Configuring storage system connections

To perform data protection and provisioning operations with SnapCenter, first you must set up the storage system connections that give SnapCenter access to ONTAP storage. Setting up these connections also involves configuring AutoSupport and Event Management System (EMS) features.

Before you begin

You must have permissions in the Infrastructure Admin role to create storage connections.
Plug-in installations must not be in progress.
Host plug-in installations must not be in progress while adding a storage system connection because the host cache might not be updated, and databases might indicate "Not available for backup" or "Not on NetApp storage" in SnapCenter.
Storage system names must be unique.
SnapCenter does not support multiple storage systems with the same name on different clusters. Each storage system that is supported by SnapCenter must have a unique name and a unique data LIF IP address.

About this task

Tasks you can perform on the Storage Systems page:
- Add new storage system connections
- Modify storage system connections
  Note: You cannot change the name of a storage system.
  
  Attention: If you change the storage system password, scheduled jobs, on demand backup, and restore operations might fail. After you change the storage system password, you should unassign and reassign the storage connection for all assigned users from the SnapCenter Settings page.
- Delete storage system connections
  Attention: When you delete a storage connection, all operations for that storage device will fail.
  
  You can delete storage connections for an individual user or for a group. If you belong to one or more groups with permission to the same storage system, the storage system name is displayed multiple times in the storage connection list; once for each group with permission to the storage system. The name of the group to which permission is assigned is displayed in the Domain Group column. If permission to the storage system is assigned directly to you, the Domain Group column remains blank.
AutoSupport and EMS
When you configure storage systems, you can also set up AutoSupport and EMS features. The AutoSupport tool collects data about the health of your system and automatically sends the data to NetApp technical support, enabling them to troubleshoot your system. If you enable these features, SnapCenter sends AutoSupport information to the storage system and EMS messages to the storage system syslog when a resource is protected, a restore operation finishes successfully, or an operation fails.

The administrative documentation contains details about managing EMS data collection.

Performing administrative tasks
SnapMirror or SnapVault destinations
If you are planning to replicate Snapshot copies to a SnapMirror destination or SnapVault destination, you must set up storage system connections for the destination SVM as well as the source SVM.

Steps

In the left navigation pane, click Storage Systems.
In the Storage Systems page, click New.

In the New Storage Connection wizard, provide the following information:

For this field…	Do this…
Storage Type	Select ONTAP SVM.
Platform	Select either FAS or AFF, or Cloud Volumes ONTAP or ONTAP Select. If the SVM is the secondary storage system in a backup relationship, select the Secondary checkbox. When the Secondary option is selected, SnapCenter does not perform a license check immediately.
Storage System	Enter the storage system name or IP address. SnapCenter does not support multiple SVMs with the same name on different clusters. Each SVM that is supported by SnapCenter must have a unique name. Note: After adding the storage connection to SnapCenter, you should not rename the SVM using ONTAP.
User name/Password	ONTAP: Enter the credentials that are used (usually `vsadmin`) to access the storage system. Use `vsadmin` when adding an SVM. Use `vsadmin` when adding a cluster.
Protocol	Select the protocol that is used for connecting to the SVM that was configured during SVM setup, typically HTTPS.
Port	Enter the port that the storage system accepts. The defaults typically work. See the connection and ports requirements information.
Timeout	Enter the time in seconds that should elapse before communication attempts are halted. The default value is 60 seconds.
Preferred IP	If the SVM has multiple management interfaces, select the Preferred IP checkbox, and then enter the preferred IP address for SVM connections.
Event Management System (EMS) & AutoSupport Settings	If you want to have EMS messages sent to the storage system syslog or if you want to have AutoSupport messages sent to the storage system for applied protection, completed restore operations, or failed operations, select the appropriate checkbox. When you select the Send AutoSupport Notification for failed operations to storage system checkbox, the Log SnapCenter Server events to syslog checkbox is also selected because EMS messaging is required to enable AutoSupport notifications.

If you have questions about these values, you should consult your storage administrator.

Click OK.

After you finish

A cluster administrator can enable AutoSupport email notifications on the storage system so that AutoSupport messages are sent to a specified storage system user. AutoSupport messages alerts you to issues such as failed backups.

Note: The Storage Virtual Machine (SVM) administrator has no access to AutoSupport.

A cluster administrator must enable AutoSupport on each storage system node to send email notifications from all storage systems to which SnapCenter has access, by running the following command from the storage system command line:

autosupport trigger modify -node nodename -autosupport-message client.app.info enable -noteto enable