Navigation

IBM Spectrum Control provides many of the functions for managing a storage environment. To access the functions in its GUI, use the menu bar at the top of the main window.

GUI element	Description
Page banner	Use the banner at the top of every page to complete the following tasks: View the name of the product license that is active. Access resource pages and main product functions from the menu bar. View a list of failed tasks by using the failed tasks icon . You can retry or clear those tasks from the list. View a list of tasks that are running by using the running tasks icon . You can see how long the tasks are running. View the ID and role of the user who is logged in. The role of a user determines the product functions that are available to that user. For more information about roles, see Role-based authorization. Access the online help to view information about the currently displayed page and the overall product. Enter and exit rollup mode by using the rollup mode icon . You must add at least one subordinate rollup server for the rollup mode icon to display in the banner.
Home	Dashboard Use the dashboard to view the overall status of monitored resources and identify potential problem areas in a storage environment. You can learn about: Condition and usage of resources Entities that consume storage on those resources Number and status of unacknowledged alert conditions that are detected on the monitored resources Most active storage systems in your environment. Performance Monitors Use performance monitors to collect information about the performance of storage systems and switches. This information includes key performance metrics and the percentage of data collections that succeeded during the most recent 24 hours when the performance monitor was active. Alerts Use alerts to be notified when certain configuration, status, and performance conditions are detected on monitored resources. Tasks Manage the tasks that are created when you complete the following actions: Place volumes on the tiers that match the workload requirements of the volume. Move or convert volumes. Move volumes from overutilized pools to pools that are less used. System Management View information about the overall condition of IBM Spectrum Control. You can view information about the servers on which the product is installed. This information includes component server and database status, certain server alerts and database connection alerts, server file-system capacity information, and remote volume-performance information.
Storage	Add storage systems for monitoring and view asset, status, and performance information about their internal and related resources. You can also complete the following actions to manage and administer storage systems: Modify the schedules for data collection. Place volumes on the tiers that match the workload requirements of the volume. Move or convert volumes. Move volumes from overutilized pools to pools that are less used. Add resources to a capacity pool. Open the management GUIs for storage systems. Update login credentials. Acknowledge conditions and statuses.
Servers	Add servers and hypervisors for monitoring and view asset and status information about their internal and related resources. You can also complete the following actions to manage and administer these resources: Deploy Storage Resource agents to servers for full monitoring. Modify the schedules for data collection. Modify and upgrade Storage Resource agents. Acknowledge conditions and statuses.
Network	Add switches and fabrics for monitoring and view asset, status, and performance information about their internal and related resources. You can also complete the following actions to manage and administer these resources: Modify the schedules for data collection. Setting or modifying the zoning policy. Open the management GUI for a switch. Acknowledge conditions and statuses.
Groups	Add applications and departments to combine resources that are grouped by applications and departments. Applications and departments are used to monitor and view status, capacity, and performance information, and view details about their related resources. You can also complete the following actions to manage and administer applications and departments: Create applications and departments to model data for storage resources, allowing for enhanced capacity trending and performance troubleshooting. View the status of resources that make up the applications and departments. Create resource filters to automatically add resources to applications. Add resources directly to applications and add applications to existing applications and departments. Add departments to existing departments. View subcomponent (member application) information to support hierarchal levels of storage grouping. Remove applications and departments. Review the distribution of capacity in your storage environment to determine whether you have sufficient capacity to meet the demands of your tiered storage.
Advanced Analytics	Configure IBM Spectrum Control for reclaiming storage that is not being used. Discontinued support: Other advanced analytics features, such as cloud configuration, provisioning, and optimization, are no longer supported in IBM Spectrum Control. While these features might still work in this release, it's recommended that you use another tool for your provisioning and optimization needs, when possible. For a complete list of discontinued features, see Discontinued features in IBM Spectrum Control.
Reports	Use the Reports option to create, configure, schedule, and send chargeback reports for applications, departments, hypervisors, and servers. Use IBM Spectrum Control when you want to individually view details about resources, for example when you want to troubleshoot a resource. Use the IBM® Cognos® Analytics reporting tool to analyze multiple storage systems, switches, servers, and hypervisors. For example, you can compare performance metrics across multiple storage systems. You can also view a report about the aggregate volume load that is on a server or hypervisor. Use the IBM Cognos Analytics reporting tool to schedule reports to run on different systems and with different options. You can specify schedules and output formats for the reports, and different ways to share the reports. For information about how to get started with the IBM Cognos Analytics reporting tool, see http://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/en/SSEP7J_11.0.0.
Settings	Complete the following actions to customize IBM Spectrum Control for your environment: Configure IBM Spectrum Control to send alert notifications by email, using SNMP traps, or using a Tivoli®® Netcool®®/OMNIbus server. An alert notification is sent when an alert condition is detected on the monitored resources in your environment. Create and modify alert policies to manage the alert definitions and notification settings that apply to different sets of resources. Modify the authentication repository and assign IBM Spectrum Control roles to user groups. Roles determine the product functions that are available to users. Specify how long to retain the data that is collected about resources and the log files that are generated by IBM Spectrum Control. Add and configure rollup servers so you can view capacity and status information about resources that are managed by your IBM Spectrum Control servers.

