCP retransmissionsRetransmitted TCP segment packets. For the group, the TCP retransmit rates are
tracked on each member, but not on each network interface or target. For an individual network interface,
TCP retransmit rates are based on all active TCP connections to a given Ethernet port at any given time. For
more information, see How Your Group Monitoring Environment Affects TCP Retransmission Reporting on
page 102.
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Polling Status
The SAN HQ Server regularly uses SNMP to poll a group to obtain data. By default, the polling periodthe
time between consecutive polling operationsis 2 minutes. You can capture data in shorter polling intervals, as
brief as 1 second, by using the Live View feature. See Displaying Live Data on page 81.
If a group is busy processing I/O operations, it might drop SNMP requests from the SAN HQ Server. If the
server determines that a group is not responding to SNMP requests, it automatically adjusts the polling frequency
based on historical evidence for the group until a poll succeeds. See How Group Performance Affects SNMP
Polling on page 102.
The SAN HQ GUI displays the status of the group polling activity (Last Poll Status) at the top of the window.
Table 25 describes the polling status.
Table 25: Polling Status
Status
Description
Successful
Increasing
polling
period
Group performance or a network problem prevented the group from responding to SNMP
requests in a timely manner. SAN HQ automatically adjusts the polling frequency based on historical evidence for the group until a poll succeeds.
Failed
SAN HQ cannot contact the group. In this case, an alert describing the problem is generated.
Member
rebooted
A member rebooted. A successful SNMP poll is required to obtain up-to-date group information.
Reported Alerts
Alerts enable you to be quickly informed of problems so you can diagnose and correct them.
SAN HQ displays two types of alerts:
Performance-related alerts detected by SAN HQ (for example, low free pool space or high latency)
Some alerts have an increasing priority, as the condition increases in severity. Table 26 shows a list of SAN
HQ alerts.
Hardware alarms detected by the group (for example, high temperature or a failed control module)
Hardware alarms depend on the PS Series firmware version and also the member hardware. See the Dell
EqualLogic Group Manager Administrators Manual for a list of hardware alarms.
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In some cases, a SAN HQ alert and a hardware alarm might be generated for the same group event.
Optionally, you can configure email notification for alerts. See Configure Email Notification for Group Alerts on
page 72.
Alert Priorities
Alerts reported by SAN HQ can include any of the following priorities:
InformationalNormal, operational events in the group that do not require any administrator action. Informational alerts are unique to SAN HQ.
CautionLow-level conditions that, if not addressed, might lead to performance issues or unwanted results.
Caution alerts are unique to SAN HQ.
WarningConditions that will affect group operation unless addressed immediately. Warning alerts correspond to Warning events and Warning alarms in the group.
CriticalSerious problems that are currently affecting group operation. Critical alerts correspond to Error
events and Critical alarms in the group.
Alerts can have multiple priority levels, given the condition that triggered the alert. For example, the Thin
Provision Volume Space alert can generate a caution, warning, or critical alert, depending on how close the
group comes to exceeding the maximum in-use space threshold.
Further, when email notification is enabled for a group, SAN HQ by default sends email notification for only
certain priority levels. In the example of the Thin Provision Volume Space alert, email notification is sent only
for warning and critical severity levels. Email notification is not automatically sent for all alerts generated on the
monitored groups. You can manually set email notifications for other alert priority levels from the Email Settings
page. For information, see Configure Email Notification for Group Alerts on page 72.
Notes: For some alerts (for example, the Snapshot Reserve alert), SAN HQ's default email notification settings
might be different in earlier versions of SAN HQ. The current version might not generate the expected
email notification unless you manually specify notification for that alert priority level.
If an issue that generates an alert is resolved within a data polling period, email notification will not
occur.
Display Alerts
Alerts appear in the bottom panel of the All Groups Monitored by Server window (active alerts only) or under
the Alerts tab at the bottom of the GUI windows.
To display alerts:
1. Click the Alerts tab to open the Alerts panel (Figure 31).
For each alert, the panel shows:
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in the GUI window. The Alerts panel appears in the lower section of the window.
Figure 31: Alerts Panel
Export Alerts
You can export alerts to an .xls file.
To export alerts:
1. Click the Export Alerts icon at the top of the Alerts panel.
2. Enter a file name.
3. Click Save.
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In the Alerts panel, click the Copy Selected Alerts to Clipboard icon or the Copy All Alerts to Clipboard
icon.
Priority
Description
Collection schedule
keep count
Warning
Connection failure
Critical
Controller failover
Caution
Caution
Controller not
detected
Warning
Critical member
RAID policy reliability
Critical
Critical pool
RAID policy reliability
Critical
Caution
Critical
Disk mirroring
Warning
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Alert
Priority
Description
Warning
Disk status
Warning
Drive failure
Warning
Firmware not
recommended
Warning
Critical
Group incompatible
with SupportAssist
Informational,
Warning
Informational,
Warning
Group non-WKA
address
Warning
Critical
The SAN HQ Server was unable to contact a group, so it canceled the poll.
Incomplete SNMP
poll
Warning
The SNMP request was not complete, making the poll unusable.
Warning
Maximum replicas
and snapshots
Warning
Member added
Warning
Informational
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Alert
Priority
Description
Member controller
reboot
Informational
Caution
Critical
Member disk
removed
Caution
Critical
Warning
Member firmware
upgrade
Informational
Member firmware
upgrade reboot pending
Informational
Warning, Critical
Warning
Warning
Caution, Warning,
Critical
Send, receive, or both send and receive traffic for the network
interface is approaching the caution (80% load), warning (90%
load), or critical threshold (99% load).
Warning
Member offline
Critical
A member is offline.
Caution
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Alert
Priority
Description
Member removed
Caution
Critical
Member status
changed
Caution
Member unconfigured
RAID
Warning
Network down
Critical
Warning
Caution
Caution
Read-only account
authorization failure
for
SupportAssist
Critical
Replica reserve
resize failure
Warning
Warning
The replication failed because the mutual authentication passwords on the group do not match the passwords on a partner.
Replication failure
Warning
Replication partner
disallow downgrades
Warning
Replication partner
not available
Warning
Warning
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Alert
Priority
Description
Snapshot reserve
Caution,
Warning,
Critical
Informational
TCP retransmit
Caution, Warning,
Critical
Thin provisioned
volume space
Caution, Warning,
Critical
Volume RAID
preference
Caution, Warning
Volume replication
partner needs upgrade
Warning
Volume replication
partner paused
Caution
Volume replication
paused
Caution
Volume replication
remote paused
Caution
Volume replication
space
Caution, Warning
Volume sync
replication
Caution
Unexpected exception
Critical
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Alert
Priority
Description
Unreachable network
Critical
Unsupported firmware
Critical
Syslog Events
The SAN HQ Server includes a syslog server. If you use Group Manager to configure a monitored PS Series
group to log events to the SAN HQ Server syslog server, the SAN HQ GUI displays the events.
Note: SAN HQ must successfully poll a group before the group can log events to the syslog server.
Event Priorities
Table 27 lists event priorities in order of lowest (least severe) to highest (most severe) priority.
Table 27: Event Priorities
Priority
Description
Info
Warning
Potential problemCan become an event with Error priority if administrator intervention does not
occur.
Error
Fatal
Displaying Events
You can display events that a group logs to the SAN HQ Servers syslog server. From the SAN HQ GUI, either:
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Click the Events tab at the bottom of the GUI window to open the Events panel (Figure 32).
Click Events/Audit Logs in the Servers and Groups tree to display the Events and Audit Logs of Group window (Figure 33). By default, the Show All button is selected. To show only event logs, select the Show
Event Logs only button. To show only audit logs, select Show Audit Logs only (see Displaying Audit Logs
on page 123).
If no events appear, instructions are provided to verify that the group is properly configured to send events and
audit logs to the syslog server on the SAN HQ Server.
Each event message includes the following information:
Date and time that the SAN HQ Server received the event from the group
Click a column heading to sort according to the column data. (The Account column appears only when audit logs
are shown. See Displaying Audit Logs on page 123.)
Events that appear in the SAN HQ GUI can include events that occurred after the most recent poll or while the
group was not responding to SNMP requests.
SAN HQ displays events that occurred within the selected time period. To display the latest events, select Show
Latest in the GUI window.
Figure 32: Events Panel
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Search Events
You can search the event log for events that include a specific word, words, or text string. You can also use the
Filter Editor for advanced search capabilities.
To display events that include a specific word, words, or text string, in the Events panel (Figure 32) or the
Events window (Figure 33):
1. Enter the text in the search field and click Search. Click Clear to return to the original event display.
2. For advanced search capabilities, click Filter Editor. The Filter Editor dialog box appears.
The Filter Editor enables you to set up a complex search algorithm:
a. Click the first field (defaults to Message) to select what you want to search (message text, priority,
member, or time detected).
b. Click the second field (defaults to Begins with) to select the search parameters. For example, you can
specify that you want to match text or exclude text.
c. Click the <enter a value> field and specify the search string. You can also select text in the Message
column and copy it to the search field.
d. Click And to add additional search criteria.
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Export Events
You can export the event log to an .xls file.
In the Events panel or Events window:
1. Click the Export Event Log icon.
2. Enter a file name.
3. Click Save.
In the Events panel or Events window, click the Copy Current Event to Clipboard icon or click the Copy the
Selected Event Log to Clipboard icon.
Audit Messages
Audit messages are syslog events about administrator actions. They provide a historical reference to actions
such as logging in, logging out, creating a volume, setting up replication, and so on.
The SAN HQ Server includes a syslog server. If you use Group Manager to configure a monitored PS Series
group to send audit logs to the SAN HQ Server syslog server, the SAN HQ GUI displays the information.
Click the Audit Logs tab at the bottom of the GUI window to open the Audit Logs panel (Figure 34).
Click Events/Audit Logs in the Servers and Groups tree to display the Events and Audit Logs of Group window (Figure 35). By default, the Show All button is selected. To show only audit logs, select the Show Audit
Logs only button. To show only events, select Show Event Logs only (see Displaying Events on page 120).
If no audit logs are displayed, instructions are provided to verify that the group is properly configured to send
events and audit logs to the syslog server on the SAN HQ Server.
Each audit message includes the following information:
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Date and time that the syslog server received the audit message from the group. Click the column heading
arrow to sort by ascending or descending date.
Description of the event that occurred at the time the audit message was received. Click the small icon in
the upper-right corner of the Message column header to view the message details.
Events that appear in the SAN HQ GUI can include events that occurred after the most recent poll or while the
group was not responding to SNMP requests.
SAN HQ displays events that occurred within the selected time period. To display the latest events, select Show
Latest in the GUI window.
Figure 34: Audit Logs Panel
Figure 35: Events and Audit Logs Window Showing Audit Logs
Search Audits
You can search the audit log for audit messages containing a specific word, words, or text string. You can also
use the Filter Editor for advanced search capabilities.
