Hosts

The host page shows information about both monitored and unmonitored hosts. Use IBM Storage Insights Pro to collect asset and space usage information about the ESXi hosts in your environment.

ESXi hosts can be added for monitoring by providing connection information of vCenter Server that manages them. Unmonitored hosts are automatically created based on the host connections of monitored storage systems. Each host connection is represented as an unmonitored host.

Important: IBM Storage Insights Pro doesn't monitor the direct-attached (SAS) storage or local disks on hosts. Instead, it displays information about the host connections on monitored storage systems, where each connection is shown as an unmonitored host on the Hosts page. Hosts in the Related Resources section can list only the host connections that have volumes mapped.

Information about monitored hosts

The following information is available for each host that is monitored.
Acknowledged
The issue was resolved or the user decided that the issue did not need to be investigated.
Cluster
The name of the cluster in which the host is a member. A cluster is a group of application hosts that collaborate for the purposes of workload balancing and failover.
Condition
The overall operational condition of a host. This condition represents the most critical status that was detected on the internal resources of a host. For example, if an error was detected on a disk controller, an error icon Error condition icon is shown for the host's condition. If no errors, warnings, or unreachable statuses were detected on its internal resources, then a green symbol is shown for the host's condition. To view the individual statuses of internal resources, right-click the host and click View Details.
Custom tag 1, 2, and 3
Any user-defined text that is associated with a host. This text can be included as a report column when you generate reports for the host. To edit the custom tags for a host or add a custom tag, right-click it and select View Properties. On the properties notebook, click Edit.
Data Collection
The aggregated status for the collection of capacity, configuration, status, and performance metadata. Two separate jobs are run to collect the metadata:
  • A probe is run once every 24 hours to collect capacity, configuration, and status metadata.
  • A performance monitor is run every 5 minutes to collect performance metadata.
Because separate jobs are run to collect the metadata, both collection jobs must be successful to get a Running status. If an issue occurs during metadata collection, the following statuses might also be displayed:
Degraded
Not all metadata for the device was collected. This status is displayed when metadata collection is interrupted and only partial metadata is available.
Failed
Metadata was not collected for the device. This status might be displayed for a number of conditions, such as a service interruption, a network outage, or a device that is unavailable. If the failure was caused by an interruption or a global problem with the service, IBM® is investigating the issue and you'll be notified when the data collection service is resumed.
Not Monitored
This status is displayed when IBM Storage Insights monitors the storage system that the host is connected to, but the host itself was not added for monitoring. Unmonitored hosts are automatically created based on the host connections of monitored storage systems. Each host connection is represented as an unmonitored host.
Task expired
This status might be displayed for a number of conditions or temporary problems within the service.
Help with statuses:
  • For more information about these statuses and how you can troubleshoot them, see Monitoring the status of data collection.
  • Subscribers are notified by email when issues with collecting data are detected. If an issue with collecting data persists and you can't resolve the issue, you can get help by submitting a post in the IBM Storage Community. For other support options, see Looking for help.
Domain Name
The fully qualified domain name of a host.
Fabrics
The number of fabrics that are connected to host.
FlashCopy® Provisioned Capacity (GiB)
The total storage space capacity of all FlashCopy targets.
FlashCopy Used Capacity (GiB)
The storage space used by the FlashCopy targets.
IP Address
The IP address of a host.
Last Successful Probe
The most recent date and time when the probe successfully completed the collection of asset and status data.
Last Successful Monitor
The last time that the performance information was refreshed.
Location
The physical location of a host. The location is defined when a host is added. If a location was not defined, no value is displayed. To edit the location of a host or add a location, right-click the host in the list and select View Properties. On the properties notebook, click Edit.
Model
Manufacturer provides the model name of host.
Name
The IP address or fully qualified domain name of a host. If the hosts file for the operating system of the host is not set up, the IP address of the host is shown.
Icon Description
host host
Nodes
The number of nodes that are zoned to host.
OS Type
The operating system that is installed on a host.
Primary Provisioned Capacity (GiB)
The total storage space capacity of the volumes that are directly mapped to the host.
Primary Used Capacity (GiB)
The storage space used on the volumes that are directly mapped to the host.
Probe Status
The status of the most recent run of a probe. Use this value to quickly identify a probe that failed or generated warning messages during processing. The following statuses might be displayed:
  • Failed: The probe encountered error conditions during processing and did not complete the monitoring action. Check the log to view the error messages.
  • Warning: The probe encountered warning conditions during processing, but still completed the monitoring action. Check the log to view the warning messages.
  • Running: The probe is running.
  • Successful: The probe completed the monitoring action and encountered no warning or error conditions.
  • Never probed: The resource was never probed.
  • Disabled: The probe schedule for the resource was disabled and is no longer collecting data.
If a probe is run while a resource is unreachable, the status of the probe is not shown in this column. Instead, the status of the previous probe continues to be shown.
Performance Monitor Status
The status of the most recent run of a performance monitor. Use this value to quickly identify a performance monitor that failed or generated warning messages during processing. The following statuses might be displayed:
  • Starting: The performance monitor is starting.
  • Running: The performance monitor is running.
  • Running with problems: The performance monitor is running, but encountered warning conditions during processing. Check the log to view the warning messages.
  • Stopping: The performance monitor is stopping.
  • Completed: The performance monitor completed data collection.
  • Completed with warnings: The performance monitor completed, but encountered warning conditions during processing. Check the log to view the warning messages.
  • Failed: The performance monitor encountered error conditions during processing and is no longer running. Check the log of a performance monitor to view its error messages.
  • Canceled: The performance monitor was stopped and is no longer collecting performance data.
  • Not running: The performance monitor is not running.
  • Disabled: The performance monitor never ran.
Remote Mirror Provisioned Capacity (GiB)
The total storage space capacity on the volumes that are target of a copy services relationship, such as a metro mirror or global mirror.
Remote Mirror Used Capacity (GiB)
The storage space used on the volumes that are target of a copy services relationship, such as a metro mirror or global mirror.
SAN Capacity (GiB)
The SAN disk capacity that is assigned to a host from storage systems. For information about the storage systems, right-click the host and click View Details. Then, view Related Resources and click a storage system for more details.
Serial Number
A number or alphanumeric identifier that is given by manufacturer to each host.
Switches
The number of switches that are connected to host.
System UUID
A unique identifier that assigns to the hosts when it is added to IBM Storage Insights Pro.
Used SAN Capacity (GiB)
The amount of SAN disk capacity that is being used by a host from storage systems.
vCenter
The name of the vCenter that manages the host.
VDisk Mirror Provisioned Capacity (GiB)
The total storage capacity of all the VDisk copies.
VDisk Mirror Used Capacity (GiB)
The storage capacity used by the VDisk copies.
Vendor
The name of the vendor or manufacturer of the host.

