Primary Storage

 View Only

IBM Storage Insights – Reduce mean time to resolution by providing relevant logs to the support teams

By Ramakrishna Vadla posted Tue September 20, 2022 01:17 PM

  
IBM Storage Insights – Reduce mean time to resolution by providing relevant logs to the support teams
- Ramakrishna Vadla, Sheelka Vishwakarma

Acknowledgment: Christopher King


Solving problems with your storage quickly helps keep your applications and operations up and running smoothly -- and keeps your customers happy. Mean time to resolution (MTTR) is one of the most widely-used metrics for measuring the time required to fix a problem. This metric includes not only the time spent detecting the failure, diagnosing the problem, and repairing it, but also the time spent to prevent the same problem from happening again.

*****
The key for any organization is to reduce MTTR so that they can respond faster to customer issues. Improving the speed of the support experience helps increase customer satisfaction that can then lead to more potential business.
*****

But how to reduce MTTR? That's the question many organizations must ask sooner rather than later to thrive in an era of digital migration and transformation. Having the right set of tools and log data at your fingertips to diagnose problems is certainly a critical part of the answer.

IBM Storage Insights already provided a streamlined support experience for creating tickets and uploading new logs for problematic storage systems. Now in 3Q 2022, that experience is further enhanced with the ability to upload previous snap logs for IBM Spectrum Virtualize storage systems, such as SAN Volume Controller, FlashSystem, and Storwize. By uploading specific logs from the specific times when problems occurred, the most relevant data about the problems can be provided to IBM Support. With this data in hand, IBM and its customers are better equipped to meet the challenge of reducing MTTR.

Want more details about this new feature in IBM Storage Insights? No problem. Keep reading to get a birds-eye view of the workflow for uploading FlashSystem snap logs to IBM Support.

Picking the right log package for a ticket

Opening tickets and uploading log packages for your IBM Spectrum Virtualize devices is a key part of the integrated support experience in IBM Storage Insights.

*****
While the ability to automatically create a log package with a ticket is still
available, we understand that it might be helpful to select an
existing one that better highlights the problem.
*****

Now when you open or update a ticket, up to 10 existing log packages are available for you to select, starting with the most recent. Each log package is identified by its snap name and creation date, so you can more easily select the right one. When you're ready, simply click the log package that you want to upload.

You might want to take advantage of this new feature in these situations:

  • You want to create a ticket and select a specific snap log
  • You want to update an existing ticket with a specific snap log

 
How to do it

  1. Sign in to IBM Storage Insights.
  2. On the Operations dashboard, locate the device that requires a ticket.
  3. Click Get Support.

      
       4. Click Create Ticket.

  

        5. Key details about the device are automatically collected and included in the ticket for you.


        6. Provide a brief summary and description of the problem. A good explanation that includes when the problem occurred can help IBM Support more quickly assess, pinpoint, and troubleshoot. Check out the examples at https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/storage-insights?topic=tickets-information-that-you-add.

 

       7. Assign a severity level to the ticket. The severity level can help IBM Support prioritize the ticket based on the business impact of the problem.

       8. Here's where the enhanced ability to select the right log package gets the spotlight. In 3Q 2022, you can now choose whether to create a new log package or select an existing log package for the ticket:

  • If you select to create a log package, its contents will include the diagnostic data that is currently available for the storage system.
  • If you select an existing log package, it's recommended that you select a snap file that was saved during the range of time when the problem occurred.

         9. Finalize the ticket by providing a contact name, email, and phone, and the country where you're located. Then, verify that all the information for the ticket looks correct and click Create Ticket.

 

Ticket creation is successful and relevant log package get uploaded. That's all it takes! The ticket is created and the log package securely uploaded to IBM Enhanced Customer Data Repository (ECuRep) or to Blue Diamond Enhanced Secure Support depending on your customer status. IBM Support will take it from there by analyzing the ticket and log package and working with you to help resolve the problem.

 

Reducing MTTR for customers is an important goal for any organization and having the right tools and data at the right time can make a big difference. With this latest enhancement to the ticketing process in IBM Storage Insights, IBM is taking steps to help meet that goal for your storage infrastructure.


How do I get IBM Storage Insights?

If you manage IBM block storage systems, but don't already have the free version of IBM Storage Insights, sign up today.

 
What you need to know about signing up for IBM Storage Insights:

You'll need an IBM ID. It will be your administrator account and single point of access to IBM Storage Insights. It's also used by IBM to communicate key updates, announcements, and your unique URL. Ensure that the email address associated with your IBM ID is valid and keep an eye out for important messages from IBM.

If you don't have an IBM ID, don't worry. Getting one is easy. Just complete this Create an IBM account.

To purchase a full subscription to IBM Storage Insights Pro:

  1. Go to the IBM Storage Insights page on ibm.com.
  2. Click Pricing and then Purchase now to learn about and purchase a subscription.

#PrimaryStorage
#StorageManagementandReporting
#Storage
0 comments
13 views

Permalink