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To display audits that include a specific word, words, or text string, in the Audit Logs panel (Figure 34) or the
Events and Audit Logs window (Figure 35):
1. Enter the text in the search field and click Search. Click Clear to return the original audit display.
2. For advanced search capabilities, click Filter Editor. The Filter Editor dialog box appears.
The Filter Editor enables you to set up a complex search algorithm:
a. Click the first field (defaults to Message) to select what you want to search (message text, priority,
member, or time detected).
b. Click the second field (defaults to Begins with) to select the search parameters. For example, you can
specify that you want to match text or exclude text.
c. Click the <enter a value> field and specify the search string. You can also select text in the Message
column and copy it to the search field.
d. Click And to add additional search criteria.
For an example of how the Filter Editor works, see Search Events on page 122.
In the Audit Logs panel, click the Copy Current Audit Logs to Clipboard icon or the Copy Selected Audit
Logs to Clipboard icon.
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How group data is compressed and therefore how it might be less precise as it ages. See How Data Is Compressed in Log Files on page 101.
Basic performance terminology and the type of data collected by SAN HQ. See Performance and Capacity
Terms on page 107.
The areas in your environment that can be sources of performance problems and which areas SAN HQ monitors. See Potential Sources of Performance Problems on page 127.
How your applications utilize group storage resources. See Understanding Application Storage Utilization on
page 128.
Note: When displaying group data, make sure you select the correct time range. By default, the GUI graphs
display data from the most recent 8-hour time period and the GUI tables display data from the most recent poll.
Use the Zoom links above the timeline to quickly set the value of the time-range selector and also to control the
range of dates seen in the timeline. For example, click Show Latest to show data up to the most recent time. See
Displaying Data from Different Times on page 48.
HardwarePoor performance can be the result of a hardware failure in the group (for example, a disk failure), the network, or the server.
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Network configurationAlthough network bandwidth is rarely fully utilized, the network can be a source of
performance problems. For example, some parts of the network might not be Gigabit Ethernet, switches
might not be properly configured, or interswitch links might not have sufficient bandwidth.
Servers and applicationsServers that do not have sufficient resources (CPU, memory, bus) can experience
performance problems. Also, applications might not be properly configured.
SAN HQ is a good tool for determining if a performance problem is the result of a hardware failure in a group.
SAN HQ also provides information that can indicate a performance problem in the storage environment (for
example, if the workload exceeds the capability of the group).
However, SAN HQ tracks only a portion of the storage stack through which an I/O operation must pass,
starting with the application I/O request and ending with the data retrieved from the group. Latencies reported by
SAN HQ do not include latencies that occur in the server. To fully diagnose non-group problems, you must use
additional tools.
For more information, see Identifying Performance Problems on page 131.
Contact your PS Series support provider or your application support provider for more information about
characterizing your application storage utilization.
128
129
Hardware alertsCheck the Alerts panel for hardware problems that might affect performance, such as a
failed disk or a network connection that is not Gigabit Ethernet. See Reported Alerts on page 112 for a list of
SAN HQ alerts.
Network retransmissionsA sustained high TCP retransmit rate (greater than 1%) might indicate a network
hardware failure, insufficient server resources, or insufficient network bandwidth.
RAID statusA degraded, reconstructing, or verifying RAID set might adversely affect performance. In
some cases, performance might return to normal after the operation completes.
Low pool capacityMake sure free space in each pool does not fall below the lesser of the following
values:
5% of pool capacity
100GB * number of pool members
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Otherwise, load balancing, member removal, and replication operations do not perform optimally. Low free
space will also negatively affect the performance of thin-provisioned volumes.
Correct hardware problems immediately. See Best Practices for Solving Performance Problems on page 152 for
more information.
After you fix a hardware problem, allow time for SAN HQ to collect new data before analyzing the data.
Average I/O LatencyLatency must be considered along with the average I/O size, because large I/O operations take longer to process than small I/O operations.
Consider the context of time for latency-sensitive applications when viewing metrics. For example, high
latency might occur without business impact during a large sequential batch program after hours.
Consider the I/O load as well and correlate it to the observed latency. For example, latency over 20 ms during a 2-hour window on a volume doing less than small (8KB) block I/Os might not be relevant.
The following guidelines apply to I/O operations with an average size of 16KB or less:
Less than 20 msIn general, average latencies of less than 20 ms are acceptable.
20 ms to 50 msSustained average latencies between 20 ms and 50 ms should be monitored closely.
You might want to reduce the workload or add additional storage resources to handle the load.
51 ms to 80 msSustained average latencies between 51 ms and 80 ms should be monitored closely.
Applications might experience problems and noticeable delays. You might want to reduce the workload
or add additional storage resources to handle the load.
Greater than 80 msA sustained average latency of more than 80 ms indicates a problem, especially if
this value is sustained over time. Most enterprise applications will experience problems if latencies
exceed 100 ms. You should reduce the workload or add additional storage resources to handle the load.
If the average I/O operation size is greater than 16KB, the previous latency guidelines might not apply.
If latency statistics indicate a performance problem, examine the total IOPS in the pools. The storage array
configuration (disk drives and RAID level) determines the maximum number of random IOPS that can be sustained. Dell Support or your channel partner can help size storage configurations for specific workloads.
Also, check the latency on your servers. If the storage does not show a high latency, but the server does, the
source of the problem might be the server or network infrastructure.
Estimated I/O loadEstimated load, relative to the theoretical maximum capability of the group, pool, or
member. The estimated I/O load is based on latencies, IOPS, hardware, and the RAID configuration. The
load value is an estimate; use it only as a general indicator. The I/O load can be:
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LowMinimal
Average IOPSIOPS are a good way to measure overall I/O activity and how much work is being done,
especially if you also consider the average I/O size. However, IOPS do not indicate whether the storage system is overloaded or operating within its limits.
Average I/O sizeIn general, the average size of an I/O operation is 16KB or less. The larger the I/O operation size, the longer it takes to process, which might affect latencies. Also, large I/O operations will generally reduce the total number of IOPS.
I/O size can be useful in understanding workload characteristics, especially when measured at the volume
level.
Network loadThe network load is the percentage of the theoretical maximum network bandwidth that is
being used for sending I/O or receiving I/O, whichever has the highest value. The theoretical maximum bandwidth is based on the negotiated link speed for all active network interfaces.
The network load percentage provides a quick measure of network activity. Network ports are typically fullduplex.
Note: The network is rarely a bottleneck in a SAN. Usually, network bandwidth is underutilized, especially
Network rateIn general, the network rate should be 100% to 200% of the I/O (iSCSI) traffic. A network
rate that is significantly more than 200% might indicate a problem.
Queue depthSAN HQ displays the queue depth (average number of outstanding I/O operations at the start
of each incoming I/O operation) for each disk drive (raw I/O), volumes (iSCSI traffic only), groups, and
pools. A queue depth of zero indicates no I/O activity. High or sustained queue depths might indicate that the
group is under a high load.
Note: A group must be running PS Series firmware version 4.2 or later to display iSCSI queue depth for a
volume.
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Experimental analysis dataIn the Experimental Analysis windows, SAN HQ provides information about
how the group is performing, relative to a typical workload of small, random I/O operations. This information
is only an estimate and must not be used as the sole measure of group performance. See Access the Experimental Analysis Window on page 133.
Experimental Analysis
The Experimental Analysis window provides information about PS Series group performance, relative to a
specific workload. This information is only an estimate. However, it can help you more fully understand group
performance and also help you plan for storage expansion.
Note: Because the estimated information in the Experimental Analysis window is based on a workload that
might not resemble the actual group workload, the data should not be used as the sole measure of group
performance. The Experimental Analysis window also provides runtime group performance data, so you can
compare the estimates to actual data. Always consider latency when examining estimated performance data.
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Current hardware configuration (including RAID level, controller type, and disk type)
Current distribution of reads and writes (that is, the percentage of IOPS that are reads and the percentage of
IOPS that are writes)
SAN HQ then calculates the performance estimates, based on the previous data and a workload with the
following IOPS characteristics:
Small (8KB)
Random
The Experimental Analysis window (see Figure 37) provides the following group performance estimates:
134
Estimated IOPS WorkloadFor the selected time range, the graph shows the percentage of how much work
(IOPS) the group is performing, based on the estimated maximum number of IOPS the group can perform
(estimated maximum IOPS) and the actual number of IOPS performed by the group.The table to the left of
the graph shows how much work (IOPS) the group is performing, averaged over the time range. For example, if the estimate is 50%, the group is performing half the work SAN HQ estimates that the group can perform. This estimate is based on a workload consisting of small, random IOPS and the group hardware
configuration and read/write distribution.
The Estimated IOPS Workload percentage is never more than 100%, even if the group is performing at more
than 100% of the estimated maximum number of IOPS.
Estimated Maximum IOPSFor the selected time range, the graph shows the estimated maximum number
of IOPS the group can perform, based on a workload consisting of small, random IOPS and the group hardware configuration and read/write distribution. To compare the estimated data with runtime data, the graph
also shows the actual number of IOPS (reads and writes) performed by the group.
Because the estimated maximum IOPS data is based on the group hardware configuration and read/write distribution, the estimated data usually tracks the actual number of I/O operations in the group.
Every 7 days, the SAN HQ Server automatically updates the SAN local repository, including newly supported disks and hardware, used for Estimated IOPS calculations. This local repository is also used to verify
member configuration and disk drive support, and can be updated manually.
Occasionally, the SAN HQ Client might show an estimated IOPS value of zero and display a notification
stating, SAN HQ Error: Unknown configuration is detected. Estimated max IOPS cannot be calculated.
This notification typically indicates that the SAN HQ version you are running proceeds a newer drive type in
your PS Series array. Dell recommends that you upgrade to the latest release of SAN HQ (see Upgrading
SAN Headquarters on page 21). Verify that the SAN HQ Server has access to the Internet for upgrading the
SAN HQ software or for updating the local repository.
Occasionally, SNMP timeouts during RAID verification might cause critical information to be temporarily
unavailable. In this case, Estimated IOPS cannot be calculated.
SAN HQ calculates the estimated maximum group IOPS when no disk drives in the group have failed
(orange line in the graph) and also when at least one RAID set is in a degraded state (brown line in the
graph). This information is useful for understanding the performance impact of a disk failure. The degraded
estimate is based on a drive failure in a RAID set that would result in the greatest performance impact.
The table to the left of the graph shows the estimated maximum number of IOPS (under non-failure and
degraded RAID set conditions), averaged over the selected time range.
The degraded estimate does not include the performance impact that might occur during RAID reconstruction (for example, when the array is reconstructing data from parity on a spare drive).
Estimated IOPS Workload Percentage is more than 80% and no performance issues.
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If the runtime group data does not indicate a performance problem (that is, latencies are low, applications
complete on time, and user response time is adequate), and your workload consists of mainly small, random
I/O operations, you might be nearing the limit of the group. You might want to consider decreasing the load
on the group or adding additional hardware or arrays.
