Operations dashboard

Identify which block storage systems or fabrics in your inventory need attention, such as those with error or warning conditions. You can manage your storage and fabrics in the Operations dashboard by using key insights and analysis about health, capacity, and performance.

To view the Operations dashboard, click Main menu > Overview from modern UI. If you are in classic UI click Dashboards and then click Operations. With IBM Storage Insights, you get the information that you need to monitor the health of your block storage environment and fabrics on the Operations dashboard:

Block Storage Systems

The block storage systems that are being monitored are displayed in a list on the left of the dashboard. Storage systems with error conditions and warning conditions are at the top of the list. Detailed information about the selected storage system is displayed on the right of the dashboard.

You can create customized dashboards to monitor particular storage systems or to help troubleshoot issues. For example, you might have dashboards to monitor storage by data center location or to monitor storage usage by production platform.

Click a storage system in the list to view the following information about the storage system:

Overview of the health of the storage system components or resources, key capacity metrics including compression savings, and key performance metrics. You can open the GUI for the storage system from the Component Health overview.
( IBM Storage Insights Pro only) You can view more details about the storage system and components from the overview.
Notifications details and actions you can take to manage events.
Tickets details and actions you can take to manage tickets.
Properties details including editable name, location, and custom tag fields, and support information.
( IBM Storage Insights Pro only) Inventory of nodes and enclosures for a SAN Volume Controller storage system, including support information.
Data collection details such as the status of the data collection, when the most recent data collection occurred, and a list of the available data collectors.

Tips:

The condition of a storage system determines its position in the list on the left of the dashboard. The condition is derived from the most critical status of the system or its components. The health of the components in the dashboard is derived from the most critical status of the components. Therefore, a storage system that has an Error condition might appear at top of the list, even if its components all have Normal status.
For a resource inventory of your block storage, use the Resources menu. Then, double-click a storage system in the list to view more detailed information.

To navigate in the classic UI, click Dashboards > Operations.

To navigate in the modern UI, click Main menu > Overview. For more information, see Overview dashboard (Carbon).

File storage systems

The file storage systems that are being monitored are displayed in a list on the left of the dashboard. In the modern UI of IBM Storage Insights, click the drop down menu and select File storage to view detailed information about the file storage system on the right of the dashboard.

See the following charts that show the capacity and trends in capacity usage for the file storage systems and their internal resources:

Total File System Capacity
Capacity by File System
Capacity by Pool and Capacity by File System Pool
Inodes by File System
Inodes by Independent Fileset

Total File System Capacity

The Total File System Capacity chart shows information about available and used capacity for the file systems on the storage system.

Tip: For an IBM Storage Scale System storage system, the available and used capacity information applies to file storage and object storage, if both file and object storage are monitored. For example, the available capacity value is the capacity that is available for use by either the file storage system or the object storage system.

The following information is shown:

Available Capacity: The total amount of available capacity on all of the file systems on the storage system or filer.
Used Capacity: The total amount of used capacity on all of the file systems on the storage system or filer.

Capacity by File System

The Capacity by File System chart shows information about the fullest and largest file systems on the storage system.

The following charts are shown:

Fullest File Systems: A chart that shows up to six file systems with the least amount of available capacity.
Largest File Systems: A chart that shows up to six file systems with the largest storage capacity.

Each file system is represented by a bar on the charts. To view the following information about the file system, move the mouse pointer over the bar:

Capacity: The total amount of capacity on the file system, which includes the used and available capacity.
Available Capacity: The total amount of unused storage capacity on the file system.
Used Capacity: The total amount of used storage capacity on the file system.

Capacity by Pool and Capacity by File System Pool

The Capacity by Pool chart and the Capacity by File System Pool chart show capacity information about the pools in storage systems that are configured for file storage such as IBM Storage Scale System and Storwize V7000 Unified.

Tip: For Storwize V7000 Unified, the chart label Capacity by File System Pool is shown. For IBM Storage Scale System, the chart label Capacity by Pool is shown.

