Learn more about installing and administering data collectors

To help you install data collectors, information is provided about extracting the files, connecting securely to IBM Storage Insights Pro, and installing the data collector service. Guidelines are provided for setting the properties of your data collectors so that they continue to collect performance metadata during service outages.

Extract the data collector

The files that are required to install and run the data collector are provided in a compressed file. Download the compressed file on the operating system where you want to run the data collector. When the download is complete, use an extraction utility that is provided with the operating system to extract the file contents to a directory of your choice. Ensure that the directory that you select is empty and that the directory name and the names of any directories in the directory path follow these naming conventions:

Directory names must not include special characters such as these:
```
% & ! ( ) { } [ ] ; , ' ` ^ = $ # ~ + @ \ / : * ? " < > |
```
If you plan to add any non-IBM® storage systems, directory names must not start with any of the Windows reserved words such as these:
```
CON, PRN, AUX, NUL, COM1, COM2, COM3, COM4, COM5, COM6, COM7, COM8, COM9,
LPT1, LPT2, LPT3, LPT4, LPT5, LPT6, LPT7, LPT8, LPT9
```
The total characters for the names in the directory path must not exceed 256 characters.

Important:

Where the data collector is installed on a Windows system, the total characters for the names in the directory path should not exceed 50 characters.
On the server or virtual machine where you install the data collector, you must provide at least 1 GB of RAM and 3 GB of disk space.

Ensure that data collectors can access IBM Storage Insights

Data collectors send metadata about your devices to the endpoint for IBM Storage Insights at https://insights.ibm.com. To view that metadata and monitor your devices in IBM Storage Insights, you must ensure that your data collectors can access that endpoint URL.

To verify that a data collector can connect to https://insights.ibm.com, run the following command on the server or virtual machine where it's installed:

curl https://insights.ibm.com -I

If the connection is successful, output similar to the following is displayed:

HTTP/2 200
date: Fri, 23 Jul 2021 01:30:30 GMT
content-type: text/html
cf-ray: 6733ed73ff281d39-BLR
last-modified: Thu, 17 Sep 2020 12:13:01 GMT
vary: Accept-Encoding
cf-cache-status: DYNAMIC
expect-ct: max-age=604800, report-uri="https://report-uri.cloudflare.com/cdn-cgi/beacon/expect-ct"
x-amz-request-id: 2a462ec5-c60d-4abb-bff9-8017d7b216fc
x-clv-request-id: 2a462ec5-c60d-4abb-bff9-8017d7b216fc
x-clv-s3-version: 2.5
server: cloudflare

A Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate is used to secure communication between the data collector and IBM Storage Insights.

Firewall requirements: To connect to your instance of IBM Storage Insights, your firewall must be configured to allow outbound communication on the default HTTPS port 443 using the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP). The User Datagram Protocol (UDP) is not supported.

Manage disk space during service outages

The data collectors continue to collect performance metadata if there is a disruption in communication between IBM Storage Insights and the data collectors. To avoid gaps in your performance charts and reports, the performance metadata that was collected during the outage is loaded into IBM Storage Insights when the connection is reestablished.

The data collectors require a certain amount of disk space to store the performance history metadata if there is a communication disruption.

The following properties are available to manage the disk space requirements on the server or virtual machine where the data collector is installed.

Table 1. Disk space requirements for data collectors
Property	Description	Default value (MiB)
`cacheMinFreeSpaceMiB`	The minimum amount of space that must be available on the server when performance metadata is collected. For example, if the property value is set to 2048 MiB, the data collector stops collecting metadata when there is only 2048 MiB remaining on the server.	2048
`cacheMaxTotalSpaceMiB`	The maximum amount of disk space that the data collector can use to store performance data during a service outage. Rule of thumb: 2 MiB of space is recommended for every 1000 volumes that you're monitoring. If extended periods of network outages are being experienced you need to increase this setting to retain all the data collected during network outages.	240

Important: Ensure that the server or virtual machine where the data collector is installed has the following available disk space, as a minimum:

cacheMinFreeSpaceMiB + cacheMaxTotalSpaceMiB

You can set the properties in the custom.properties file in the <data_collector_install_directory>/conf directory.

Configure how often connection status is updated for candidate devices

The connections between your data collectors and the devices that are visible to them are tested automatically by IBM Storage Insights. This test can help you track when the device was last contacted and if a device can’t be reached.

For devices that are monitored by the data collector, the connection status is checked frequently, such as when probes and performance monitors collect metadata, credentials are changed, connections are tested manually, and other operations. If a monitored device is unreachable, metadata can’t be collected.

For devices that are not monitored but are candidates to be monitored, the connection between a device and the data collector is tested every 10 minutes. If a candidate device is unreachable, the data collector can’t be assigned to monitor it.

To change frequency of how often the connection between a candidate device and the data collector is tested, you can configure the connectivityCheckIntervalMin property in the custom.properties file for the data collector. The custom.properties file is located in the <data_collector_install_directory>/conf directory on the server or virtual machine where the data collector is installed.

Run the data collector service installer script

A service is used to run the data collector. To install this service, run the installDataCollectorService.bat script for Windows operating systems or the installDataCollectorService.sh script for AIX® and Linux® operating systems.

To run the script, you must have Administrator authority on Windows operating systems or root authority on AIX or Linux operating systems.

After the data collector service starts, the data collector runs continuously unless you stop or uninstall the service.

Antivirus software considerations

Installing a data collector involves making use of your operating system in manners typical for installing new application software. If your antivirus software is set on the maximum mode, it might prevent some of your changes from being accepted.

To verify that your deployment completes correctly, enable your antivirus software product on the target server or virtual machine to allow new executable files to be created in the installation directory of the data collector. If your antivirus software prevents the monitoring of some of your devices, such as XIV®, Hitachi VSP, Dell EMC, NetApp, or Pure storage, add the related executable files for those devices to your allowlist.

Antivirus software considerations:

If McAfee Adaptive Threat Protection is enabled on the server where an IBM Storage Insights data collector is installed, it might prevent the data collector from starting or stopping. To avoid this issue, open McAfee Adaptive Threat Protection and go to settings. In the Real Protect Scanning (Windows only) section, verify whether Enable client-based scanning is selected. If so, select Low from the Sensitivity level list.
If Symantec Endpoint Protection is enabled on the server where an IBM Storage Insights data collector is installed, it prevents the data collector from running properly. To avoid this issue, remove or disable Symantec Endpoint Protection on the server where the data collector is installed.
If Trellix endpoint security is enabled on the server where an IBM Storage Insights data collector is installed, it may prevent the data collector from running properly. To avoid this issue, remove or disable Trellix endpoint security on the server where the data collector is installed.
If Forcepoint One Endpoint is enabled on the server where an IBM Storage Insights data collector is installed, it may prevent the data collector from running properly. To avoid this issue, remove or disable Forcepoint One Endpoint on the server where the data collector is installed.
Installing and enabling Fortinet Data Loss Prevention on a server where the IBM Storage Insights data collector is also installed, can disrupt the data collector's operation. To prevent this issue, remove or disable Fortinet Data Loss Prevention on that server.

For more information about McAfee Adaptive Threat Protection, see the following links:

Frequently asked questions about data collectors

View answers to common questions about installing and using data collectors.