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Connections really matter! Direct connection to Brocade switches highlights new release of IBM Spectrum Control!

By Bob Graczyk posted Thu August 20, 2020 10:17 AM

  


Quality connections do matter whether it’s in life or career or even storage management software!

Are you planning to upgrade your Brocade switches soon or to invest in newer Broadcom switches?

We've got good news for you!

IBM Spectrum Control 5.4.0 enables you to connect directly to Brocade switches that run Fabric OS 8.2.1 or later instead of monitoring them by using Brocade Network Advisor (BNA) or implementing extra servers. By using the Fabric OS REST API, you can manage the switches and fabrics and get the same key inventory and performance information that you got when you used BNA. The direct connection with the REST API is a simple and reliable way to monitor your switches.



IBM Spectrum Control connects to the switch that you added, and automatically discovers the fabrics and switches that they manage. The discovered fabrics and switches are automatically added for monitoring, if they have the same credentials as the switches you added.

For switches with a Fabric OS version earlier than 8.2.1, use the BNA Storage Management Initiative (SMI) agent to manage the switches and fabrics. The SMI agent is embedded in the BNA. The BNA can manage multiple fabrics within and across data centers.

To see the Brocade models, firmware versions, and agents that are used by IBM Spectrum Control, see the IBM Spectrum Control interoperability matrix.

More non-IBM storage system support

More good news! You can now monitor and set alerts for performance for Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform F Series and G Series systems. You can compare your storage workloads and response times across your entire storage environment. 

For example, view the Total I/O Rate and the Overall Response Time of your Hitachi VSP system.


*This feature also is supported in IBM Storage Insights

License name updates and Licensing page enhancements

You voiced your opinion on our licensing structure, and we listened! 

The following licenses were renamed this release:

IBM Spectrum Control 5.3 licenses

    IBM Spectrum Control 5.4.0 licenses    

IBM Spectrum Control Standard Edition

    IBM Spectrum Control

IBM Spectrum Control Standard Select Edition

    IBM Spectrum Control Select Edition


Note: If you owned a Standard license in a previous release, you now have access to the following features:

  • Chargeback, consumer, and rollup reports
  • Storage reclamation
  • Volume transformation

To make it easier for you to understand your licensing and determine how much storage you can add before exceeding your license, the Licensing page in the GUI was updated.

The following updates were made:

  • The automatic assignment of storage category for most storage systems. Fewer manual assignments are now required.
  • Improved notifications to make you aware of actions that you must complete.
  • The names of column headings were changed, and the hover help was revised to help you complete your compliance check.

  • The capacity to be licensed is now shown in tebibytes (TiB) for consistency with the other capacity values on the page.

For more information, see Licensing.

More new features and enhancements

Some other features and enhancements that are available in IBM Spectrum Control 5.4.0 include:

  • Viewing the name and VOLSER properties for DS8000 CKD volumes (*This feature also is supported in IBM Storage Insights)
  • User roles for monitoring IBM Spectrum Virtualize  (*This feature also is supported in IBM Storage Insights)
For even more information on new features and enhancements in IBM Spectrum Control 5.4.0, see the What’s new!

Downloading IBM Spectrum Control

You can download IBM Spectrum Control, V5.4.0 here.

Review the Installation instructions and Download package sections.

You can then install the product by following the installation instructions in the IBM Knowledge Center.

Social media insights

Be social! Do social!

Join the conversation at #IBMStorage, #ibmsystems, and #softwaredefinedstorage.

You can also watch videos, read blogs, and explore social media to learn more about how to use IBM Spectrum Control. See Social media for IBM Spectrum Control.





For continuing information on IBM Spectrum Control, IBM Storage Insights and the entire IBM Spectrum Storage Suite, follow me on Twitter, @bobby_gratz






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Thu August 20, 2020 12:23 PM

Thu August 20, 2020 10:36 AM

Great news!