Largest Pools: A chart that shows up to six pools with the largest storage capacity in the storage system.
Fullest Pools: A chart that shows up to six pools with the least amount of available capacity in the storage system.

Each pool is represented by a bar on the charts. To uniquely identify the pool, the pool name is prefixed with the file system name. To view the following information about the pool, move the mouse pointer over a bar:

Capacity: The total amount of file system capacity on all of the Network Shared Disks (NSDs) in the pool, which includes both the total amount of used and free capacity.
Available Capacity: The capacity on all of the free NSDs in the pool. The amount that is shown is the capacity that is available for provisioning new NAS shares.
Used Capacity: The capacity that is being used for file storage on all of the NSDs in the pool.

Inodes by File System

The Inodes by File System charts show inode information for file systems on storage systems that are configured for file storage such as IBM Storage Scale System and Storwize V7000 Unified.

Fewest Available Inodes: A chart that shows up to six file systems with the fewest number of available inodes.
Most Inodes: A chart that shows up to six files systems that have the largest number of inodes.

Each file system is represented by a bar on the charts. Move the mouse pointer over a bar to view the following information for the file system:

Maximum Inodes: The total number of inodes on the file system. This value consists of the available inodes and the used inodes for the file system.
Available Inodes: The number of inodes that are available within the file system.
Used Inodes: The number of inodes that are already used on the file system. Each time that you create a file or directory on the file system, an inode is allocated to the file or directory.

Inodes by Independent Fileset

Use the following charts to view inode information about the independent filesets that are associated with the storage system. An independent fileset has its own inode space. Other filesets might share the inode space and use inodes from the inode space. These charts are shown only for IBM Storage Scale System storage systems.

Fewest Available Inodes: A chart that shows up to six filesets with the fewest number of available inodes.
Most Inodes: A chart that shows up to six filesets with the largest number of inodes.

Each fileset is represented by a bar on the charts. Move the mouse pointer over a bar to view the following information for the fileset:

Maximum Inodes: The total number of inodes in the inode space. This value consists of the available inodes and the used inodes.
Available Inodes: The number of inodes that are available in the inode space.
Used Inodes: The number of inodes that are already used in the inode space. This value consists of inodes that are used by this fileset and all dependent filesets. A dependent fileset shares the inode space of an independent fileset.
The number of inodes that are used by this fileset are represented by the blue section of the bar. The inodes that are used by dependent filesets are represented by the dark gray section of the bar.

Dashboard for IBM Storage Scale System

IBM Storage Insights provides a dedicated dashboard for IBM Storage Scale System monitored through Call Home with cloud services. The dashboard helps you view configuration and inventory information for your file storage environment from a centralized location.

To view the dashboard, go to the Overview page, select File storage from the drop-down menu, and then select the IBM Storage Scale System. Detailed information is displayed in the dashboard.

Note: The IBM Storage Scale System dashboard is available on the overview page in IBM Storage Insights. In IBM Storage Insights Pro, you can also access the dashboard from the storage system details page.