Estimated IOPS Workload Percentage is more than 80% and performance issues exist.
If the runtime group data indicates a performance problem (for example, high latencies or high queue depth,
applications do not complete on time, or response time is slow), you probably have reached the limit of the
group. You should immediately consider decreasing the load on the group or adding additional hardware or
arrays.
Estimated IOPS Workload Percentage is less than 50% and performance issues exist.
If the runtime group data indicates a performance problem (for example, high latencies or high queue depth,
applications do not complete on time, or response time is slow), the group workload probably does not consist of mainly small, random I/O operations.
The data might indicate one of the following situations:
You reached the limit of the groupYou should immediately consider decreasing the load on the group
or adding additional hardware or arrays.
One or more members have degraded RAID setsReplace failed drives as soon as possible.
Network problems existCorrect the network problems immediately.
A server has reached its maximum capabilitiesConsider increasing the I/O capabilities of the server
(for example, install additional network interfaces and configure multipathing).
Member hardware problems existReplace any failed hardware and ensure that you configure all the
network interfaces on all group members.
As these examples show, estimated data must be used with runtime group data to obtain an accurate and
comprehensive understanding of group performance. For runtime group data examples, see Examples of
Interpreting Performance Data on page 136.
136
137
Figure 39: Experimental Analysis Window Adequately Performing Group with Excess Capability
Table 28: Performance Data for Adequately Performing Group with Excess Capability
Data
Description
Latency
IOPS
I/O Size
I/O Rate
Overall Assessment
Adequate
Expansion Capability
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Data
Description
Queue Depth
Typical range
Example 1 shows a group that is performing well and is within its capabilities. The latencies are all below 20
ms, which is good. The reported number of IOPS is about half the maximum IOPS (small, random) that SAN HQ
estimates the group can easily perform. The I/O sizes are typical, so you do not have to consider any special
circumstances (such as very large I/O sizes). The I/O rate (throughput) is low. The workload appears to be
reasonably static (and thus predictable).
This group probably could handle an increase in the I/O workload of at least 25% before performance problems
might develop.
139
Description
Latency
IOPS
I/O Size
I/O Rate
Overall Assessment
140
Data
Description
Expansion Capability
Queue Depth
Low
Example 2 shows a group that is mainly idle. The very low latency and low IOPS values indicate that this group
can handle a larger workload. However, because the current group workload is so low, it is difficult to determine
how large a workload increase the group can handle. Increase the workload gradually and evaluate the group
performance after each increase.
141
142
Figure 43: Experimental Analysis Window for a Group Possibly Near Full Capability
Table 30: Performance Data for a Group Possibly Near Full Capability
Data
Description
Latency
IOPS
I/O Size
I/O Rate
Overall Assessment
Adequate
Expansion Capability
Queue Depth
Moderate
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Example 3 shows some contradictory information. The latencies are low (less than 20 ms). However, the IOPS
are at or above the maximum estimated IOPS (small, random) for the group. Because the I/O size is small (less
than 64KB), the workload might be sequential instead of random. Alternatively, the group might be benefiting
from a high level of control module cache hits.
Because the latencies are low, the group currently appears to be performing well. However, an increase in the
workload might result in performance degradation.
144
Figure 45: Experimental Analysis Window for a Busy Group Probably Near Full Capability
145
Figure 46: Network Window for a Busy Group Probably Near Full Capability
Table 31: Performance Data for a Busy Group Probably Near Full Capability
Data
Description
Latency
IOPS
I/O Size
Smaller than typical (approximately 12KB for reads and 10KB for writes)
I/O Rate
Network Load
Overall Assessment
Busy
Expansion Capability
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Example 4 shows that a group can have a high I/O load and a low network load at the same time. The network is
rarely a bottleneck in a SAN. Usually, network bandwidth is underutilized, especially with random I/O
workloads.
This group has a heavy load, consisting of highly random, small reads and writes. Yet, only a fraction of the
network is being utilized. While this example is extreme, the concept is true for most groups.
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Figure 47: I/O Window for a Group With High Latencies Probably Near Full Capability
148
Figure 48: Experimental Analysis Window for a Group With High Latencies Probably Near Full
Capability
Table 32: Performance Data for a Group With High Latencies Probably Near Full Capability
Data
Description
Latency
IOPS
I/O Size
I/O Rate
Overall Assessment
Very busy
Expansion Capability
Queue Depth
Moderate to high
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Example 5 shows a busy group with no excess capacity for expansion. The high latencies, sustained over an 8hour period, indicate that group performance is troublesome. While brief peaks of high latency are acceptable,
high sustained latencies generally have a negative impact on application performance.
In addition, the number of IOPS in this example is two to three times the estimated maximum IOPS. This
increase is probably because the workload is sequential instead of random. Alternatively, the group might be
benefiting from a high level of control module cache hits.
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Example 6: Group With Many Small Writes But Some Large Reads
Figure 49 shows the I/O for Group window for a group that is performing many small write operations but some
large read operations. Table 33 describes the relevant data.
Figure 49: I/O Window for Group With Many Small Writes But Some Large Reads
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Table 33: Performance Data for Group With Many Small Writes But Some Large Reads
Data
Description
Read/Write Distribution
Average 70KB
Average 3KB
Read IOPS
Average 170
Write IOPS
Average 350
Average 12MB/sec
Average 1MB/sec
Queue Depth
Moderate
Example 6 shows how the read/write distribution is important for understanding performance statistics. The
read/write distribution is the percentage of read IOPS and the percentage of write IOPS, based on the overall
number of IOPS.
The data in Example 6 indicates a workload that consists mainly of write operations (68% writes). However,
these writes are small (average of 3KB). Because the read operations are large (average of 70KB), compared to
the writes, most of the I/O throughput is read data (average read I/O rate of 12MB/sec).
152
Correct any network hardware problems that are causing the poor performance. For example, fix switches or
add network bandwidth. See Network Infrastructure Recommendations on page 153.
Optimize applications.
Correct any application behavior that is causing the poor performance, with the goal of reducing the load on
the group. For example, make sure database volumes are provisioned according to best practices (for example, you might want to place data and log files on different volumes). See Server and Application Configuration Recommendations on page 154.
Use network components that are recommended for an iSCSI SAN by Dell EqualLogic.
Use switches and interswitch links that have sufficient bandwidth for the iSCSI I/O. Contact Dell Support
for details about correct sizing and configuration of iSCSI SAN switch infrastructure. Pay careful attention
to sizing interswitch links.
Make sure all member network interface connections are Gigabit Ethernet and make sure driver settings are
correct on the servers. SAN HQ generates an alert if it detects connections that are less than 1GB.
Follow the network requirements and recommendations in the PS Series Installation and Setup guide. In general:
If possible, do not use Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) functionality on switch ports that connect end
nodes.
Enable flow control on switches and NICs.
Disable unicast storm control on switches.
Enable jumbo frames.
153
Have sufficient server memory. Adding memory can decrease the read I/O load on the storage.
Consider using multipathing (MPIO), which provides a high-performance and highly available path between
a server and storage. Use the Dell EqualLogic Host Integration Tools/Microsoft for a multipathing solution.
Make sure the server Ethernet ports, PCI bus, and CPU are rated for the workload.
If the server is a cluster node, isolate cluster network traffic from iSCSI storage traffic. Check for other network traffic interference.
Make sure all the network interfaces on the members are configured, functioning, and accessible. Use the
Group Manager CLI ping command to check accessibility.
If you need more network bandwidth for iSCSI I/O, consider not configuring a dedicated management network.
Consider changing the RAID policy for a member. Change the policy only if you are sure your applications
will perform better with a different RAID level. Dell recommends using the RAID Evaluator in SAN HQ.
For information, see RAID Policy Evaluation and Reliability on page 83.
In addition, RAID policies with spare disks provide additional protection against drive failures. Also, RAID
10 performs better than other RAID levels when a disk drive fails and when a RAID set is degraded.
You can change a RAID policy for a member only if the new RAID policy uses less disk space than the current RAID policy.
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Assign application volumes to a pool that includes members with the RAID policy that is optimal for the
application.
Replace member disk drives with higher-performing drives. Make sure the array is fully populated with disk
drives.
Make sure member control module caches are in write-back mode. See the Dell EqualLogic Group Manager
Administrators Manual for information about setting cache modes.
Consider not binding volumes to a particular group member and let the group perform automatic performance
load balancing.
Use fewer pools and let the group perform automatic performance load balancing.
155
156
Create reports from group data. See Group Data Reports on page 157.
You can preserve data at the current time or use a command line to perform the task.
SAN HQ GUIUsing the GUI is the easiest method of creating a report. You can display the report, save
the report to a file, or email the report. See Use the GUI to Create a Report on page 159.
Command lineUsing a command to create a report enables you to schedule the creation of reports and regularly capture group data. See Use a Command to Create a Report on page 159.
Reports minimally require approximately 5MB per group per report, depending on the selected time range.
Report Types
You can create the following report types for the selected groups:
Capacity reportIncludes information about group, member, and volume capacity and space usage.
157
Replication report across groupsIncludes information about inbound and outbound replication activity
across multiple selected groups.
Performance reportIncludes group, member, and network port I/O performance information.
Host Connections reportIncludes information about host session iSCSI connections to group targets.
Hardware and Firmware reportIncludes information about the hardware and firmware on the group
members.
Top 10 reportIncludes the 10 volumes with the largest size (capacity), highest IOPS, and highest number
of iSCSI connections from initiators.
Top 10 report across groupsIncludes the 10 volumes with the largest size (capacity), highest IOPS, and
highest number of iSCSI connections from initiators across multiple selected groups.
Alerts reportContains a combined list of all alerts within a selected range for selected groups. The information in the Alerts report is similar to the Alerts panel on a servers All Groups page and the Alerts tab on
the Summary of Group page. For a given group, the Alerts report information includes the priority level of
the alert (informational, caution, warning, or critical), time and date of the poll in which the alert was
detected, the duration of the alert, the status of the alert (active or cleared), and the alert message text.
Group diagnostics reportAnalyzes all selected groups for possible performance and configuration issues
(for example, group members with mismatched firmware or incompatible RAID policies). For information
about the data analyzed by the group diagnostics report, see Group Diagnostics Report Data on page 164.
SyncRep reportReports on selected groups with SyncRep enabled, showing a summary of SyncRep activity for all groups and pools (for example, total SyncRep volumes, SyncRep status, and total and remaining
changes), and specific information per group and pool.
Snapshot Schedules reportFor a selected data range, shows for a group all volume snapshot, volume replication, volume snapshot collection, and volume replication collection schedules, and provides status and
data. Data includes the schedule name, associated volume, type of schedule, when it was last run, when date
and time of next run enabled status, current schedule count, and maximum keep count. For Replication and
Replication Collection schedules, also shows the replication partner.
Volumes Performance reportFor a selected group or groups and a selected data range, shows a volume's
performance summary, which includes read and write IOPS, data sent and received (KB/sec), read and
write latency, and volume count.
