RAID Controllers Test

Solaris servers (particularly, Solaris v10 and above) come with a default RAID controller. If required, the Solaris administrator can set up additional hardware RAID volumes on LSI host bus adapters (HBAs) on the server. To ensure continuous availability and integrity of the data stored in the RAID volumes, administrators should keep an eye on the overall health and operational state of each RAID volume in use on the Solaris server. This is where the raid Controllers test helps. This test reports the current state of each RAID volume on the Solaris server, and thus brings to light those volumes that have failed, missing, or in a degraded state. By pointing administrators to real/probable abnormalities in the RAID volumes, the test prompts administrators to quickly initiate pre-emptive action and prevent the imminent data loss.

This test is disabled by default. To enable the test, go to the enable / disable tests page using the menu sequence : Agents -> Tests -> Enable/Disable, pick the desired Component type, set Performance as the Test type, choose the test from the DISABLED TESTS list, and click on the << button to move the test to the ENABLED TESTS list. Finally, click the Update button.

Target of the test : A Solaris host

Agent deploying the test : An internal agent

Outputs of the test :One set of results for each Raid volume on the host being monitored.

Configurable parameters for the test
Parameter Description

Test Period

How often should the test be executed.

Host

The host for which the test is to be configured.

Port

The port to which the specified host listens

Use Sudo

By default, the Use Sudo parameter is set to No. This indicates that, by default, this test will report the health of every RAID volume by executing the raidctl –l command. However, in some highly secure environments, the eG agent install user may not have the permissions to execute this command directly. In such cases, do the following:

  • Edit the sudoers file on the target host and append an entry of the following format to it:

<eG_agent_install_user> ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: <Command>

For instance, if the eG agent install user is eguser, then the entry in the sudoers file should be:

eguser ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: raidctl -l

  • Finally, save the file.

  • Then, when configuring the test using the eG admin interface, set the Use Sudo parameter to Yes. This will enable the eG agent to execute the sudo raidctl -l command and retrieve the desired metrics.

Sudo Path

This parameter is relevant only when the use sudo parameter is set to ‘Yes’. By default, the sudo path is set to none. This implies that the sudo command is in its default location – i.e., in the  /usr/bin or /usr/sbin folder of the target Solaris host. In this case, the eG agent automatically runs the raidctl –l command with sudo from its default location, once the use sudo flag is set to Yes. However, if the sudo command is available in a different location in your environment, you will have to explicitly specify the full path to the sudo command in the sudo path text box to enable the eG agent to run the sudo command.   

Measurements made by the test
Measurement Description Measurement Unit Interpretation

Status

Indicates the current health state of this RAID volume.

 

The values that this measure can report and its corresponding numeric equivalents are listed in the table below:

Measure Value Numeric Value
OK 0
Optimal 1
Sync 2
Resyncing 3
Degraded 4
Failed 5
Missing 6

Note:

By default, this measure reports the Measure Values listed in the table above to the current state of the RAID volume. In the graph of this measure however, the same is represented using the corresponding numeric equivalents only.