Table 1. Overview dashboard for IBM Storage Scale System
Tabs	Description
Overview	Summary View hardware and logical components with their real-time health status.
Overview	Widgets Use the available actions for each chart widgets like viewing chart information as table, viewing in the full screen, and exporting the capacity information in CSV, PNG, or JPG format. Also, organise the widgets as per your preference by clicking Organize widgets icon. The following capacity charts are displayed in each widgets: Capacity overview: The capacity overview donut chart provides a high-level view of the total storage capacity and how it is distributed between used and available space. You can use this chart to quickly assess overall capacity utilization and determine how much storage remains available. Total capacity Displays the total capacity of the selected storage system. Shown prominently in the center of the chart for quick reference. Used capacity Indicates the amount of storage space that is currently in use. Helps you understand current storage consumption and utilization levels. Available capacity Indicates the amount of storage space that is available for allocation. Helps you determine how much additional data can be stored before capacity is exhausted. Capacity by file system: The capacity by file system chart shows information about the fullest and largest file systems on the storage system. Fullest file systems A chart that shows up to six file systems with the least amount of available capacity. Largest file systems A chart that shows up to six file systems with the largest storage capacity. Each file system is represented by a bar on the charts. To view the following information about the file system, move the mouse pointer over the bar: Capacity The total amount of capacity on the file system, which includes the used and available capacity. Available capacity The total amount of unused storage capacity on the file system. Used capacity The total amount of used storage capacity on the file system. Inodes by independent fileset: Use the following charts to view inode information about the independent filesets that are associated with the storage system. An independent fileset has its own inode space. Other filesets might share the inode space and use inodes from the inode space. These charts are shown only for IBM Storage Scale System storage systems. Fewest available inodes A chart that shows up to six filesets with the fewest number of available inodes. Most inodes A chart that shows up to six filesets with the largest number of inodes. Each fileset is represented by a bar on the charts. Move the mouse pointer over a bar to view the following information for the fileset: Maximum inodes The total number of inodes in the inode space. This value consists of the available inodes and the used inodes. Available inodes The number of inodes that are available in the inode space. Used inodes The number of inodes that are already used in the inode space. This value consists of inodes that are used by this fileset and all dependent filesets. A dependent fileset shares the inode space of an independent fileset. The number of inodes that are used by this fileset are represented by the blue section of the bar. The inodes that are used by dependent filesets are represented by the dark gray section of the bar.
Capacity	Select the storage resources like storage systems, filesets, file systems, or pools from the Components tile. The capacity chart with the default metrics is visible towards the right side. You can also select multiple resources to compare their capacity charts one below the another. Also, type the resource component on the search icon to locate the resource faster. You can add more capacity metrics to the charts by clicking the Add metrics and selecting them. You can customize the capacity charts as per your preference. Select your preferred time zone like browser time zone, system time zone, etc. Set the duration for which capacity information to be investigated Choose the data resolution like sample, hourly, or daily to investigate the capacity behavior. You can export the capacity metrics data in PDF, HTML, and in CSV formats for your reference.

Fabrics

When you add switches, key diagnostic information is collected and analyzed about the switches and the fabrics that the switches belong to and presented in IBM Storage Insights.

Based on the analysis of the metadata, health, hardware, and connectivity issues that can affect the performance of the fabric's SAN components are reported. The information is organized so that the fabrics that require the most attention are shown at the top of the dashboard.

Data collection schedules: The performance metadata for the switches is collected every 5 minutes. The inventory metadata for the fabrics is collected every 24 hours.

Click a fabric and complete these actions:

To check which of the fabric's components, such as switches, blades, or switch ports, caused the error or warning conditions, click the down-arrow on each of the component's tiles.
To identify the switch ports that are congested or saturated, review the charts. Both port congestion and port saturation adversely affect the performance of the fabric and its components. Port congestion and saturation can also adversely affect the performance of the host that initiates the transaction requests, and the storage systems that respond to the transaction requests.
Review the number of hardware errors that were detected. High numbers of hardware errors might indicate the failure of a hardware component.
Review the number of logical errors that were detected.

Check the information that is shown on the tabbed pages. On the Events tab you're notified of events that might affect the performance of your fabrics such as:

Domain ID changes.
Fabric segmentation.
Percentage of port bandwidth that is being used by outgoing traffic.
Zone changes.

To navigate in the classic UI, click Dashboards > Operations. Then, in the dashboard selection drop down, select Fabrics.

To navigate in the modern UI, click Main menu > Overview. Then, in the dashboard selection drop down, select Fabrics.

More actions for IBM Storage Insights Pro

By default, when you add a fabric, it is automatically added to the fabric policy. Notifications are automatically generated when the condition of the fabric changes to error.

You can use the alert policy to create a custom alert policy. You can add more alerts, modify alert thresholds, and specify who is notified when an alert occurs.

Review this information to find out more about fabrics and their components: