This post is written by Raghunath Rao of OpenManage Connections Team.
Overview: This article provides details on Discovery, Classification, Network Topology View and Health Monitoring of Dell EqualLogic PS-Series and Dell Power Vault MD Storage Array Devices using Dell OpenManage Connection 1.0 for IBM Tivoli Network Manager (ITNM) IP Edition-3.9.
Note: Throughout this document Dell EqualLogic PS series device are addressed as EqualLogic and Dell PowerVault MD Storage Device are addressed as MDArray.
Discovery, Classification and Topology View: An IT administrator needs to login to the Tivoli Integrated webgui portal providing the credentials, navigate to Network discovery configuration wizard and configure the device discovery settings, add Seed, Scope, SNMP community string (required for EqualLogic) for discovering EqualLogic and MDArray device, verify the DellEqualLogic and DellMDArray discovery agents for both partial and full discovery agents have been selected. For more details on how to setup discovery configuration parameters refer to below link http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/tivihelp/v8r1/topic/com.ibm.networkmanagerip.doc_3.9/nmip_gs_pdf_39.pdf.
After configuring discovery settings on Network Discovery Configuration wizard .The IT administrator can use the Network Discovery Status wizard to trigger the discovery .An IT administrator can view the discovery progress, and subsequently the DellEqualLogic and DellMDArray discovery agents are called to retrieve the device information. Dell OpenManage connection uses SNMP protocol to discover Dell EqualLogic device and Symbol protocol to discover MDArray storage devices respectively. The data obtained will be used to build the network topology. An IT administrator can use the Discovery Status GUI to track both the overall and the detailed status of the discovery agents. For Dell EqualLogic PS series discovery an IT administrator needs to make sure, he has the proper SNMP community string for successful discovery of the EqualLogic device.
Dell EqualLogic PS Arrays Topology View
After successful discovery of the EqualLogic device the discovered EqualLogic device will be classified under class name EqualLogic PS Array. An IT administrator can view the discovered EqualLogic device in the Network View. In the left pane, click Availability → Network Availability→Network View →Dell Managed SystemsàDell storage àEqualLogic PS Arrays.
- Expand EqualLogic PS Arrays to view the group IPs of the discovered Equal Logic member systems.
- Expand the group IPs to view the storage pools associated with the EqualLogic members systems.
- Click the storage pool to view all the EqualLogic members that are part of the storage pool, in the right pane.
Device classes will list the group of DellEqualLogic devices under the class name DellEqualLogic. Clicking on it will list all the members and groups discovered.
The screenshot below screen shows the hierarchical representation of DellEqualLogic PS series devices under Dell Managed Systems & Device classes after a successful discovery
Dell MDArray Topology View
After successful discovery of MDArray device the discovered MDArray Storage device will be classified under class name DellMDArray. An IT admin can view the discovered Dell MDArray in the Network View. In the left pane, click Availability → Network Availability → Network View → Dell Managed Systems → Dell Storage àDell MD Array
Click DellMDArray to view the discovered MDArrays in the right pane.
Device classes will list the group of Dell MD Array devices under the class name DellMDArray. Clicking on it will list the discovered MDArray Storage devices.
The screenshot below shows the hierarchical representation of DellMDArray devices under Device class and Dell Managed systems Hierarchy.
Polling and Periodic Monitoring of the health status for Storage Devices
Monitoring of the storage device helps retrieve the overall health of the discovered storage device and defines the cause for the status of the device.
The generated health poll events are represented by three different severities as listed below:
- Critical — Event that indicates loss of data or function such as a hardware failure.
- Normal — Event with successful operation of a component such as a power supply turning on.
- Warning — Event that may indicate a possible future problem such as crossing a warning threshold.
Prerequisites
- The device should be accessible (pingable) from the management station and vice versa
- Dell Storage devices are discovered and classified.
