Data collection

After the problem has been defined and its risk and impact assessed, collect data for analysis.

You can use the following steps to collect data, depending on the nature of the problem:

General data collection steps:
- Perform ingest and retrieval tests.
- List recent changes.
- Check hardware monitoring.
Grid Management Interface-related data collection steps:
- Check connectivity status.
- Check the status of services.
- Review alarms.
- Plot trends.
- Establish baselines.
- Monitor SSM events.
- Create custom syslog events.
- Trigger an AutoSupport message.
Optional Grid Management Interface-related data collection steps:
- Run foreground verification: Not a source of data collection.
- Confirm data object locations.
Non-Grid Management Interface data collection steps:
- Gather audit and application log files, and system data.

More information

Checking connectivity status
Confirm that servers are online and connected to each other. In the Grid Topology tree, look for grid nodes whose state is unknown (blue) or are administratively down, that is, that have been purposely stopped (gray).
Reviewing alarms
An alarm is triggered when the value of an attribute reaches a set alarm threshold value. Check the Grid Topology tree for any icons that are not green, indicating that an alarm has been triggered.
Monitoring SSM events
The SSM > Events component relays logged events from hardware drivers. Interpretation of these numbers depends on the hardware and drivers used for the server. Treat this data as a general indicator of server problems.
Triggering an AutoSupport message
You can manually trigger the sending of an AutoSupport message to technical support. This message includes system and site level attribute information, all alarms raised in the last seven days, the current status of all grid tasks (including historical data), events information as listed on the Grid > site > SSM > Events > Overview page, Admin Node database usage, the number of lost or missing objects (zero or more), and the system’s ILM policy.
Plotting trends
Reports (both chart and text) are an invaluable tool when troubleshooting. The fastest way to create a chart is to click the Chart button on the Overview tab of a component or service. This is known as an immediate report. You can also create charts from the Reports tab.
Establishing baselines
Baseline information is operational data during normal system operations that provides clues that can help you solve problems.
List of recent changes made to the StorageGRID Webscale system
It is important that you make a list of any recent changes made to the StorageGRID Webscale system or its environment.
Checking the status of services
Checking the status of all services to make sure they are running helps you troubleshoot issues.
Collecting log files and system data
To help troubleshoot a problem, you can retrieve log files and system data (including configuration data) for your StorageGRID Webscale system. This information is retrieved using the Grid Management Interface.
Performing ingest and retrieval tests
To troubleshoot ingest and retrieval performance issues, you can perform a simple test that uses a workstation in the place of the actual client application and analyze the store/retrieve performance during the test compared to the performance normally seen with the client application.
Running foreground verification
Foreground verification enables you to verify the existence of data on a Storage Node. Missing object data might indicate that an issue exists with the underlying storage device that the LDR service uses.
Confirming object data locations
Depending on the problem, you might want to confirm where object data is being stored. For example, you might want to verify that the ILM policy is performing as expected and object data is being stored where intended.

Parent topic: Defining the problem