Vnx Disk Array Enclosures Test

The disk array enclosure (DAE) is a disk-array storage system that uses a Fiber Channel Arbitrated Loop (FC-AL) as its interconnect interface. Besides multiple disk drives, a DAE contains disk array controllers, a cache, power supplies, fans, and link controller cards (LCC). Since a DAE seeks to provide increased availability, resilience, and maintainability, it uses additional redundant controllers, power supplies, fans, and LCCs, often up to a point when all single points of failure (SPOFs) are eliminated from the design. Additionally, these components are often hot-swappable.

At any given point in time, administrators may want to know which of these redundant components are available and which are down, so that they can instantly detect a hot-swap. Moreover, such status updates also enable administrators to quickly capture situations where all the redundant components are unavailable, so that they can rapidly resolve the issues to ensure high availability of the storage system. The Vnx Disk Array Enclosures test helps administrators achieve this. This test auto-discovers the DAEs on EMC VNX and reports the current status of the fans, power supply units, and LCCs in every DAE, so that administrators are promptly intimated of the failure of one/more of these redundant components.

Target of the test : An EMC VNX Unified Storage system

Agent deploying the test : A remote agent

Outputs of the test : One set of results for each DAE on the EMC VNX Unified Storage system.

Configurable parameters for the test
Parameter Description

Test Period

How often should the test be executed.

Host

The IP address of the storage device for which this test is to be configured.

Port

The port number at which the storage device listens. The default is NULL.

Controller IP

Specify the IP address of the storage controller on the block-only storage system in the Controller IP text box. By default, the IP address of the Host will be assigned in the Controller IP text box.

NaviseccliPath

The eG agent uses the command-line utility, NaviSecCli.exe, which is part of the NaviSphere Management Suite, to communicate with and monitor the storage device. To enable the eG agent to invoke the CLI, configure the full path to the CLI in the NaviseccliPath text box.

User Name and Password

Provide the credentials of a user with Administrator rights to the storage controller in the User Name and Password text boxes.

Confirm Password

Confirm the password by retyping it here.

User Scope

To use the NaviSphere CLI, the eG agent needs to be configured with a User Scope. Scope defines the access radius of the user account (User and Password) that you have configured for this test. Set User Scope to Local if the user account you have configured for this test applies to the monitored storage system only. Set User Scope to Global if the user account you have configured applies to all the storage systems within a domain.

Timeout

Indicate the duration (in seconds) for which this test should wait for a response from the storage device. By default, this is set to 120 seconds. Note that the 'Timeout' value should always be set between 3 and 600 seconds only.
Measurements made by the test
Measurement Description Measurement Unit Interpretation

Fan A state

Indicates the current state of fan A in this DAE.

 

If fan A is unavailable, then this measure will return the value N/A. On the other hand, if fan A is available, then the value of this measure will be Present.

The numeric values that correspond to each of the states discussed above are as follows:

Measure Value Numeric Value
Present 1
N/A 2

Note:

By default, this measure reports the values Present or N/A to indicate the status of fan A. The graph of this measure however, represents the status of fan A using the numeric equivalents only - i.e., 1 or 2.

Fan B state

Indicates the current state of fan A in this DAE.

 

If fan B is unavailable, then this measure will return the value N/A. On the other hand, if fan B is available, then the value of this measure will be Present.

The numeric values that correspond to each of the states discussed above are as follows:

Measure Value Numeric Value
Present 1
N/A 2

Note:

By default, this measure reports the values Present or N/A to indicate the status of fan B. The graph of this measure however, represents the status of fan B using the numeric equivalents only - i.e., 1 or 2.

Power A state

Indicates the current state of the power supply unit A in this DAE.

 

If power unit A is unavailable, then this measure will return the value N/A. On the other hand, if power unit A is available, then the value of this measure will be Present.

The numeric values that correspond to each of the states discussed above are as follows:

Measure Value Numeric Value
Present 1
N/A 2

Note:

By default, this measure reports the values Present or N/A to indicate the status of power supply unit A. The graph of this measure however, represents the status of the same using the numeric equivalents only - i.e., 1 or 2.

Power B state

Indicates the current state of the power supply unit B in this DAE.

 

If power unit B is unavailable, then this measure will return the value N/A. On the other hand, if power unit B is available, then the value of this measure will be Present.

The numeric values that correspond to each of the states discussed above are as follows:

Measure Value Numeric Value
Present 1
N/A 2

Note:

By default, this measure reports the values Present or N/A to indicate the status of power supply unit B. The graph of this measure however, represents the status of the same using the numeric equivalents only - i.e., 1 or 2.

LCC A state

Indicates the current state of LCC A.

 

The link controller card (LCC) controls data flow to and from the disk modules in the enclosure and also controls data flow between the enclosure and the outside world (including additional linked enclosures). The DAE comes with a standard LCC. A second LCC is usually installed for high availability.

If LCC A is unavailable, then this measure will return the value N/A. On the other hand, if LCC A is available, then the value of this measure will be Present.

The numeric values that correspond to each of the states discussed above are as follows:

Measure Value Numeric Value
Present 1
N/A 2

Note:

By default, this measure reports the values Present or N/A to indicate the status of LCC A. The graph of this measure however, represents the status of the same using the numeric equivalents only - i.e., 1 or 2.

LCC B state

Indicates the current state of LCC B.

 

If LCC B is unavailable, then this measure will return the value N/A. On the other hand, if LCC B available, then the value of this measure will be Present.

The numeric values that correspond to each of the states discussed above are as follows:

Measure Value Numeric Value
Present 1
N/A 2

Note:

By default, this measure reports the values Present or N/A to indicate the status of LCC B. The graph of this measure however, represents the status of the the busysame using the numeric equivalents only - i.e., 1 or 2.