Keyboard navigation

Most of the features of the IBM Spectrum Control GUI are accessible by using the keyboard. For those features that are not accessible, equivalent function is available by using the command-line interface (CLI), except as noted in the product release notes.

You can use keys or key combinations to perform operations and initiate many menu actions that can also be done through mouse actions. The following sections describe the keys or key combinations for different parts of the GUI:

For navigating in the GUI and the context-sensitive help system:

To navigate to the next link, button, or topic within a panel, press Tab.
To move to the previous link, button, or topic within a panel, press Shift+Tab.
To select an object, when the object is in focus, press Enter.

For actions menus:

To navigate to the grid header, press Tab.
To reach the drop-down field, press the Left Arrow or Right Arrow key.
To open the drop-down menu, press Enter.
To select the menu items, press the Up Arrow or Down Arrow key.
To start the action, press Enter.

For filters:

To specify a filter option and text:

Press Tab to navigate to the magnifying glass icon.
Press the Up Arrow or Down Arrow key to navigate the filtering list.
Press Enter to select a filtering option.
When a filtering option is selected, the cursor moves to the filter text box. Type the filter text and press Enter. To reset a filter, press Enter.

For text fields:

To navigate to text fields, press Tab.
To navigate to the fields that are available for editing, press Tab.
To navigate to the next field or to the Submit button, press Tab.

For tables or lists:

To navigate between column headers, focus on a column header and use the Left Arrow and Right Arrow keys to move to other column headers.
To navigate between data cells, focus on a data cell and use the Left, Right, Up, Down, Pageup, and Pagedown Arrow keys.
To sort a column, focus on a column header and press Enter. The focus remains on the column header after the sort occurs.
To change the size of a column, focus on the column header, hold Shift+Control, and press the Left or Right Arrow keys.
To follow a link in a data cell, focus on a data cell and press Shift+F9.
To open a menu for a table row, focus on the row and press Shift+F10.
To select consecutive rows, select the first row and hold Shift, press the Up or Down Arrow keys to go to the last row in the range, and press the Space bar to add the new rows to the selection.
To select non-consecutive rows, select a row and hold Control, press the Up or Down Arrow keys, and press the Space bar to add the new row to the selection.

Restriction: For Chinese languages, the keyboard combination Control+Space bar is not enabled for selecting multiple rows at the same time.

Keyboard navigation with Firefox for Mac users: If you're using Firefox on a Mac with IBM Spectrum Control and want to use keyboard navigation, complete the following steps:

In Firefox, go to Preferences > Advanced > General and clear the check mark for Always use the cursor keys to navigate within pages. This step enables the use of Tab key to navigate between GUI elements.
In the URL address bar of Firefox, type about:config and press Enter.
Tip: If a warning prompt is displayed, click the button to accept the risk of changing browser settings. Existing settings won't be changed; instead, you'll be adding a preference setting for accessibility.
To add an accessibility preference for tab focus, right-click on the configuration page and select New > Integer.
In the New integer value window, type accessibility.tabfocus and click OK.
Type 7 to set the integer value and click OK.
Open your Mac's System Preferences app, go to Keyboard > Shortcuts, and select All Controls.