Point in time or the time range for the data to include in the report.
158
You can specify that the report be based on data collected at the current time, 8 hours ago, 1 day ago, 7 days
ago, or 30 days ago, or you can specify a specific date and time. For some report types, you can specify a
time range; the data in the report will be averaged over the time range.
Title for the reportIf you do not specify a title, SAN HQ uses a default title based on the type of report.
Directory where the report will be located, the report file name, and the report file type (PDF, CSV, HTML,
RTF, TXT, or XLS).
Whether you want to generate the report now or create an XML file that you can use to later generate the
report.
Email settings for distributing the report, including the SMTP server and port, email addresses to receive the
report, email address for the From field, and the text for the Subject field.
Change the page setup for the report, change the report background, or add a watermark to the report
Save the report to a PDF, HTML, MHT, RTF, XLS, CSV, TXT, or BMP file
Save the report to another file type and then email the report
159
The procedure for creating a report by using a command requires using the SAN HQ GUI to create an XML file
that contains the groups and the type of data that you want in the report. You then run the SAN HQ executable,
specifying the XML file as a parameter.
To use a command to create a report:
1. From the Reports menu, either select the type of report you want to create or select Report Wizard, which
allows you to select the report type.
2. A series of dialog boxes appears, prompting you for the information described in Information Required for a
Report on page 158.
See Use the GUI to Create a Report on page 159 for a description of the dialog boxes. Be sure to select the
Generate Command Line option in the Report Wizard Title and Generation Settings dialog box.
Optionally, you can automatically email the report after it is generated. In the Report Wizard E-Mail
Settings dialog box, select Automatically e-mail report as an attachment after generation and enter
the information in the fields. If you configured email notification for alerts, the fields already contain data.
You can edit the fields as needed.
3. In the Report Wizard Report Generation Ready dialog box, click Generate Command Line. The Report
Generator XML Viewer window appears (Figure 50), displaying the contents of the XML file. You can edit
this file, if necessary, as described in Modifying an XML File for Creating Reports on page 162.
4. When you are satisfied with the contents of the XML file, click Save in the Report Generator XML Viewer
dialog box and specify a file name for the XML file.
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5. To generate the report, navigate to the SAN HQ installation directory and use the following command
format. Be sure to specify the full path for the XML file.
SANHQClient.exe -ReportSettingsFile="xml_file_name"
For example:
> SANHQClient.exe ReportSettingsFile="C:\SANReport_XML.xml"
The XML_file_name variable specifies the name of the XML file you created in Use a Command to Create a
Report on page 159.
161
Report type
Report style
The following sample XML file creates a Configuration Report (in PDF format) from data gathered one day ago
(24 hours) for one group:
<SanHQReport>
<ReportFile>
C:\Documents and Settings\sample_user\My Documents\SanHQ_Report.pdf
</ReportFile>
<Title>
SAN Headquarters Configuration Report
</Title>
<Type>
Configuration Report
</Type>
<Style>
Default
</Style>
<DataType>
Point
</DataType>
<GrabNearestPointWithin>
36000000000
</GrabNearestPointWithin>
<Time
span = "24"
/>
<Group>
magic4-grp
</Group>
</SanHQReport>
The following sample XML file creates a Capacity Report (in HTML format) from data averaged over a
specific 2-week time period for two groups:
162
<SanHQReport>
<ReportFile>
C:\sample_user\My Documents\Capacity_Report.html
</ReportFile>
<Title>
SAN Headquarters Capacity Report
</Title>
<Type>
Capacity Report
</Type>
<Style>
Default
</Style>
<DataType>
Point
</DataType>
<GrabNearestPointWithin>
36000000000
</GrabNearestPointWithin>
<Time
begin = "7/15/2013 2:35:31 PM"
end = "7/29/2013 2:35:31 PM"
/>
<Group>
thing
</Group>
<Group>
rental17
</Group>
</SanHQReport>
The following sample XML file creates a Top 10 Report (in PDF format) from the latest data for a group and
then emails the report:
<SanHQReport>
<ReportFile>
C:\sample_user\My Documents\TOP_10_Report.pdf
</ReportFile>
<Title>
SAN Headquarters TOP 10 Report
</Title>
<Type>
Top 10 Report
</Type>
<Style>
Default
</Style>
<DataType>
Point
</DataType>
<GrabNearestPointWithin>
36000000000
</GrabNearestPointWithin>
<Time
span = "0"
/>
<Group>
163
MandaGrp
</Group>
<AutoEmailReport>
<SmtpServer>
10.20.30.40
</SmtpServer>
<Sender>
[email protected]
</Sender>
<SmtpPort>
25
</SmtpPort>
<SubjectLine>
SAN Headquarters Top 10 Report
</SubjectLine>
<SendToAddress>
[email protected]
</SendToAddress>
<SendToAddress>
[email protected]
</SendToAddress>
</AutoEmailReport>
</SanHQReport>
Data Analyzed
Member
analysis
Disk
analysis
164
Category
Pool
analysis
Data Analyzed
Pools with high I/O loadInforms you to distribute the load to other pools
Pools with number of connections approaching 90% maximum (firmware version 4.2 and higher)
Pools with members offlineDisplays the number of members offline
Pools Total, Free, and In-Use capacity within 90% threshold of the collection
Pool delegated space at 80% threshold
Port
analysis
SAN HQ GUIUsing the GUI is the easiest method of archiving data. See Use the GUI to Create an
Archive File on page 166.
Command lineUsing a command to archive data enables you to schedule archive operations and regularly
capture group data. See Use a Command to Create an Archive File on page 166.
165
A group data archive minimally requires approximately 1.5 to 2 times the log size of the amount of data selected.
166
3. Select the service (if multiple servers are configured) and any groups whose data you want to save. You can
archive groups from only one service at a time. Click Select all groups to archive data for all the
monitored groups.
4. Click Next. The Archive Generation Type dialog box appears.
5. Select the Generate Command line Archive Settings file option.
6. Enter a file name for the .grpx archive file. The default name is SANHQ_Archive.grpx.
7. Optionally, check the Trace Files Only checkbox. By selecting this option, the resulting archive is a
compressed archive containing only debug trace files without any group log data. These compressed debug
trace files are designed for easy transmission of important diagnostic information.
8. Click Next. The Summary of Archive dialog box appears.
9. Click Generate Command Line. The Create Archive XML Viewer dialog box appears (Figure 51), displaying
the XML file.
Figure 51: Create Archive XML Viewer
10. Examine the XML file. If necessary, you can edit the file as described in Modifying an XML File for
Archiving Data on page 168.
11. Click Save if the file is acceptable and then enter the path and file name for the XML file. Click Cancel to
cancel the operation.
167
12. Navigate to the SAN HQ installation directory and use the following command format. Be sure to specify
the full path for the XML file.
SANHQClient.exeArchiveSettingsFile="xml_file_name"
For example:
> SANHQClient.exe ArchiveSettingsFile="C:\SAN_Archive_XML.xml"
The XML_file_name variable specifies the name of the XML file you created in Use a Command to Create an
Archive File on page 166.
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SAN HQ GUIUsing the GUI is the easiest method of exporting data. See Use the GUI to Export Group
Data on page 170.
Command lineUsing a command to export data enables you to schedule export operations and regularly
capture group data. See Use a Command to Export Group Data on page 170.
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Exports minimally require approximately 50MB per group, depending on the selected time range, data object,
and size of the groups log files.
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The procedure for exporting group data by using a command requires using the SAN HQ GUI to create an XML
file that contains the groups and the type of data that you want to export. You then run the SAN HQ executable,
specifying the XML file as a parameter.
To use a command to export group data:
1. In the Servers and Groups tree, right-click either All Groups Summary or a specific group and select Export
Group Data to initiate the Export Group Data wizard.
2. In the first dialog box of the wizard, click Next. The Group Selection dialog box appears.
3. In the Export Group Data dialog box, either:
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13. Examine the XML file. If necessary, you can edit the file, as described in Use a Command to Export Group
Data on page 170.
14. Click Save if the file is acceptable and then enter the path and file name for the XML file. Click Cancel to
cancel the operation.
15. Go to the SAN HQ installation directory and use the following command format. Be sure to specify the full
path for the XML file.
SANHQClient.exe ExportSettingsFile="xml_file_name"
For example:
> SANHQClient.exe ExportSettingsFile="C:\SAN_Export_XML.xml"
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The XML_file_name variable specifies the name of the XML file you created in Schedule Exported Data on page
172.
Time range
The time range in the XML file is specified in hours, unless you want the latest data (specify span = "0").
If you want a time range, specify the beginning and end dates. For example:
begin = "7/15/2013 2:35:31 PM"
end = "7/29/2013 2:35:31 PM"
The following sample XML file exports all types of data gathered over the most recent 24-hour time period for
two groups:
<SanHQExport>
<Settings
Path="C:\SANHQ_Export.csv">
<Show
Group="True"
Pools="True"
Members="True"
Volumes="True"
HostedReplicas="True"
ReplicaSites="True"
Disks="True"
Ports="True"
Volume Collections="True"
Outbound Replicas="True"
/>
<Time
Span="24"
/>
</Settings>
<Group>
10.127.137.110
</Group>
<Group>
10.127.14.130
</Group>
</SanHQExport>
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The following sample XML file exports all types of data, except for replication, gathered over a specific date
range for two groups:
<SanHQExport>
<Settings
Path="C:\SANHQ_Export_Range.csv">
<Show
Group="True"
Pools="True"
Members="True"
Volumes="True"
HostedReplicas="False"
ReplicaSites="False"
Disks="True"
Ports="True"
Volume Collections="True"
Outbound Replicas="False"
/>
<Time
Begin=1/01/2013 1:00:00PM
End=1/12/2013 4:08:13PM
/>
</Settings>
<Group>
10.117.127.120
</Group>
<Group>
10.117.141.140
</Group>
</SanHQExport>
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Event drivenWhenever SAN HQ receives a critical event notification through the syslog mechanism from
a PS Series group. Event-driven data collections occur once every 24 hours. If multiple critical events occur
during the 24-hour period, events are reported but no additional data collection occurs.
On-demandUser-driven on an as-needed basis. Run an on-demand data collection from the SAN HQ
Client.
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Diagnostic data uploaded by the SAN HQ Server is organized such that support personnel can easily view the
data when working on a support case. Dell Support contacts you only regarding issues discovered when
analyzing the data collected by SupportAssist or when you specifically request support.
SupportAssist does not fully replace the E-Mail Home feature or the pssdiag script for diagnostic reporting to
Dell Support. Instead, it reduces the need to use these reporting methods on a frequent basis. SupportAssist
filters health condition event messages from the PS Series group and collects a subset of critical events to upload
to Dell Support. In contrast, various health condition events trigger the E-Mail Home messages, which can be
informational, errors, or warnings.
Similarly, running the PS Series CLI diag command or executing the pssdiag script collects a broader range of
data. You should continue to use these methods when requested by Dell Support.
