Configuring the EMC VPLEX data collector

10/16/2024 Contributors

This data collector acquires inventory and performance data from EMC VPLEX storage systems. For configuration, the data collector requires an IP address of the VPLEX server and an administrative level domain account.

Data Infrastructure Insights' performance collection from Vplex clusters requires that the performance archive service be operational, in order to populate the .CSV files and logs that Data Infrastructure Insights retrieves via SCP-based file copies. NetApp has observed that many Vplex firmware upgrade/management station updates will leave this functionality non-operational. Customers planning such upgrades may want to proactively ask Dell/EMC if their planned upgrade will leave this functionality inoperable, and if so, how can they re-enable it to minimize gaps in performance visibility? Cloud Insight's Vplex performance code will assess on each poll whether all the expected files exist, and if they are being properly updated; if they are missing or stale, Data Infrastructure Insights will log performance collection failures.

Terminology

Data Infrastructure Insightst acquires the following inventory information from the VPLEX data collector. For each asset type acquired, the most common terminology used for this asset is shown. When viewing or troubleshooting this data collector, keep the following terminology in mind:

Vendor/Model Term	Data Infrastructure Insights Term
Cluster	Storage
Engine	Storage Node
Device, System Extent	Backend Storage Pool
Virtual Volume	Volume
Front-End Port, Back-End Port	Port
Distributed Device	Storage Synchronization
Storage View	Volume Map, Volume Mask
Storage Volume	Backend LUN
ITLs	Backend Path

Vendor/Model Term

Data Infrastructure Insights Term

Cluster

Storage

Engine

Storage Node

Device, System Extent

Backend Storage Pool

Virtual Volume

Volume

Front-End Port, Back-End Port

Port

Distributed Device

Storage Synchronization

Storage View

Volume Map, Volume Mask

Storage Volume

Backend LUN

ITLs

Backend Path

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

Requirements

An IP address of the VPLEX Management Console
Administrative level domain account for the VPLEX server
Port 443 (HTTPS). Requires outbound connectivity to TCP port 443 on the VPLEX management station.
For performance, read-only username and password for ssh/scp access.
For performance, port 22 is required.

Configuration

Field	Description
IP address of VPLEX Management Console	IP address or fully-qualified domain name of the VPLEX Management Console
User Name	User name for VPLEX CLI
Password	Password used for VPLEX CLI
Performance Remote IP Address	Performance Remote IP address of the VPLEX Management Console
Performance Remote User Name	Performance Remote user name of VPLEX Management Console
Performance Remote Password	Performance Remote Password of VPLEX Management Console

Field

Description

IP address of VPLEX Management Console

IP address or fully-qualified domain name of the VPLEX Management Console

User Name

User name for VPLEX CLI

Password

Password used for VPLEX CLI

Performance Remote IP Address

Performance Remote IP address of the VPLEX Management Console

Performance Remote User Name

Performance Remote user name of VPLEX Management Console

Performance Remote Password

Performance Remote Password of VPLEX Management Console

Advanced configuration

Field	Description
Communication Port	Port used for VPLEX CLI. The default is 443.
Inventory Poll Interval (min)	The default is 20 minutes.
Number of connection retries	The default is 3.
Performance Poll Interval (sec)	Interval between performance polls. The default is 600 seconds.
Number of Retries	The default is 2.

Field

Description

Communication Port

Port used for VPLEX CLI. The default is 443.

Inventory Poll Interval (min)

The default is 20 minutes.

Number of connection retries

The default is 3.

Performance Poll Interval (sec)

Interval between performance polls. The default is 600 seconds.

Number of Retries

The default is 2.

Troubleshooting

Some things to try if you encounter problems with this data collector:

Inventory

Problem:	Try this:
Error: User authentication failed.	Make sure your credentials for this device are correct.

Problem:

Try this:

Error: User authentication failed.

Make sure your credentials for this device are correct.

Performance

Problem:	Try this:
Error: VPLEX performance for version below 5.3 is not supported.	Upgrade VPLEX to 5.3 or above
Error: No enough data collected.	• Check collection timestamp in log file and modify polling interval accordingly • Wait for longer time
Error: Perpetual Log files not being updated.	Please contact EMC support to enable updating the perpetual log files
Error: Performance polling interval is too big.	Check collection timestamp in log file ${logfile} and modify polling interval accordingly
Error: Performance Remote IP address of VPLEX Management Console is not configured.	Edit the data source to set Performance Remote IP address of VPLEX Management Console.
Error: No performance data reported from director	• Check that the system performance monitors are running correctly • Please contact EMC support to enable updating the system performance monitor log files

Problem:

Try this:

Error: VPLEX performance for version below 5.3 is not supported.

Upgrade VPLEX to 5.3 or above

Error: No enough data collected.

• Check collection timestamp in log file and modify polling interval accordingly
• Wait for longer time

Error: Perpetual Log files not being updated.

Please contact EMC support to enable updating the perpetual log files

Error: Performance polling interval is too big.

Check collection timestamp in log file ${logfile} and modify polling interval accordingly

Error: Performance Remote IP address of VPLEX Management Console is not configured.

Edit the data source to set Performance Remote IP address of VPLEX Management Console.

Error: No performance data reported from director

• Check that the system performance monitors are running correctly
• Please contact EMC support to enable updating the system performance monitor log files

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