What's new for IBM Spectrum Control Version 5.4.0

New features and enhancements are available in IBM Spectrum Control 5.4.0.

What's New Features
Enhanced support for switches and fabrics Connecting directly to Brocade switches and fabrics
More support for non-IBM® devices Monitoring performance for Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform F and G Series
Enhanced support for DS8000® Viewing the name and VOLSER properties for DS8000 CKD volumes
Enhanced support for IBM Spectrum Virtualize User roles for monitoring IBM Spectrum Virtualize
Licensing and upgrade changes

Connecting directly to Brocade switches and fabrics

You can now connect directly to Brocade switches that run Fabric OS 8.2.1 or later.

That's good news if you're planning to upgrade your Brocade switches soon, or to invest in newer switches. You no longer need Brocade Network Advisor (BNA) or extra servers to monitor your switches and fabrics. Connect directly to the switch by using the Fabric OS REST API and get the same key inventory and performance information that you got when you used BNA. Using the REST API is simple and reliable way to monitor your switches.

Switch details page showing a Brocade switch managed by REST API

See Planning for Brocade.

Monitoring performance for Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform F and G Series

You can now monitor the performance of Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform F and G Series storage systems. You can also define performance alerts so that you're notified of bandwidth, latency, and other issues before they impact your storage environment. And, you can compare your storage workloads and response times across your entire storage environment.

For example, view the Total I/O Rate and the Overall Response Time of your Hitachi VSP system.

The screen capture shows Hitachi VSP performance

To confirm details about the supported storage systems including minimum firmware levels, review the Hitachi support page.

See Performance metrics for storage systems.

Viewing the name and VOLSER properties for DS8000 CKD volumes

For DS8000, you can now view both the volume name and the volume serial number (VOLSER) for your count-key-data (CKD) volumes. On the Volumes page, the following changes were made:
  • Name shows the name that was assigned to the volume when it was created. Previously, the VOLSER was shown as the name of the volume. In IBM Spectrum Control, the name is the primary identifier for the volume.
  • VOLSER is a new column that shows the volume serial number for DS8000 CKD volumes.
Don't forget to update tools that use the REST API: The REST API for IBM Spectrum Control was also updated so that you can retrieve the name and VOLSER properties for the volume. Ensure that you update any 3rd-party tools or reports that you use to show information that is retrieved by the REST API.

User roles for monitoring IBM Spectrum Virtualize

You can now use a role with a lower level of authority on storage systems that run IBM Spectrum Virtualize 8.3.1.2 or later to collect performance metadata. When you add these storage systems, users with a lower level of authority than Administrator, such as users with the Monitor role, can collect performance metadata.

See User roles for collecting performance metadata from IBM Spectrum Virtualize.

Name updates for licenses

The following licenses were renamed:
Names of IBM Spectrum Control 5.3 licenses Names of IBM Spectrum Control 5.4.0 licenses
IBM Spectrum Control Standard Edition IBM Spectrum Control
IBM Spectrum Control Standard Select Edition IBM Spectrum Control Select Edition
These licensing changes are automatically applied. No action is required on your part. For example, if you owned the IBM Spectrum Control Standard Edition in previous releases, your license is now called IBM Spectrum Control.
Standard Edition bonus: If you owned a Standard license in a previous release, you now have access to the following features:
  • Chargeback, consumer, and rollup reports
  • Storage reclamation
Advanced Edition: If you own the Advanced Edition, you are not impacted by the renaming of product licenses.
Discontinued features: For all product licenses, the support for some product features were discontinued in this release. For a complete list, see Discontinued features in IBM Spectrum Control.

Enhancements to the Licensing page

The Licensing page (Settings > Licensing) was updated to make it easier for you to understand your licensing and determine how much storage you can add before exceeding your license.

The following updates were made:
  • The automatic assignment of storage category for most storage systems. Fewer manual assignments are now required.
  • Improved notifications to make you aware of actions that you must complete.
  • The names of column headings were changed and the hover help was revised to help you complete your compliance check.
  • The capacity to be licensed is now shown in tebibytes (TiB) for consistency with the other capacity values on the page.
Tip: For storage virtualizers and IBM Spectrum Scale, the capacity to be licensed includes the capacity from back-end storage systems that are not monitored by IBM Spectrum Control. The license for the monitored back-end storage is recorded separately and has its own record on the Licensing page.
Licensing page

See Licensing.

Upgrade update

You cannot upgrade from any release before IBM Spectrum Control 5.3.0. If you are currently running a version of IBM Spectrum Control earlier than 5.3.0, you must upgrade to IBM Spectrum Control 5.3.0 or later.

For more information on platform support, see External link iconIBM Spectrum Control interoperability matrix.

Product fixes and security updates

In every release of IBM Spectrum® Control, IBM fixes issues that are reported by our internal teams and by our customers. Along with fixes, improving the operation and security of the product is also a priority. See what's been updated and fixed in this release:

Limitations and known issues

For information about limitations and known issues that might occur when you use IBM Spectrum Control 5.4.0, see External link iconLimitations and known issues.

Related information