Information about unmonitored hosts

IBM Storage Insights Pro creates and updates unmonitored hosts automatically after it probes storage systems. It uses information about host connections on storage systems to create the unmonitored hosts. It doesn't monitor direct-attached storage (DAS) or local disks on hosts.

Unmonitored hosts are shown in IBM Storage Insights Pro when the following conditions are met:
  • IBM Storage Insights Pro doesn't monitor the direct-attached storage (DAS) or local disks on hosts. Instead, it displays information about the host connections on monitored storage systems, where each connection is automatically added as an unmonitored host.
  • If the host connection credentials or the OS details are changed to unsupported credentials, it will automatically set to condition Not Monitored.
The following information is available for each unmonitored host that is identified from storage systems.
Acknowledged
The issue was resolved or the user decided that the issue did not need to be investigated. For unmonitored hosts, the column shows No.
Cluster
The name of the cluster in which the unmonitored host is a member. A cluster is a group of application hosts that collaborate for the purposes of workload balancing and failover.
Condition
The overall operational condition of an unmonitored host. This condition represents the most critical status that was detected on the internal resources of a host. For unmonitored hosts, the column shows Not Monitored.
Custom tag 1, 2, and 3
Any user-defined text that is associated with a host. This text can be included as a report column when you generate reports for the host. To edit the custom tags for a host or add a custom tag, right-click it and select View Properties. On the properties notebook, click Edit.
Data Collection
For unmonitored hosts, the column shows Not Monitored.
Domain Name
The fully qualified domain name of an unmonitored host.
Fabrics
The number of fabrics that are connected to unmonitored host.
FlashCopy Provisioned Capacity (GiB)
The total storage space capacity of all FlashCopy targets.
FlashCopy Used Capacity (GiB)
The storage space used by the FlashCopy targets.
IP Address
The IP address of an unmonitored host. To edit the IP address of a host or add a IP address, right-click the unmonitored host in the list and select View Properties. On the properties notebook, click Edit.
Last Successful Probe
The most recent date and time when the probe successfully completed the collection of asset and status data. If the host is identified by probing storage systems, the column shows blank. If the monitored host becomes unmonitored host due to any technical reasons, the most recent date and time displays in the column.
Last Successful Monitor
The last time that the performance information was refreshed.
Location
The physical location of an unmonitored host. The location is defined when a host is identified. If a location was not defined, no value is displayed. To edit the location of a host or add a location, right-click the unmonitored host in the list and select View Properties. On the properties notebook, click Edit.
Model
Manufacturer provides the model name of unmonitored host.
Name
The IP address or fully qualified domain name of an unmonitored host. To edit the name of an unmonitored host or add a name, right-click the unmonitored host in the list and select View Properties. On the properties notebook, click Edit.
Icon Description
unmonitored host unmonitored host
Nodes
The number of nodes that are zoned to host.
OS Type
The operating system that is installed on a host. To edit the OS type of an unmonitored host or add a OS type, right-click the unmonitored host in the list and select View Properties. On the properties notebook, click Edit and select the OS from the drop-down list.
Performance Monitor Status
The status of the most recent run of a performance monitor. For unmonitored hosts, the column shows Not Monitored.
Primary Provisioned Capacity (GiB)
The total storage space capacity of the volumes that are directly mapped to the host.
Primary Used Capacity (GiB)
The storage space used on the volumes that are directly mapped to the host.
Probe Status
The status of the most recent run of a probe. For unmonitored hosts, the column shows Not Monitored.
Remote Mirror Provisioned Capacity (GiB)
The total storage space capacity on the volumes that are target of a copy services relationship, such as a metro mirror or global mirror.
Remote Mirror Used Capacity (GiB)
The storage space used on the volumes that are target of a copy services relationship, such as a metro mirror or global mirror.
SAN Capacity (GiB)
The SAN disk capacity that is assigned to a host from storage systems. For information about the storage systems, right-click the host and click View Details. Then, view Related Resources and click a storage system for more details.
Serial Number
A number or alphanumeric identifier that is given by manufacturer to each host.
Switches
The number of switches that are connected to host.
System UUID
A unique identifier that assigns to the hosts when it is added to IBM Storage Insights Pro.
Used SAN Capacity (GiB)
The amount of SAN disk capacity that is being used by a host from storage systems.
VDisk Mirror Provisioned Capacity (GiB)
The total storage capacity of all the VDisk copies.
VDisk Mirror Used Capacity (GiB)
The storage capacity used by the VDisk copies.
Vendor
The name of the vendor or manufacturer of the host.

