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OnCommand Insight

EMC Solutions Enabler with SMI-S Performance data source

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OnCommand Insight discovers Symmetrix storage arrays by using Solutions Enabler symcli commands in conjunction with an existing Solutions Enabler server in your environment. The existing Solutions Enabler server has connectivity to the Symmetrix storage array through access to gatekeeper volumes. Administrator permissions are required to access this device.

Terminology

OnCommand Insight acquires the following inventory information from the EMC Solutions Enabler data source. For each asset type acquired by Insight, the most common terminology used for this asset is shown. When viewing or troubleshooting this data source, keep the following terminology in mind:

Vendor/Model Term

Insight Term

Disk

Disk

Disk Group

Disk Group

Storage Array

Storage

Director

Storage Node

Device Pool, Storage Resource Pool (SRP)

Storage Pool

Device, TDev

Volume
Note

These are common terminology mappings only and might not represent every case for this data source.

Requirements

Before configuring this data source, you should ensure that the OnCommand Insight server has TCP connectivity to port 2707 on the existing Solutions Enabler server. OnCommand Insight discovers all the Symmetrix arrays that are “Local” to this server, as seen in “symcfg list” output from that server.

  • The EMC Solutions Enabler (CLI) with SMI-S provider application must be installed and the version must match or be earlier than the version running on the Solutions Enabler Server.

  • A properly configured {installdir}\EMC\SYMAPI\config\netcnfg file is required. This file defines service names for Solutions Enabler servers, as well as the access method (SECURE / NOSECURE /ANY).

  • If you require read/write latency at the storage node level, the SMI-S Provider must communicate with a running instance of the UNISPHERE for VMAX application.

  • Administrator permissions on the Solutions Enabler (SE) Server

  • Read-only user name and password to the SE software

  • Solutions Enabler Server 6.5X requirements:

    • SMI-S provider 3.3.1 for SMIS-S V1.2 installed

    • After install, run \Program Files\EMC\SYMCLI\bin>stordaemon start storsrvd

  • The UNISPHERE for VMAX application must be running and collecting statistics for the Symmetrix VMAX storage arrays that are managed by the SMI-S Provider installation

  • Access validation: Verify that the SMI-S provider is running: telnet <se_server\> 5988

Configuration

Note

If SMI-S user authentication is not enabled, the default values in the OnCommand Insight data source are ignored.

Having symauth enabled on Symmetrix arrays might inhibit the ability of OnCommand Insight to discover them. OnCommand Insight Acquisition runs as the SYSTEM user on the OnCommand Insight / Remote Acquisition Unit server that is communicating with the Solutions Enabler server. If hostname\SYSTEM does not have symauth privileges, OnCommand Insight fails to discover the array.

The EMC Solutions Enabler Symmetrix CLI data source includes support for device configuration for thin provisioning and Symmetrix Remote Data Facility (SRDF).

Definitions are supplied for Fibre Channel and Switch Performance packages.

Field

Description

Service Name

Service name as specified in netcnfg file

Full path to CLI

Full path to the Symmetrix CLI

Advanced configuration

Field

Description

Inventory Poll Interval (min)

Interval between inventory polls (default 40 minutes)

Choose 'Exclude' or 'Include' to specify a list

Specify whether to include or exclude the array list below when collecting data

Inventory Exclude Devices

Comma-separated list of device IDs to include or exclude

Connection Caching

Choose connection caching method:

  • LOCAL means that the OnCommand Insight Acquisition service is running on the Solutions Enabler server, which has Fibre Channel connectivity to the Symmetrix arrays you seek to discover, and has access to gatekeeper volumes. This might be seen in some Remote Acquisition Unit (RAU) configurations.

  • REMOTE_CACHED is the default and should be used in most cases. This uses the NETCNFG file settings to connect using IP to the Solutions Enabler server, which must have Fibre Channel connectivity to the Symmetrix arrays you seek to discover, and has access to Gatekeeper volumes.

  • In the event that REMOTE_CACHED options make CLI commands fail, use the REMOTE option. Keep in mind that it will slow down the acquisition process (possibly to hours or even days in extreme cases). The NETCNFG file settings are still used for an IP connection to the Solutions Enabler server that has Fibre Channel connectivity to the Symmetrix arrays being discovered.

Note

This setting does not change OnCommand Insight behavior with respect to the arrays listed as REMOTE by the "symcfg list" output. OnCommand Insight gathers data only on devices shown as LOCAL by this command.

CLI Timeout (sec)

CLI process timeout (default 7200 seconds)

SMI-S Host IP

IP address of the SMI-S Provider Host

SMI-S Port

Port used by SMI-S Provider Host

Protocol

Protocol used to connect to the SMI-S provider

SMI-S Namespace

Interoperability namespace that the SMI-S provider is configured to use

SMI-S User Name

User name for the SMI-S Provider Host

SMI-S Password

User name for the SMI-S Provider Host

Performance Polling Interval (sec)

Interval between performance polls (default 1000 seconds)

Performance Filter Type

Specify whether to include or exclude the array list below when collecting performance data

Performance Filter Device List

Comma-separated list of device IDs to include or exclude

RPO Polling Interval (sec)

Interval between RPO polls (default 300 seconds)