Note: If pssdiag is running, scheduled and event-driven data collections by SupportAssist cannot override
data collections. For on-demand data collections, SupportAssist first informs you if pssdiag is running
and then lets you either cancel the SupportAssist data collection, or ignore pssdiag and continue with the ondemand data collection.
pssdiag
The accumulated data collected by SupportAssist from many PS Series groups lets Dell Support continually
update its diagnostic analysis. Figure 53 illustrates this process. (See Table 35 for a description of the callouts.)
Figure 53: SupportAssist Components and Process
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Description
SAN HQ servers
SAN HQ clients
Internet
10
11
Fast and automatic data collectionDepending on the size of your group, a scheduled data collection might
take as little as 5 minutes for a typical two-to-four member configuration.
Parallel data collectionWhen you configure multiple groups to use SupportAssist, data collection occurs in
parallel, up to three groups at a time, across all groups.
Preventive diagnosticsBy gathering commonly used diagnostics and configuration information, then making this information available to Dell Support, SupportAssist significantly reduces the time it takes for the
Dell Support organization to help customers who might be experiencing similar difficulties. Dell Support can
use historical data to determine if customers are at risk, without requiring customer intervention.
SecuritySupportAssist uses a special read-only group account (by default, autopilot-ro, which you can
change) to access and gather only diagnostic data from the group. It cannot access user data stored on the
group. Diagnostic data is uploaded on an SSL-encrypted secure channel.
Consistency and accuracyBecause most data analysis occurs on the server-side software, customers who
enable SupportAssist functionality will benefit from consistent automated analysis, free of human error.
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ResiliencyIf SupportAssist cannot complete an upload due to problems with Internet connectivity or the
server being down, it defers the upload and attempts it at a later time.
Minimal performance impactFor the majority of groups, under normal conditions, using SupportAssist adds
only a 5% to 10% performance impact during the relatively short time when SupportAssist collects data.
Convenient configuration managementFrom the SupportAssist Configuration Settings page, all groups configured for SAN HQ monitoring are displayed in detailed dialog boxes from which you can enable SupportAssist and set or modify configuration settings.
Communication with Dell SupportSupportAssist receives information about all support cases created for
your groups and conveniently displays the case status and progress on resolution, as well as other critical customer support case information.
User-controllable features:
SupportAssist collects diagnostics according to a weekly schedule that you set up. You can also perform
an on-demand data collection at any time.
SupportAssist gathers diagnostic and configuration data for your own use and inspection, without transmitting it to Dell (see Running an On-Demand Data Collection on page 206).
SupportAssist monitors current and past activity via the SupportAssist activity log.
You can enable SupportAssist for any number of groups, up to the supported maximum of 50.
You can create a custom user name for the SupportAssist read-only account that accesses and collects
diagnostic data from the group.
You can disable SupportAssist at any time.
Operating system information (such as a process list, CPU, and memory consumption)
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If Dell discovers useful information during analysis, and this information might apply to your configuration,
Dell uses the supplied information to contact you. You can supply only one contact for each monitored group.
SAN HQ host information, such as the operating system name, CPU, memory, and system name
SupportAssist Requirements
This section describes the requirements for using SupportAssist:
FirmwarePS Series array firmware version 5.2 or later release. If you are using a firmware version that is
more recent than the SAN HQ release, you might need to upgrade SAN HQ.
Read-only account credentialsYou must supply grpadmin-level credentials for each monitored group to
SAN HQ during the initial setup. The password must contain a minimum of 3 and a maximum of 16 alphanumeric characters, which are case-sensitive. SAN HQ uses these group access credentials one time for
SupportAssist configuration; it does not store the credentials.
SAN HQ does not store your grpadmin-level credentials; it uses them only once to create a dedicated, readonly group account, named autopilot-ro by default. You can rename this account when you configure a group
for SupportAssist data collection, either when adding a group using the Add Group wizard or, when configuring SupportAssist, using the SupportAssist Configuration wizard. SupportAssist uses this read-only
account to connect to the sanmond daemon that gathers diagnostic data from the PS Series group.
You can manage the autopilot-ro account using the PS Series Group Manager GUI (or CLI), allowing you to
disable SupportAssist from Group Manager by changing the SupportAssist account password.
syslog notificationOne free IP address slot to configure syslog notification to the SAN HQ Server. A
group can support up to three IP addresses for syslog notification. If all addresses are in use, you must free
up an address and specify the SAN HQ Server instead. This address is used to monitor critical events on the
PS Series arrays.
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SAN HQ automatically enables syslog event logging for fatal and error events under the Group Manager
GUIs Notifications tab.
Your environment must meet the minimum requirements for a SAN HQ Server. If your SAN HQ Server is
monitoring more than one group, it might take additional resources to store diagnostic data, encrypt data, and
upload diagnostic packages.
For data upload, the SAN HQ Server requires access to the Internet.
Do not use multiple SAN HQ servers to manage the same group. To manage multiple groups:
If all the groups share a physical location, use a dedicated SAN HQ Server to monitor all groups, installing multiple SAN HQ clients for the same server.
If groups are spread across different physical locations, use a dedicated SAN HQ Server for each physical location. Install one or more SAN HQ clients, each connecting to multiple SAN HQ servers, to see
all the data from a single client.
You can have a single SAN HQ Server connected to multiple groups, running a single instance of SupportAssist for each group.
Use a static IP address (see Network and Bandwidth Requirements on page 180).
The SAN HQ Servers IP address is added to the list of syslog servers for all SupportAssist-configured
groups. Use a static IP address for syslog notification, which prevents the need to update the list of syslog
servers for each group if the address changes dynamically.
The SAN HQ Server must be able to connect to the Dell Support data center via the Internet.
Table 36 presents approximate data transfer rates for the SupportAssist infrastructure.
Table 36: Network and Bandwidth Considerations When Using SupportAssist
Source
Destination
Approximate
Data Transfer
Average per
Member*
SAN HQ Server
10MB
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Upload Option
Network Type
Scheduled or
Public
Source
Destination
Approximate
Data Transfer
Average per
Member*
center
Upload Option
Network Type
event-driven
(automatic)
SAN HQ Server
120MB
On demand Run
Now (manual).
SAN HQ
archive is selected.
Public
PS Series group
SAN HQ Server
150MB
Scheduled or
event-driven
(automatic)
Internal
PS Series group
SAN HQ Server
300MB
On demand Run
Now (manual).
SAN HQ
archive is selected.
Internal
* The performance data from SAN HQ requires the most bandwidth. Because you manually transfer SAN HQ archive
data on-demand using the Run Now option, the size of the transfer depends on the SAN HQ archive date range you
specify in the wizard. The actual transfer rate might also be impacted by group configurations, the number of groups,
and the log size selected in SAN HQ.
Configuring SupportAssist
You can configure SupportAssist at various stages when using SAN HQ:
When adding a new group (see Configuring SupportAssist When Adding a New Group on page 184).
By using the SupportAssist Configuration wizard for an existing group (see Configuring SupportAssist for an
Existing Group on page 191).
From the SupportAssist Settings page, when enabling a group for SupportAssist or modifying an existing configuration (see Modifying the SupportAssist Configuration on page 195).
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Create a password for the new read-only administration account that SupportAssist will create automatically. See PS Series Group Firmware and Group Configuration Requirements on page 179 for information about this account.
SAN HQ Server IP address. See SAN Headquarters Server Configuration Settings on page 67. (If the server
settings show a host name, ping the servers host to obtain its IP address.) Dell recommends using a static IP
address.
Contact information for the person that Dell will contact with diagnostic reports. See Updating or Configuring Contact Data on page 203.
Data collection and diagnostic data package transmission settings. See Data Collection and Upload Settings
on page 216.
Each time you configure and enable SupportAssist from the Configuration wizard, you are presented with an
End User License Agreement. You must accept the license to continue running the wizard.
Configuration Worksheet
Use the worksheet shown in Table 37 to gather data and make decisions about configuring SupportAssist.
Table 37: Group and SupportAssist Configuration Worksheet
Data Item
Your Data
Enable SSH
[ ] Verified
syslog IP
Specify one free address for syslog servers using the Group Configuration, Notifications tab. (Use a static IP address.)
[ ] Verified
SNMP name
SNMP:
Group IP or
DNS name
Group name or group IP address found with Group Configuration, General tab.
Group:
Group
account name
If using SAN HQ single sign-on, a login account name for the group.
(Optionally, you can use single sign-on to log in to a group.)
Account:
Group
account password
SupportAssist
read-only
account user
name
If you choose not to use the default autopilot-ro user name and provide
a custom user name, enter a name using up to 16 alphanumeric ASCII
characters, which can include period, hyphen, and underscore. The
first character must be a letter or number and the last character cannot
be a period.
User name:
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Data Item
Your Data
SupportAssist
read-only
account password
A password for the read-only account (autopilot-ro) created automatically by SAN HQ for use by SupportAssist. Passwords must contain a minimum of 3 and a maximum of 16 alphanumeric characters,
which are case-sensitive.
Contact
Name
Name of the primary contact person (used only if Dell needs to contact
the groups administrator).
Phone
City
State
Company
Cell Phone
(optional)
Tel:
Mon|Tues
|Weds|Thurs
Fri|Sat|Sun
HH:MM:PM/AM:
Retry data
collections
If the data collection fails, decide how often and how many retry
attempts will be made to collect the diagnostic data. This number
includes the initial failure.
Retry:
Frequency:
Decide whether you also want to collect data for critical events (in
addition to the regularly scheduled collection).
[ ] Yes [ ] No
Enable data
transmission
[ ] Yes [ ] No
Packages
retained
locally
If you do not want to transmit data to Dell for review, decide how
many data packages to retain locally. Locally saved packages are
encrypted. First in, first out; minimum 5 packages, maximum 64 packages; n default packages.
Packages:
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Procedure
Reference
Follow the SAN HQ installation procedure, noting any specific server requirements for SupportAssist.
Installation Procedure on
page 16
Configuration Worksheet on
page 182
Read the group requirements and update or configure your group as necessary.
SupportAssist Requirements
on page 179
Updating or Configuring
Contact Data on page 203
Configuring SupportAssist
When Adding a New Group
on page 184
Verify the configuration
View the configuration settings and configure Sup- Modifying the SupportAssist
portAssist from the SupportAssist Configuration
Configuration on page 195
Settings page.
Running an On-Demand
Data Collection on page 206
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To prepare for adding a new group, gather the data as described in Configuration Worksheet on page 182 and
make sure you configure the group as described in SupportAssist Requirements on page 179.
Make sure that your SAN HQ Server is fully functional and not in a degraded state.
