FlashSystem grid

A FlashSystem grid can be used to scale-out a storage system by adding more independent systems to create a federated cluster.

On the Storage Systems page, FlashSystem grid records in the tabular view are highlighted in the blue color. You can expand a FlashSystem grid record in the tabular view to view the details of storage systems that are part of the FlashSystem grid. When you click a FlashSystem grid record, the Flash Grid My World Navigation dashboard is displayed with the details of the FlashSystem grid that you selected on the Storage Systems page.

Important: When adding the first storage system associated with a FlashSystem grid to IBM Storage Insights, allow a 10-minute interval after the initial successful probe of the storage system before accessing the FlashSystem grid overview page in the modern UI. During this period, the FlashSystem grid data is updated in the database. Accessing the FlashSystem grid overview page within this interval does not display any information about the FlashSystem grid.

AI Suggestions

Access the AI-generated suggestions designed to enhance your experience by providing intelligent insights and recommendations across your storage systems. These suggestions helps to identify situations where migrating a workload or storage partition might be necessary. AI suggestions leverage existing AI capabilities such as capacity forecasting and the workload placement advisor, to provide data-driven recommendations. AI Suggestions remain until the specified conditions are met and cannot be deleted. Click the AI icon to know the AI powered calculations behind these suggestions.

Note: AI Suggestions are available exclusively for IBM Storage FlashSystem systems that are part of a FlashSystem grid.
Suggestions overview panel: Click Suggestions to open a side panel that displays all the relevant suggestions in an intuitive card-based format. Each suggestion card includes the following information for the capacity, performance, and maintenance information categories:
  • Advisory title: A concise title summarizing the suggestions.
  • Storage system name: Displays the specific storage system involved.
  • Suggestion subcategory: Displayed as a tag for easy categorization. For example, Capacity, Performance, or Warranty.
  • Reported time: Timestamp showing when the suggestion is generated.
  • Close icon for individual card: Removes the individual card from the suggestions list.
  • Arrow icon for detailed view: Expands the individual suggestion card to view detailed information.
  • Sorting and filtering options: Sort by the date when suggestions were reported. Filter by storage system and suggestion category.
  • Exit suggestions overview panel: Click close icon at the top right of the suggestions overview panel or Close button at the bottom of the suggestions overview panel.
Individual suggestion detailed view: Click the arrow icon on individual suggestion card in the suggestions overview panel to open a comprehensive view. You can view the information such as suggestion title, time when the suggestion is reported, storage system, and the suggestion category. Also, the following 2 tabs are displayed:
  • Overview: The relevant storage system information is displayed. Also, you can view the detailed analysis that explains why the suggestion is generated.
  • Recommendations: Based on the AI-powered suggestions, IBM Storage Insights provides smart recommendations such as evaluate storage partition placement if the storage capacity is not sufficient. The recommendations vary based on the suggestion category, such as capacity, performance, or warranty.
Click Back or upper-left arrow icon in the card to return to the previous suggestions screen. Click close icon at the upper right or Close in the detailed suggestion view to return to the overview dashboard.

Informational widgets

You can see the following widgets on the FlashSystem grid dashboard:
  • Capacity: Capacity widget in individual device dashboard displays the total usable capacity values as a donut chart, used capacity, available capacity, data reduction, total savings, and provisioned data property details.
    Capacity view for IBM Storage FlashSystem devices running firmware version 9.1.0 or later: If all the storage systems that are part of FlashSystem grid, running firmware version 9.1.0 or later and using Flash Core Module (FCM) drives with latest CLI support, the bar chart displays both percentage and numerical values for the following capacity metrics:
    • Physical capacity
    • Logical capacity
    • Capacity savings
    • Logical used capacity breakdown
    • Provisioned capacity
    Note: Update the data collectors to view the capacity metrics in the bar chart.