Originally posted by: bobby_g

The storage management functionality of IBM Spectrum Control™ was improved in the current V5.2.7 release that is now available.

Support was added for the newest software defined storage offering, IBM Spectrum  Accelerate™, to the already comprehensive monitoring group and enhancements to IBM Spectrum Scale™, through the determination of nodes in your GPFS™ clusters that are designated as protocol nodes.

Support was also added for viewing information about NPV links and Cisco F_port channels.

For the downloads of this release, see Fix Central.

 

Monitoring IBM Spectrum Accelerate storage systems

 You can now monitor IBM Spectrum Accelerate, a software defined storage solution that is based on the XIV® system.

To monitor a storage system in IBM Spectrum Control, you must configure a connection to the storage system and schedule the collection of data. A probe is run automatically to collect status and asset information about the storage system. 

 

 

 

 

 

Once you add the storage system and the initial probe completes, you can monitor the usage of storage space and the performance of the storage system on the Storage Systems page. You can drill down further for specific details of the defined IBM Spectrum Accelerate storage system by clicking Properties.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can click Overview in the General section and see the the capacity and space usage charts automatically on the Storage System details page:

 

 

Configuring alerts for the IBM Spectrum Accelerate

 

If you want to be automatically notified when certain conditions are detected for IBM Spectrum Accelerate, you must configure the alert definitions for the storage system. To configure the alert definitions for IBM Spectrum Accelerate, go to Storage > Storage Systems, right-click the IBM Spectrum Accelerate storage system, and select Edit Alert Definitions.

 

The default alerts are enabled automatically for the storage system after you access the Edit Alert Definitions page.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For a complete list of the storage systems that you can monitor in IBM Spectrum Control, see Supported Storage Products Matrix.

 

To learn more about the IBM Spectrum Storage family, see IBM Spectrum Storage family.

 

 

Determining which nodes in your GPFS clusters are protocol nodes

 

In IBM Spectrum Control V5.2.7, you can quickly determine which nodes in your GPFS clusters are designated as protocol nodes. You can also see the protocols that are configured in Cluster Export Services (CES) to access data on the GPFS cluster.

 

Nodes in a GPFS cluster are designated as protocol nodes so that computers that do not run GPFS software can access data on file systems in the GPFS cluster. To ensure high availability, multiple nodes in a cluster are designated as protocol nodes.

 

The Nodes page contains the new Protocols column that can have a comma -separated list of the protocols that are enabled on the node. For example, Network File System (NFS), Common Internet File Systems (CIFS), and Object.

 

 

 

In case CES is not available on a given node, the reason for the failure is listed in the Protocols column. The possible states that can be displayed are:

• Suspended
• Network down
• Root unavailable
• Failed.

 

Information about protocol nodes is available for IBM Spectrum Scale Version 4.1.1 and later.

 

For information about configuring protocol nodes in IBM Spectrum Scale, see IBM Knowledge Center.

 

 

Viewing information about NPV links and Cisco F_port

 

You can view information about NPV links and F_port channels on the Inter-Switch Connections page and the detailed view for the fabric and switch. An NPV link is a link between a native mode fabric switch and a Cisco NPV switch. An F_port channel is a logical aggregation of NPV links.

The following figure shows an NPV link and an F_port channel on the Inter-Switch Connections page for the the fabric and switch:

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Links column includes misconfigured port channels in the count. When a NPV link is part of a misconfigured Port channel, it is counted in the links count as both an individual link and as part of the F_Port Channel. In the misconfigured Port Channel case, the Links value has a hyperlink with “Problematic” rather than the count of the links.

 

The F_port channel names are coming from the switch, and the NPV link names are populated by IBM Spectrum Control.

 

 

Improving the online help experience

You can now find the information that you need in online help to get your job done more quickly. You can use keywords and wild cards to find content, and you can print, bookmark, and change the language of the content. To access the help, click the help icon in the upper-right corner on any page.

 

IBM Knowledge Center is also used to display product documentation on ibm.com®

 

 

 

This release of IBM Spectrum Control V5.2.7 is available for all product licenses.

 

For more information about IBM Spectrum Control, V5.2.7, see IBM Knowledge Center.

 

For continuing information on IBM Spectrum Control, or IBM Storage Insights (SaaS offering) follow me, Bob Graczyk, on Twitter, @bobby_gratz or Linkedin.

 

*Special thanks to John Walsh, Information Developer for IBM Spectrum Control, and Christoph Reichert, GPFS team lead and developer for IBM Spectrum Control, for their insight.

 

 

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