Configuration Steps
To add a new group:
1. Click SANHQ and then Add New Group to open the Add Group wizard.
2. Click Next> to open the PS Series Group Information dialog box (Figure 54).
3. In the dialog box:
a. Enter the Group IP address or DNS name.
b. Enter the Group Community SNMP name.
c. Check the Enable SupportAssist functionality box. (You must accept the license in step 4. Depending on whether the TCP/IP initialization is complete, the box might already be checked.)
d. (Optional) Check the Enable Single Sign-On Functionality box.
e. (Optional) Enter the single sign-on Account name and Password.
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4. Click Next> to open the SupportAssist License Agreement dialog box and click the button to accept the
license terms.
If you decline the license, you can continue to add the group for SAN HQ monitoring, but you cannot enable
SupportAssist.
5. Click Next>. A message dialog box shows that SAN HQ is polling the group and loading group information.
When SAN HQ contacts the group, it opens the PS Series Group Login Credential and Syslog Selection
dialog box (see Figure 55).
Note: If the groups configuration is invalid, or if any problems occur with the SAN HQ Server or its
network connections to the group, the procedure can fail at this point. If the procedure fails, correct the
problem and try again to add the group.
6. Enter the following information:
a. The user name and password as the group admin credentials.
b. A user name for the SupportAssist read-only account. You can accept the default autopilot-ro account
name or enter your own custom account name.
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User names follow the same conventions as the PS Series firmware local account and can contain up to
16 alphanumeric ASCII characters, including period, hyphen, and underscore. The first character must
be a letter or number and the last character cannot be a period.
c. A password for the SupportAssist read-only account
Passwords must contain a minimum of 3 and a maximum of 16 alphanumeric characters, which are casesensitive. Dell recommends a minimum of 6 characters for improved security.
7. Click Test to validate the credentials. Providing that you entered valid credentials, SAN HQ enables the
Group Syslog Servers panel. Note the IP address for Current Syslog Configuration.
8. Scroll through the list and Select SAN HQ Server IP address for Group Syslog Notification
registration. Dell recommends using a static IP address.
Figure 55: Result of Adding Group Login Credentials and Syslog Server Selection
9. Click Next> and enter information in the Customer Contact Information dialog box (Figure 56).
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Dell Support contacts you only if, when analyzing aggregated data, it discovers an issue that is relevant to
your PS Series groups and the service tag has ProSupport, or if you request support. To make sure that Dell
Support contacts the appropriate person, you must supply contact information (for example, for your
SAN administrator). For a description of these fields, see Updating or Configuring Contact Data on page
203.
10. Click Next> and enter your preferred data-collection and upload settings (see Figure 57):
a. Check the box to enable weekly data collection and set the day, time, retry interval, and the total number
of attempts, which includes the initial attempt.
b. Check the box to collect diagnostics data when critical events are detected in addition to scheduled activity.
c. Check the box to allow automatic transmission of diagnostic data to Dell Support for review.
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Figure 57: SupportAssist Data Collection and Upload Settings Dialog Box
Note: If you do not check the box to allow automatic data transmissions, you will not get the benefit of auto-
matically uploading the data to Dell Support for analysis. Dell recommends keeping this setting
selected unless you are in a situation when you are not always connected to the Internet and you want
to store data locally. For more information, see Using a Different Server to Upload Diagnostic Information on page 215. For a description of the fields in Figure 57, see Data Collection and Upload Settings on page 216.
11. Click Next> and, optionally, enter the settings for email notification:
12. Click Next> and use the sliders to specify your preferences for the size of log files and of event and audit log
files.
189
13. Click Next> and review your configuration settings in the Completing the Wizard dialog box (Figure 59).
190
14. Click Add Group if the settings are correct, or click <Back to make changes.
SAN HQ connects to the group and starts to poll the group for data. Depending on the group size, this operation
can take several minutes. You can continue to add more groups or perform other monitoring operations.
191
Configuration Steps
To start and use the SupportAssistConfiguration wizard:
1. Click SupportAssist in the SAN HQ menu bar.
2. Click Configuration Wizard to open the Welcome dialog box.
3. Click Next> to open the license dialog box, and click the button to accept the license terms.
Optionally, click the Print button to create a hard copy of the license.
4. Click Next> to open the PS Series Group Selection for SupportAssist dialog box (Figure 60).
Figure 60: Group Selection for SupportAssist Dialog Box
5. Check the boxes in the Select column to select one or more groups, provided that the SupportAssist Status
column indicates that a group is compatible with SupportAssist.
You can also click the Select all groups button to select or deselect every compatible group.
6. Click Next> to open the PS Series Group Login Credentials dialog box (Figure 61) and enter the following
information:
192
a. The group administration user name and password for the selected groups. To select multiple groups, use
Shift + Select.
b. A user name for the SupportAssist read-only account. You can accept the default autopilot-ro account
name or enter your own custom account name.
User names follow the same conventions as the PS Series firmware local account and can contain up to
16 alphanumeric ASCII characters, including period, hyphen, and underscore. The first character must
be a letter or number and the last character cannot be a period.
c. A password for the SupportAssist read-only account.
Passwords must contain a minimum of 3 and a maximum of 16 alphanumeric characters, which are casesensitive. Dell recommends a minimum of 6 characters for improved security.
Figure 61: SupportAssist Group Login Credentials Dialog Box
Optionally, click Apply & Test to verify the login credentials. If successful, SAN HQ displays Credentials
Validation Succeeded. If unsuccessful, SAN HQ displays One or more groups need validation to continue.
7. Click Next> to open the Syslog Server Configuration dialog box (Figure 62) and select the SAN HQ Servers
IP address from the list of available syslog servers. Dell recommends using a static IP address.
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Note: PS Series groups support up to three syslog servers. You might need to reconfigure or remove preex-
8. Click Next> to open the Customer Contact Information dialog box (Figure 56) and enter your contact
information.
Dell Support contacts you only if, when analyzing aggregated data, it discovers an issue that is relevant to
your PS Series groups and the service tag has ProSupport, or if you request support. To make sure that Dell
Support contacts the appropriate person, you must supply contact information (for example, for your
SAN administrator). For a description of these fields, see Updating or Configuring Contact Data on page
203.
9. Click Next> to open the Data Collection and Upload Settings dialog box (Figure 57) and specify when you
would like data to be gathered and transmitted (or retained locally).
Note: If you do not check the box to allow automatic data transmissions, you will not get the benefit of auto-
matically uploading the data to Dell Support for analysis. Dell recommends keeping this setting
selected unless you are in a situation when you are not always connected to the Internet and you want
to store data locally. For more information, see Using a Different Server to Upload Diagnostic Information on page 215. For a description of the fields in Figure 57, see Data Collection and Upload Settings on page 216.
10. Click Next> to display the Ready to Configure SupportAssist screen (Figure 63) and verify that the
information is correct. Click <Back to make corrections.
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A progress bar shows the configuration in process. It can take up to 2 minutes for each group. If all groups are
successfully configured for SupportAssist, the status indicates the configuration is finished and SupportAssist is
automatically deployed.
If the configuration reveals any errors for a certain group, an error message displays. In this case, rerun the
wizard after correcting any problems. You need to rerun the wizard only for groups that fail, after you correct
any problems.
information presented when running the Configuration wizard (see Configuring SupportAssist for an Existing
Group on page 191).
To access the SupportAssist Configuration Settings page, either:
Click SupportAssist below the Servers and Groups tree (lower-left panel).
195
Click SupportAssist in the SAN HQ menu bar and then SupportAssist Settings.
The SupportAssist Configuration Settings window appears. The upper-left panel lets you navigate to the activity
log for recent SupportAssist activity (see SupportAssist Activity Log on page 200), to a list of customer support
cases reported back to SupportAssist (Display Support Case Information on page 209), or back to the
SupportAssist configuration page.
You can change the following SupportAssist configuration settings for a group:
Enabled StatusWhether the group is configured and enabled or configured and disabled
When viewing the configuration settings for a large number of groups, use the Collapse All button to condense
the display. The name appears vertically in collapsed format and the button changes to Expand All.
Configured groups are identified as [Configured] after the group name and display full configuration
information. Unconfigured groups are labeled [Unconfigured] and show only the firmware version and server
name. See Figure 64.
To enable SupportAssist for an unconfigured group:
1. Click Enable SupportAssist.
196
2. Accept the End User License Agreement (EULA). SAN HQ expands the panel and displays the modifiable
configuration settings.
3. Enter the data as described in Table 39. For additional information about this data, see Additional Information
for Configuring SupportAssist for a Group on page 200.
Whenever you enable SupportAssist for an unconfigured group or change settings for a configured group, the
settings do not take effect until you click Save in the lower-left corner of the panel.
Figure 64: Groups Available for SupportAssist Panel
A configured group (left panel in Figure 64) shows the configuration information for the group. Table 39
describes this information, along with available user actions. You can enable the unconfigured group (right panel
in Figure 64) and define the SupportAssist configuration settings. Table 40 describes the information and
available user actions for an unconfigured group.
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Function
User Action
Effective Firmware
None.
Server
None.
Configuration
Click to enter or modify the group access credentials and SupportAssist read-only account credentials. The user name defaults to autopilot-ro,
which you can change.
User names follow the same conventions as the
PS Series firmware local account and can contain
up to 16 alphanumeric ASCII characters, including
period, hyphen, and underscore. The first character
must be a letter or number and the last character cannot be a period.
Passwords must contain a minimum of 3 and a maximum of 16 alphanumeric characters, which are
case-sensitive.
Enable Weekly
Data
Collection
Checked when you configure Sup- Uncheck this box to temporarily disable SupportAssist
portAssist.
Day of Week
Start Time
HH:MM AM/PM
Retry After
Specify the number of minutes to wait before SupportAssist retries a failed data collection.
Retry Count
Collect Critical
Data
Check this box to collect diagnostic data after a critical syslog event, in addition to the scheduled
weekly collection.
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Syslog
Automatic
Upload
Check this box to enable automatic data transmission of the data that SupportAssist collects. If
unchecked, diagnostic data packages are stored
locally. If Internet connectivity is lost and the automatic upload cannot be performed, SupportAssist
retires in six hour intervals for up to 90 days, afterwhich the collection is deleted.
Contact
Lists contacts
Person Icon
View and change information for the current contact. See Updating or Configuring Contact Data on
page 203.
Add new contact information. See Updating or Configuring Contact Data on page 203.
Receive SupportAssist
Emails from
Dell
Email authorization
Save
Saves modifications
Discard Changes
Removes modifications
Delete
An unconfigured group shows only the group information described in Table 40.
Table 40: Group Not Configured for SupportAssist
GUI Field
Function
User Action
Title Bar
(group name)
Enable SupportAssist
Firmware
None.
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Server
None.
Modify SupportAssist data collection settings for a group. See Modifying SupportAssist Data Collection Settings for a Group on page 202.
Enable or temporarily disable SupportAssist for a group. See Enabling and Disabling Weekly Data Collection
on page 204.
Enable or disable automatic uploading of diagnostic data packages to Dell. See Enabling and Disabling Automatic Upload for a Group on page 204.
