NetApp Config Advisor data collector

This data collector acquires configuration data from storage systems running ONTAP and connected switches using read-only calls. This data collector also runs configuration validation and health checks on the whole stack of ONTAP cluster configuration to identify cabling, configuration, resiliency, availability and security issues.

Note This data collector is deprecated.

Terminology

Cloud Insights acquires configuration data from ONTAP and switches with the Config Advisor data collector. For each asset type acquired, the most common terminology used for the asset is shown. When viewing or troubleshooting this data collector, keep the following terminology in mind:

Vendor/Model Term Cloud Insights Term

Disk

Disk

Switch

Switch

Cluster

Storage

Node

Storage Node

Aggregate

Storage Pool

LUN

Volume

Volume

Internal Volume

In addition, note that Config Advisor metrics will be available in dashboard and other queries with the netapp_ontap.configadvisor tag.
drop-down showing the configadvisor metric tag

Config Advisor Terminology

The following terms apply to objects or references that you might find on Config Advisor dashboards.

Device Summary

  • Model – A comma-delimited list of the unique, discrete node model names within this cluster. If all the nodes in the clusters are the same model type, just one model name will appear.

  • Device Type/Type – type of the device in data source – Storage Controller/Switch

  • Vendor/Subtype – same Vendor name you would see if you were configuring a new data source.

  • Serial number – The array serial number. On cluster architecture storage systems like ONTAP Data Management, this serial number may be less useful than the individual “Storage Nodes” serial numbers.

  • Hostname –hostname(s) as configured in the data source.

  • Version – OS or firmware version.

Rule Results

  • Rule – A check that is run against the system analysing deviation in configuration from recommended practices or identifying known issues.

  • Rule Name – short name for the rule or check that is run.

  • Rule ID – identifier for the rule.

  • Target – component on which the rule is applied. It would be cluster name, node name or switch name.

  • Impact – Impact of the risk on the system. Impact levels are categorized as below

    • High Impact: Potential loss of data access or prolonged loss of node redundancy

    • Medium Impact: Performance degradation or short-term loss of node redundancy.

    • Low Impact: Low impact scenarios

    • Best Practice: Deviations from documented Best Practices

  • Description – Brief description of the error.

  • Details – detailed description of the error listing the components impacted

    • Recommendations – Links to KB articles or NetApp documentation providing additional details on the risk or remediation.

Requirements

The following are requirements to configure and use this data collector:

  • You must have access to an administrator account configured for read-only access for SSH and ONTAPi calls on ONTAP.

  • You must have access to an administrator account configured for read-only access for SSH calls on switches if they are part of collection

  • Account details include username and password. Optionally can pass the SSH private key if ONTAP is configured for SSH key based authentication or Multi Factor Authentication (MFA)

  • Port requirements: 22, 80 or 443

  • Account permissions:

    • Read only role name to ssh or/and ontapi application to the default Vserver

    • Admin account with at least read-only permission on switches

Configuration

Field

Description

NetApp Management IP

IP address or fully-qualified domain name of the NetApp cluster

User Name

User name for NetApp cluster

Password

Password for NetApp cluster

Advanced configuration

Field

Description

Enable MFA for ONTAP

Check this to enable Multi-Factor Authentication on ONTAP

SSH Private Key

Paste the SSH private key content if ONTAP is using SSH key authentication or MFA

Connection type

Choose HTTP (default port 80) or HTTPS (default port 443). The default is HTTPS

ONTAP SSH Port

Allows to specify custom SSH port for ONTAP connection

Switch SSH Port

Allows to specify custom SSH port for Switch connection

Poll Interval (min)

Default is 1440 minutes or 24 hours. Can set minimum up to 60 min

Supported Operating Systems

Config Advisor can run on following operating systems. If collector is installed on an Acquisition Unit with Operating System not in this list, collections would fail.

  • Windows 10 (64-bit)

  • Windows 2012 R2 Server (64-bit)

  • Windows 2016 Server (64-bit)

  • Windows 2019 Server (64-bit)

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 7.7 and later (64-bit)

  • Ubuntu 14.0 and later

Support and Video

Watch these videos to learn how to install the data collector and use dashboards to get the most out of Config Advisor in Cloud Insights:

Installing and configuring the data collector:

Creating a Config Advisor dashboard:

Other support

For other questions associated with Config Advisor, open a ticket from the Config Advisor Tool by clicking on Help → Open Support Ticket.

Additional information may be found from the Support page or in the Data Collector Support Matrix.