Pure Array Controllers Test

A highly available FlashArray consists of two controllers that are interconnected by dual point-to-point Infiniband links. Each controller is a 2U rack-mounted chassis that houses:

  • Main board - Contains the 12-core processor complex that runs the Purity software, DRAM used to hold Purity code and for data buffering and staging, 7 PCI Express slots containing SAS, Infiniband, and host interface cards, and other internal components and interfaces.
  • Boot drive - A SSD that holds two local copies of Purity for booting convenience, as well as log records containing diagnostic and service information
  • Host interfaces - Either (a) two dual-port 8 Gb/s PCI Express Fibre Channel interface cards, or (b) two dual-port 10GbE (iSCSI) cards, that provide the controller’s four host ports.
  • Storage shelf interfaces - Two dual-port PCI Express SAS interface cards that consist of 4-lane, 6 Gb/s ports to provide a total maximum of 96Gb/s data transfer capability to storage shelf I/O modules.
  • Inter-controller interfaces - A dual-port PCI Express Infiniband interface card, used to interconnect the controllers in a highly-available FlashArray
  • Administrative interfaces - GbE Ethernet ports, one of which connects to a network through which an array is administered, and video, serial, and USB ports used for initial configuration. Once configured, FlashArrays are administered from network workstations using either the browser-based GUI or the CLI.
  • Redundant cooling fans and hot-swappable power supplies.

Excessive usage of or heavy I/O load on a single controller can cause deterioration in the overall performance of the FlashArray, as it is indicative of severe deficiencies in the load-balancing algorithm that drives the controllers. Using the Pure Storage Controllers test, administrators can easily monitor the current state of the FlashArray, quickly detect the controller that is not ready, and promptly initiate measures to resolve the issue, so as to ensure the optimal performance of the FlashArray.

Target of the test : Pure Storage FlashArray

Agent deploying the test : A remote agent

Outputs of the test : One set of results for each controller on the FlashArray being monitored.

Configurable parameters for the test
Parameter Description

Test Period

How often should the test be executed.

Host

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

Port

The port at which the specified host listens. By default, this will be NULL.

API Token

The eG agent collects the required metrics from the Pure Storage Flash Array by executing API commands using Pure Storage REST API on the FlashArray and pulls out critical metrics. In order to collect metrics, the eG agent should be provided with a valid API token. To know how to determine the API token, refer to Pre-requisites for Monitoring the Pure Storage FlashArray. Specify the determined API token in the API Token text box.
Measurements made by the test
Measurement Description Measurement Unit Interpretation

Status

Indicates the current status of this array controller.

 

The values reported by this measure and its numeric equivalents are mentioned in the table below:

Measure value Numeric Value
Updating 0
Not Ready 1
Ready 2

Note:

By default, this measure reports the Measure Values listed in the table above to indicate the current status of each controller. The graph of this measure however is represented using the numeric equivalents only - 0 to 2.