Modify the SupportAssist syslog server IP address. See Modifying SupportAssist Syslog Settings for a Group
on page 202.
Choose, update, or add new SupportAssist contact person settings. See Updating or Configuring Contact
Data on page 203.
Permanently delete (unconfigure) the SupportAssist settings for a group. See Deleting the SupportAssist Configuration for a Group on page 205.
Click the SupportAssist link below the Servers and Groups tree and then click Activity Log in the upperleft panel.
From the SAN HQ menu bar, select SupportAssist and then click Activity Log.
You can sort and filter the data using the sort keys for each column. Click any column header to display the sort
filter key icon. Click Custom to display the Custom Auto Filter dialog box. Right-click any column header to
display the Sort, Fit, and Filter options.
From this view, you can also:
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Enter search criteria to locate activity by group, date, activity type, status, or description
When a group's activity count exceeds the configured maximum, the group's activity log overwrites the oldest
entries in the log.
Table 41: SupportAssist Activity Log Information
Title
Data
Description
Group
Group name
(string)
Custom, Blanks,
Non-Blanks, Group
Name
Timestamp
MM/DD/YYYY
HH:MM:SS
AM/PM
Custom, Blanks,
Non-Blanks, Timestamp
Activity
Type
String
Status
String
Description
String
Duration
nn h nn m nn s
Payload ID
nnn (integer)
Server
SAN HQ Server
name (string)
SAN HQ Server (monitoring this group) that performed the logged activity.
*Click column headers to sort alphabetically. For other sort options, see Data Sorting Options on page 217.
Table 42 lists potential activity types that you might encounter.
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Activity Type
Diag Data - On
Demand collection
Log entry relates to an on-demand (Run Now) diagnostic data collection. See Running an On-Demand Data Collection on page 206.
Log entry relates to a reactive (syslog event driven) diagnostic data collection and
automatic upload.
Log entry relates to a scheduled diagnostic data collection and automatic upload.
Event Message ID
Day of week
Start time
Retry After (Minutes)
Retry Count
Collect critical data
4. Click Save and then click OK in the save confirmation dialog box.
You can also disable automatic uploading of diagnostic data packages to Dell. See Enabling and Disabling
Automatic Upload for a Group on page 204.
202
3. From the drop-down menu next to the Syslog field, select the IP address that corresponds to the SAN HQ
Server.
4. Click Save and then click OK in the save confirmation dialog box.
Note: A maximum of three syslog servers are permitted on a group, one of which is the SAN HQ Server. If you
save a configuration and the maximum number of syslog servers already exists, the configuration fails. To delete
or modify the group syslog servers, launch Group Manager.
Data
Description
Contact Name
User-supplied
Email Address
User-supplied
Work Phone
User-supplied
Cell Phone
User-supplied
City
User-supplied
203
Data Field
Data
Description
State
User-supplied
Country
Timezone
Language
Company
User-supplied
Contact Times
User-supplied
Uncheck the Enable weekly data collection box to disable weekly data collection. The Run Now
option is still available.
Check the Enable weekly data collection box to enable weekly data collection.
4. Click Save and then click OK in the save confirmation dialog box.
You can also:
Permanently delete the SupportAssist configuration for a group. See Deleting the SupportAssist Configuration for a Group on page 205.
Enable or disable automatic uploading of diagnostic data packages to Dell. See Enabling and Disabling Automatic Upload for a Group on page 204.
204
207). Disabling automatic uploads does not affect data collection operations, which continue as configured.
1. Navigate to the group settings, as described in Modifying the SupportAssist Configuration on page 195.
2. Select the group.
3. Either:
4. (If disabling) Enter a number for Diagnostic data packages to retain in the range of 5 to 64. The
diagnostic data packages are saved in a SAN HQ offline folder (typically,
C:\ProgramData\EqualLogic\SAN HQ\Logs\Auto-Pilot\GroupUUID\Offline).
5. Click Save and then click OK in the save confirmation dialog box.
You can also:
Permanently delete the SupportAssist configuration for a group. See Deleting the SupportAssist Configuration for a Group on page 205.
Enable or disable SupportAssist for a group. See Enabling and Disabling Weekly Data Collection on page
204.
deleting the SupportAssist configuration, provided that you have a valid TCP/IP connection. For more
information, see General Troubleshooting on page 210.
To delete the SupportAssist configuration for a group:
1. Navigate to the group SupportAssist settings, as described in Modifying the SupportAssist Configuration on
page 195.
2. Select the group.
3. Click Delete to open the confirmation dialog box.
4. (Optional) Check Remove pending uploads to cancel any uploads that are in progress.
5. Click Delete to confirm or click Cancel to abort the deletion.
The group reverts to its unconfigured state.
You can also:
205
Temporarily disable and then reenable the SupportAssist configuration for a group. See Enabling and Disabling Weekly Data Collection on page 204.
Temporarily disable and reenable automatic uploading of diagnostic data packages to Dell. See Enabling and
Disabling Automatic Upload for a Group on page 204.
Using SupportAssist
This section explains how to use the SupportAssist on-demand data collection and data-decryption options.
Before running an on-demand data collection, you should decide whether you want to include a SAN HQ archive
file in the data collection (see Group Data Archives on page 165) and whether you intend to transmit the data
file to Dell for analysis, or retain it as a local data package.
When you run an on-demand data collection, SupportAssist first informs you if pssdiag is running. If pssdiag is
running, SupportAssist lets you either cancel the operation, or ignore pssdiag and continue with the on-demand
data collection.
Note: Scheduled and event-driven data collections do not override pssdiag.
If you click the Cancel button on the Run Now dialog box while the progress bar is on step 2 or 3, the diagnostic
data uploads are not aborted. However, if you click Cancel in step 1, the data collections are aborted and the
uploads are not created.
After you run an on-demand collection, you can decrypt and analyze local data packages. See Decrypting Local
Data Packages on page 207.
If required for analysis and diagnosis, you can manually upload on-demand data packages to Dell if the packages
are requested by Dell Support.
206
Unlike scheduled data collections, an on-demand data collection does not automatically retry if it fails. You must
manually rerun the on-demand data collection.
4. For a SAN HQ archive, specify a date range for the archive. Options are 1 day, 7 days, or 1 month.
5. Check the box to allow automatic transmission of diagnostic data to Dell Support for review. This
transmission can include SAN HQ archive data.
6. Click Start to begin data collection.
Status messages appear in the Status column for each selected group. A progress bar at the bottom of the
next dialog box indicates the status of the data collection and, if selected, transmission. Optionally, click the
Run in Background button to close the wizard while running the on-demand process in the background. You
can continue using SAN HQ.
7. When the process completes, click Close to complete the wizard. (Click Cancel to abort the data collection
job.)
The name of one or more PS Series groups that are configured for SupportAssist and have existing local data
packages. (That is, you have run at least one data collection on one or more of your PS Series groups.)
If you have many local data packages, you might need to know the date and time that you created a particular local data package. You can view or search the SupportAssist activity log. See SupportAssist Activity
Log on page 200.
Before decryption, SAN HQ stores local data packages in a folder named Auto-Pilot. For example:
C:\ProgramData\EqualLogic\SAN HQ\Logs\Auto-Pilot
207
By default, decrypted data packages are stored in the current user's documents folder. For example, on Windows 7 systems:
C:\ Users\user_name\My Documents
Data packages have unique alphanumeric strings as file names, using the .dg extension, such as:
0b614094-db00-4868-a0cd-e64441006fdd.dg
The decrypted file is a Unicode plain text file. You can temporarily change its file extension to .txt, and use a
text editor to view or search the data package content.
Note: Changing the file extension to .xml might enable you to review the file using an editor or other tool
208
Click the SupportAssist link below the Servers and Groups tree and then select Customer Support Cases
in the upper-left panel.
Note: The number that appears on the link indicates the total number of cases reported back to Sup-
portAssist. When you leave the page and return to other views, the number is cleared and updated as
new cases are logged.
From the SAN HQ menu bar, select SupportAssist and then Customer Support Cases.
The Customer Support Cases page appears (see Figure 65). By default, the Exclude closed cases checkbox is
selected to only show active cases. Figure 65 shows the checkbox deselected, with all cases displayed.
Figure 65: Customer Support Cases
Case numberSupport request (SR) number for your support case opened at Dell
Case statusCurrent status of the case at Dell Support (for example, open, closed, and reopened)
209
Service tagPS Series array service tag for which this case was opened
Last updatedDate the case was last updated in the Dell Support system
Group namePS Series group for which the case was opened
General Troubleshooting
This section describes configuration policies and restrictions to help in general troubleshooting of your
SupportAssist environment.
Multiple SAN HQ servers cannot monitor the same PS Series group. As such, you cannot set up SupportAssist on multiple SAN HQ servers to collect diagnostic data from the same group.
Pending diagnostic data uploads are deleted when you delete a group configured for SupportAssist from SAN
HQ. Note the following scenarios:
If you remove a group from SAN HQ and choose to delete the log files, SupportAssist log files and pending uploads are also deleted.
If you remove a group from SAN HQ and choose to keep the log files, SupportAssist log files are kept
but pending uploads are deleted.
210
SAN HQ creates a read-only user account (by default, autopilot-ro) on the PS Series array that it uses to collect the diagnostic data. You can change the name of this account when enabling SupportAssist.
SAN HQ installs the sanmond daemon (if it does not already exist) on all group members to gather diagnostic
data. While sanmond is being installed, you can expect minimal or no performance impact to your group.
SAN HQ configures the syslog settings on the PS Series array to receive the critical events.
The group configuration and diagnostic data collected by SAN HQ is saved locally after scrubbing the user
passwords. SAN HQ deletes this data from the local machine after successfully transmitting it to the Dell
data center.
If you consider any of the data collected by SupportAssist to be restricted (see Data Collected By SupportAssist on page 178), access to SAN HQ should be limited to authorized personnel.
SupportAssist does not automatically adjust scheduled collections to account for daylight saving time (DST).
To update the data-collection schedule and account for daylight saving time,you must rerun the SupportAssist
Configuration wizard. Only new activity log entries will reflect the new time.
SupportAssist Alerts
SAN HQ generates specific alerts for SupportAssist-configured groups. Table 44 describes these alerts and
trigger mechanisms. For a description of all SAN HQ alerts, see SAN Headquarters Alerts on page 115.
211
Type
Description
Trigger
Member Added
with SupportAssist
Informational
The SupportAssist-configured
group detected that a new
member was added to the group
during a SAN HQ data poll.
Warning
The SupportAssist-configured
group had an authorization failure
during a data collection.
Read-Only
Critical
Account Authorization Failure
for SupportAssist
212
The Retry Count maximum is reached. This value indicates the number of times SupportAssist attempts to
collect diagnostic data from the PS Series group, after which an automatic upload can occur.
The automatic upload cannot complete, after which SupportAssist stores the data before attempting another
upload six hours later. If the Internet is still unavailable, SupportAssist continues to upload the data on sixhour intervals until successful. (If unsuccessful after 90 days, the data is deleted.)