Information about virtual machines

The following information is available for each virtual machine that is added to IBM Storage Insights Pro.
Acknowledged
The issue was resolved or the user decided that the issue did not need to be investigated.
Cluster
The name of the cluster in which the host is a member. A cluster is a group of application hosts that collaborate for the purposes of workload balancing and failover.
Condition
The overall operational condition of a virtual machine. This condition represents the most critical status that was detected on the internal resources of a virtual machine. For example, if an error was detected on a datastore, an error icon Error condition icon is shown for the virtual machine's condition. If no errors, warnings, or unreachable statuses were detected on its internal resources, then a green symbol is shown for the virtual machine's condition. To view the individual statuses of internal resources, right-click the virtual machine and click View Details.
Custom tag 1, 2, and 3
Any user-defined text that is associated with a virtual machine. This text can be included as a report column when you generate reports for the virtual machine. To edit the custom tags for a virtual machine or add a custom tag, right-click it and select View Properties. On the properties notebook, click Edit.
Datastores
The name or a count of the data stores that the virtual machine is used. When one data store name is displayed, clicking the name opens the properties of the data store. When multiple data stores are detected, clicking the count opens a table listing the data stores.
Host
The name of the host that the virtual machine is hosted.
IP Address
The IP address of a host.
Location
The physical location of a virtual machine. The location is defined when a virtual machine is added. If a location was not defined, no value is displayed. To edit the location of a virtual machine or add a location, right-click the virtual machine in the list and select View Properties. On the properties notebook, click Edit.
Name
The IP address or fully qualified domain name of a virtual machine.
Icon Description
Virtual Machine Virtual Machine (VM).
OS Type
The operating system that is installed on a virtual machine.
SAN Capacity (GiB)
The SAN disk capacity that is assigned to a virtual machine from storage systems. The SAN capacity is displayed when the storage volume is directly mapped to virtual machine through NPIV. If the storage volume is not mapped to virtual machine, no value is displayed. For information about the storage systems, right-click the virtual machine and click View Details. Then, view Related Resources and click a storage system for more details.
System UUID
A unique identifier that assigns to the virtual machine when it is added to IBM Storage Insights Pro.
Used SAN Capacity (GiB)
The amount of SAN disk capacity that is being used by a virtual machine from storage systems. The used SAN capacity is displayed when the storage volume is directly mapped to virtual machine through NPIV. If the storage volume is not mapped to virtual machine, no value is displayed.
VMDKs
The name or a count of the VMDKs that the virtual machine is used. When one VMDK name is displayed, clicking the name opens the properties of the VMDK. When multiple VMDKs are detected, clicking the count opens a table listing the VMDKs.
Volumes
The count of the volumes that the virtual machine is used. When one volume is displayed, clicking the volume opens the properties of volume. When multiple volumes are detected, clicking the count opens a table listing the volumes.

Alerts

Use this tab to view, evaluate, and manage the alert conditions that were detected on all the monitored hosts in your environment. For information about how to set up alert policies or alert definitions to notify you of certain conditions on hosts, see Alerting.