- Polling policies are configured in the Network Manager
- Ensure that all services are working, and protocol specific ports are not blocked by firewall
- Ensure that the database parameters have been configured using dell_OMC_ITNM_ConfigUtility_v_1_0.jar. For more details and information on configuring the DB parameters see the Dell OpenManage Connection 1.0 for IBM Tivoli Network Manager IP Edition 3.9 User’s Guide .(Download
Link can be found in Appendix section at the end section of this Article)
Polling refers to an operation where a Managed node is checked at regular intervals, with pre-defined settings. The polling cycle retrieves the health and connection status for the discovered device and the same is updated in the network view. By default, polling is enabled for every 4 hour. This setting can be customized as required. The Dell OpenManage Connection v1.0 uses the Windows Task Scheduler for Windows ITNM management station and Linux Cronjob scheduler for Linux ITNM management stations to trigger the Polling policies for retrieving the Health status for MDArray and EqualLogic device.
Customizing Polling Parameters for EqualLogic Storage Arrays and MD Storage Arrays on Management Station running Windows Operating System
- On systems running Windows, An IT administrator can customize the duration of tasks in Task Scheduler.
- Navigate to Start → Run and execute the command: taskschd.msc
- In the left pane, select Task Scheduler Library.
- In the right pane, select the following options:
- Dell EqualLogic Polling— for polling EqualLogic Storage Arrays
- Dell MD Storage Array Polling— for polling Dell Power Vault MD Storage Arrays
- Double-click the task, click the Triggers tab, and click Edit.
- Make the appropriate changes for the required interval in the settings and Advanced Settings frames.
Customizing Polling Parameters for EqualLogic Arrays and DellMDArrays on Management Station running Linux Operating System
- On systems running Linux, an IT Administrator can customize the duration of tasks in Crontab.
- Edit the cron jobs in an editor by running the command: crontab -e.
- Select the EqualLogic Poll and MDArray device pool to modify the parameters as required
After a successful run of the health polling policy, a polled event is generated with the current health state of the device. A polled event can be viewed in the ITNM WebGUI by navigating to “Availability → Events → Active Event List”
The polled events will correlate the previous health status event, if there are any changes in the health status between the polled intervals and will also generate a new event with the appropriate severity. Once the event is received the event severity will be associated with the respective device. The associated worst-event severity will get propagated to the parent group and the same severity is rolled up to the primary Dell Managed Systems Hierarchy.
Note: The correlation of events is supported when Dell OpenManage Connection v2.1 for Netcool/Omnibus is installed & integrated.
The screenshot below shows the polled event of DellMDArray devices under Active Event List
The screenshot below shows the Polled event of DellEqualLogic device under Active Event list
Console launches from the polled event
For an administrator, the Warning and Critical status of a Storage device is a cause for concern. If the device status is Warning or Critical, Perform the following.
- Select the polled event Right click on the event
- Select Dell tools supported console launch
- Launch the appropriate console to identify the component which is in Warning/Critical state
The same can be rectified by taking necessary action based on the Alert. Under Dell Managed systems Hierarchy the device will also be associated with the alert status received. The storage device will be associated either with Warning/Critical status.
Right click on the device & select Dell Tools, supported console launches will be listed for that device. Launch the appropriate application to identify the component which is in warning/critical state and the same can be rectified.
Consoles that are associated to Dell Storage devices are listed below
Dell EqualLogic PS series storage device
Dell EqualLogic Group Manager Console
Dell OpenManage Essentials console
Dell Warranty Report --from device Node
The screenshot below shows the associated console launch for EqualLogic storage device.
Dell MDArray Device
Dell Modular Disk Storage Manager Console
Dell OpenManage Essentials console
Dell Warranty Report --from device node
The screenshot below shows the associated console launch for PowerVault MD storage device.
Appendix:
Dell OpenManage Connection Version 1.0 for IBM Tivoli Network Manager (ITNM) IP Edition 3.9 can be downloaded from the following link
http://www.dell.com/support/drivers/us/en/19/driverdetails?driverid=4YRPD
Dell OpenManage Connection 2.1 for IBM Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus can be downloaded from the following link
http://www.dell.com/support/drivers/us/en/19/driverdetails?driverid=13TTY
Dell OpenManage Connection 1.0 for IBM Tivoli Network Manager IP Edition 3.9 Users Guide Can be downloaded from the following link
Dell OpenManage Connection Version 2.1 for IBM Tivoli Netcool/ OMNIbus Users Guide Can be downloaded from the following link
http://www.dell.com/support/Manuals/us/en/19/Product/dell-opnmang-conntn-for-ibm-tvl-ntcl-omnbs-v2.1