The SupportAssist Configuration Settings page shows groups configured or unconfigured for SupportAssist.
Figure 66 shows a group configured to retry data collection three times and perform an automatic upload.
Figure 66: Group Configured for SupportAssist
When the Internet connection is re-established, the stored offline data will be uploaded as a single collection.
213
Note: Optionally, you can disable automatic uploads for a group and retain all data collections locally. Later,
you can manually upload the data. For more information, see Enabling and Disabling Automatic Upload for a
Group on page 204.
You have SAN HQ v3.0 or higher installed (see Chapter 2). Your SAN HQ Client and Server meet the
requirements in Requirements for Running the SAN Headquarters Client on page 13 and Requirements for
Running the SAN Headquarters Server on page 12.
From SAN HQ, you have configured your groups to use SupportAssist for automatic diagnostic data uploads
(see Configuring SupportAssist on page 181).
After Internet connection is re-established, SupportAssist will automatically attempt to upload pending
data. You can also manually upload pending data:
1. Right click in the Activity Log table.
214
SupportAssist displays a message acknowledging the request to upload the data. When the operation completes,
the Activity Log shows a payload ID for the data collection. (Figure 69).
Figure 69: Successful Diagnostic Data Upload
The above example is for a single pending upload. Support Assist can also upload multiple collections that are
pending. When you select Retry All Pending Uploads, all uploads are transmitted, regardless of their order
they appear in the Activity Log.
After a successful upload, the Retry All Pending Uploads menu option appears grayed out, indicating that
there are no uploads with Waiting For Retry status.
A SAN HQ Data Collector Server that will run the data collections on a regular, weekly schedule and
then save the output to the local file system. This server does not require Internet access; it does not upload
the diagnostic collections directly to Dell.
A SAN HQ Data Uploader Server that has Internet connectivity. This server does not need to collect diagnostic data directly from the PS Series arrays.
The import process consists of adding the group if it does not already exist, creating upload job definitions as
needed (upload requests), and moving the data collection output directory (run directory) to the
215
If the import process fails to import a run directory, it moves it to the failed import directory (typically,
C:\ProgramData\EqualLogic\SAN HQ\Logs\FailedImport) on the SAN HQ Data Uploader Server.
Requirements for the deployment scenario include:
Import script:
You must write a script to move the data collection output directories that you want to upload from the
SAN HQ offline folder (typically,
C:\ProgramData\EqualLogic\SAN HQ\Logs\Auto-Pilot\GroupUUID\Offline) on the SAN HQ Data Collector Server (the server without Internet connectivity) to the
C:\ProgramData\EqualLogic\SAN HQ\Logs\Inbox folder on the SAN HQ Data Uploader Server (the
server with Internet connectivity).
Use the following format for naming the data collection output directories: yyyymmddhhMMss_runid guid.
After the files are copied to the output directory, the copy script must create a file named importready.txt in the same directory. This file informs SAN HQ that the copy operation has completed and
that the run directory is ready for import.
On the SAN HQ Data Collector Server, you must configure the groups that collect data and not automatically upload the data.
On the SAN HQ Data Uploader Server, if the group that has data to be uploaded already exists, you must
configure the group to automatically upload data to Dell Support.
You can import only those data collections that contain diagnostic data. Verify that a collection contains data
by confirming that the diagnostics.dg file exists in the run directory.
Field
Data
Description
Check
Box
None
Check this box to enable weekly data collection. (Temporarily enable or disable SupportAssist.)
216
Day of
Week
day
Start
Time
HH:MM
AM/PM
time
Select the time at which SupportAssist collects data (defaults to current clock time).
Retry
After
NNN
minutes
Retry
Count
NN
times
Maximum number of retries (including the initial attempt) that SupportAssist can make
before timing out.
Check
Box
None
Packages
to Retain
NN
number
Data
Type
Description
Column
Header
Label
Menu
operator
Select an operator: Equals, Does not equal, Is like, Is greater than, Is greater than or
equal to, Is less than, Is less than or equal to, Is null, Is not null, Is blank, Is not
blank
Field
string
Button
and
operator
Button
operator
or
217
GUI
Element
Data
Type
Menu
operator
Select an operator: Equals, Does not equal, Is like, Is greater than, Is greater than or
equal to, Is less than, Is less than or equal to, Is null, Is not null, Is blank, Is not
blank
Button
OK
Button
Cancel
Description
Description
Sort Ascending
Sort Descending
Best Fit
Fits the column width to the data for the selected column
218
Index
configuration
A
SupportAssist 181
wizard 182
worksheet 182, 192
Connection status
alarms
degraded 67
displaying 112
alerts 7, 112
displaying 7, 112-113
email notification 72
hiding disabled email 67
list of 115
notifications 20, 53
priorities 113
RAID policy reliability 89
SupportAssist 211
applications
characterizing workload 128
solving performance problems 154
archives 179
creating
with command 166
with GUI 166
modifying XML files 168
opening 169
preserving group data 165
scheduling 168
capacity information 32
inbound replicas 32-33
recoverable volumes 34
space borrowing 34
command line
launching SAN HQ from 8
components 176
data
capacity 107, 130
displaying from different times 48
experimental analysis 133
exporting 170
graph 49
I/O 109
network 111
performance 107
TCP retransmission 102
uploading 175, 212, 215
automatic 204
data analysis
best practices 129
examples 136
prerequisites 127
problems
identifying hardware 130
identifying performance 131
solving 152
data graph 49
missing data points 51
data package
decrypting local 206-207
data points
missing 51
219
commands 178
Favorites
disks
adding 77
information 37
queue depth 111
firewall
detecting 65
display settings
firmware
controlling chart 66
GUI appearance 64
temperature 66
group requirement 11
information 35, 37
updates 211
documentation
full installation 17
displaying 8
E
email notification
configuring 72
customizing alerts 73
hiding disabled alerts 67
modifying configuration 73
requirements 73
testing 73
Ethernet port
statistics 111
exporting data
modifying XML files 173
preserving group data 169
scheduling 172
using command 170
using GUI 170
220
general settings 64
graph data 49
graphs
circle 50
combined 35
data 49
group data
preserving 165
Group Manager
launching 19, 74
groups
adding
from CLI 54
from GUI 52
alerts 7
configuring new for SupportAssist 184
DNS name 52
email notification 53, 72
filtering view 70
hiding 70
IP address 52
log file size 54
management address 52
monitoring 52
prerequisites 52
resuming 74
stopping 69
stopping temporarily 74
network address 52
modifying 100
preserving data 157
requirements 11
single sign-on 53
logging in 74
SNMP community name 53, 72
solving performance problems 154
summary 26-27
syslog event logging 96
procedure 16
requirements 15
software location 6, 64
update notifications 22
upgrades 21
installation procedure 16
client-only 18
client and server 17
IOPS 109
estimated maximum 135
estimated workload 134
monitoring 132
versus latency 110
L
H
latency 109, 128
hardware
analyzing 131
monitoring 131
monitoring 130
unsupported 51
I
I/O data 109
I/O information 37
experimental analysis 39
live view sessions 39
RAID evaluation 40
SyncRep 40
I/O summary 30
information categories 26
installation
changing log file location 65
considerations 22
displaying settings 64
obtaining software 15
prerequisites 11
M
management network 111
221
monitoring
ports
active 111
N
queue depth 111
network
handling address changes 100
solving performance problems 153
monitoring 132
requirement 132
quick start
SupportAssist 184
monitoring 132
network port 43
RAID
information 43
evaluation 83
monitoring 130
using 84
alerts 20, 53
update 22
O
on-demand data collection 206
run now 175
read-only account
credentials 179
222
alerts 89
meter 85, 87
reporting 85
score 85
unknown status 90
replication summary 29
reports
data required 158
generating
with GUI 159
with XML file 159
modifying XML files 162
preserving group data 157
scheduling 161
types 157
requirements
capacity 130
email notification 73
EQLXPerf 15
group 11
installation 15
log files 14
SAN Headquarters Client 13, 15
SAN Headquarters Server 12
single sign-on 75
SupportAssist 179
syslog server 97-98
volume queue depth 111
run now
on-demand data collection 175, 206
GUI
starting 6
understanding data 107
installing 16
launching from command line 8
log files 2, 101
monitoring groups 52
operation 3
performance impact 102
restarting SAN HQ Server 20
servers
adding 57
removing 58
settings 63
software
obtaining 15
removing 21
syslog server 4, 96
uninstalling 21
SAN HQ installation 11
sanmond 179, 211
security
SupportAssist 177
S
sampling period 49
SAN Headquarters Client 2
cache directory 64
identifying if running 64
installing 11, 16
log file access 14
requirements 13, 15
SAN HQ 1
analyzing data 127
archives 179
client/server configuration 2
command line 8
getting started 23
settings
chart display 66
email 73
favorites 77
general 64
GUI appearance 64
log file directory 65
temperature display 66
timeline 48
single sign-on 19
configuring 53, 74
disabling 76
enabling 75
login credentials
deleting 76
modifying 75
requirements 75
SNMP 180
SNMP community name
modifying 72
requirement 11
specifying for a group 53
software
installing 15
223
obtaining 15
removing 21
upgrading 21
summary information 27
capacity 28
hardware and firmware 28
replication summary 29
SyncRep volumes 29
volume capacity 30
volume I/O 30
SupportAssist 175
activity log 200-201
adding sanmond 211
alerts 211
automatic data uploads 204
components (fig.) 176
configuring 181
contact data 203
new group 184
data collected 178
data collection 206, 216
modifying settings 202
on-demand 206
data sorting options 217
enabling 196
features and benefits 177
impact
firmware updates 211
performance 211
preventive diagnostics 177
quick start 184
run now 206
security 177
settings
upload 216
viewing 195
syslog settings
modifying for a group 202
troubleshooting 210
using 175, 206
224
SupportAssist groups
configuring new 184
disabling 204
displaying 212
enabling 204
modifying syslog settings 202
SupportAssist information
contact 188, 194, 203
reference 216
support case 209
syslog
event logging 180
modifying settings for SupportAssist 202
notification 179
syslog server 4
changing configuration 98
configuring 96-97
disabling 97, 99
event logging 120
events 96
requirements 97-98
T
TCP retransmission 111
data 102
monitoring 130
thin provisioning
statistics 109
tooltips
controlling behavior 66
displaying 49-50
settings 66
Z
zoom links
setting timeline 49
troubleshooting
general 210
group monitoring 100
U
update notifications 22
upgrades
performing 21
reusing log files 16, 21
V
view
filtering group 70
volumes
queue depth 111, 132
recoverable 108
capacity information 34
displaying 93
reported size 108
SyncRep
displaying 79
monitoring 78
types 109
identifying 51
undeleting 92
viewing deleted 92
W
weekly schedule 175
wizard
add group 54
SupportAssist configuration 182
workload
characterizing 128
worksheet
SupportAssist configuration 182
225