Pure Drives Test

The FlashArray consists of solid-state drives (SSDs) for persistent storage of user data. The NVRAM modules of the FlashArray are used as non-volatile write cache. Health and availability of the drives/NVRAM modules are vital for storing user data and performing I/O operations on the FlashArray. Unhealthy, failed, unused or empty drives/NVRAM modules can degrade the overall performance of the FlashArray. This is why, it is important to monitor the health of the drives/NVRAM modules round the clock! This can be achieved using the Pure Drives test.

This test auto-discovers the drives and NVRAM modules on the target FlashArray, and reports the health status of each drive/NVRAM module. Using this test, administrators can identify unhealthy and failed drives immediately and take remedial actions before end users complain of unavailability of data stored in the FlashArray or data loss.

Target of the test : Pure Storage FlashArray

Agent deploying the test : A remote agent

Outputs of the test : One set of results for each drive/NVRAM module on the target 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 device 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.

DD Frequency

Refers to the frequency with which detailed diagnosis measures are to be generated for this test. The default is 2:1. This indicates that, by default, detailed measures will be generated every time this test runs, and also every time the test detects a problem. You can modify this frequency, if you so desire. Also, if you intend to disable the detailed diagnosis capability for this test, you can do so by specifying none against DD frequency.

Detailed Diagnosis

To make diagnosis more efficient and accurate, the eG Enterprise embeds an optional detailed diagnostic capability. With this capability, the eG agents can be configured to run detailed, more elaborate tests as and when specific problems are detected. To enable the detailed diagnosis capability of this test for a particular server, choose the On option. To disable the capability, click on the Off option.

The option to selectively enable/disable the detailed diagnosis capability will be available only if the following conditions are fulfilled:

  • The eG manager license should allow the detailed diagnosis capability
  • Both the normal and abnormal frequencies configured for the detailed diagnosis measures should not be 0.
Measurements made by the test
Measurement Description Measurement Unit Interpretation

Status

Indicates the current status of this drive.

 

The table below indicates the values that this measure can report and their corresponding numeric equivalents:

Measure value Numeric Value
Failed 0
Unrecognized 1
Identifying 2
Healthy 3
Empty 4
Unused 5
Evacuated 6

Note:

By default, this measure reports the above-mentioned Measure Values while indicating the current status of the drive. However, in the graph of this measure, drive states will be represented using the corresponding numeric equivalents only - i.e., 0 to 5.

The detailed diagnosis of this measure reveals the total capacity of the drive, the time stamp at which the drive failed and the time stamp at which the last evaluation was completed.