Adding storage systems

Add the storage systems that you want to monitor in IBM Spectrum® Control.

When you add block storage systems, asset, capacity, and configuration metadata and performance metadata is automatically collected and analyzed. When you add storage systems that manage block and file storage, the asset, capacity, and configuration metadata for file storage is also automatically collected and analyzed.
Metadata Collection Schedule: By default, asset, capacity, and configuration metadata is aggregated and collected daily. Performance metadata is collected at the following intervals:
  • Every 1 minute for IBM® block storage systems
  • Every 5 minutes for Dell EMC Unity storage systems
  • Every 5 minutes for Hitachi VSP storage systems
  • Every 5 minutes for NetApp storage systems that are running ONTAP 9
  • Every 5 minutes for Pure storage systems
  • Every 15 minutes for other Dell EMC block storage systems.

You can add multiple storage systems at the same time, or add them one by one. To add multiple storage systems, the storage systems must be of the same type and share authentication credentials.

Important:
  • To add storage systems, you must have Administrator privileges.
  • When a monitored device experiences the Daylight Saving Time (DST) clock change during the fall of the year, it generates duplicate performance samples during the fall back hour. IBM Spectrum Control detects these duplicate samples and generates the error HWNPM4302E. This behavior is expected because the clock shifts back by one hour, causing the device to produce performance samples with duplicate timestamps in IBM Spectrum Control.
  • When a monitored device undergoes a Daylight Saving Time (DST) change or a time zone update, additional alerts for port bandwidth utilization, high CPU utilization, or other metrics may be generated due to overlapping or missing time intervals.
You can add the following types of storage systems for monitoring:
Table 1. Storage systems that can be monitored in IBM Spectrum Control

The table lists the storage systems that you can add for monitoring. The first column is the storage system type. A check mark in the second column indicates that you can add many of these storage systems at the same time.
Storage system Can add many at same time.
DS8000® Checkmark
Dell EMC Unity Checkmark
Dell EMC VMAX
Dell EMC VNX
Dell EMC VNXe
IBM Storage FlashSystem 5000 Checkmark
IBM Storage FlashSystem 5100 Checkmark
IBM Storage FlashSystem 5200 Checkmark
IBM Storage FlashSystem 7200 Checkmark
IBM Storage FlashSystem 7300 Checkmark
IBM Storage FlashSystem 9100 Checkmark
IBM Storage FlashSystem 9200 Checkmark
IBM Storage FlashSystem 9500 Checkmark
IBM Storage FlashSystem V9000 Checkmark
IBM Storage FlashSystem 900 Checkmark
IBM FlashSystem A9000 Checkmark
IBM FlashSystem A9000R Checkmark
Hitachi VSP Checkmark
NetApp ONTAP 9 Checkmark
NetApp ONTAP 8 (7- mode)
Pure Checkmark
IBM Storage Accelerate™ Checkmark
IBM Storage Scale™ (ESS and GSS)
IBM Storage Virtualize™ Checkmark
IBM Storage Virtualize for Public Cloud Checkmark
SAN Volume Controller Checkmark
Storwize® V3500 Checkmark
Storwize V3700 Checkmark
Storwize V5000 Checkmark
Storwize V5000E Checkmark
Storwize V7000 Checkmark
IBMStorwize Flex System V7000 Storage Node
Storwize V7000 Unified
XIV® Checkmark
All others (managed by SMI-S providers)
Restriction:
  • When you add a storage system for monitoring, you must enter a user name and password that is used to connect to that storage system. In rare cases, special characters in the user name or password might not be allowed by IBM Spectrum Control. If you can't add a storage system because of restricted characters, change its credentials and try to add it again. Then, open a ticket for the character limitation so that it can be addressed in a future update.
  • IBM Spectrum Control doesn't support monitoring non-IBM software-defined storage devices. However, it can monitor IBM software-defined storage devices, such as IBM SAN Volume Controller. For a list of storage devices that can be monitored, check out https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/6249369.
Tips:
  1. To add block storage systems, go to Storage > Block Storage Systems. To add a file storage system, go to Storage > File Storage Systems. To add an object storage system, go to Storage > Object Storage Systems.
  2. Click Add Storage Systems or Add Storage System.
  3. Click the icon for the type of storage system that you want to add.
    Click this iconTo add these storage systems
    Storwize Family IBM® Storwize® V3500, Storwize V3700, Storwize V5000Storwize V7000
    SVC or Storage Virtualize SAN Volume Controller, IBM Storage Virtualize for Public Cloud, or IBM Storage Virtualize software-only clusters
    FlashSystem Family IBM Storage FlashSystem 5000 (formerly known as IBM Storwize V5000), , IBM Storage FlashSystem 5200, IBM Storage FlashSystem 7200 (formerly known as IBM Storwize V7000), IBM Storage FlashSystem 7300, IBM Storage FlashSystem 9100, IBM Storage FlashSystem 9200, IBM Storage FlashSystem 9500, IBM Storage FlashSystem V9000, IBM Storage FlashSystem 900, IBM FlashSystem A9000, IBM FlashSystem A9000R
    Dell EMC
    • Unity
    • VMAX family with support for SMI-S 1.6
    • VNX family with support for SMI-S 1.6
    • VNXe family with support for SMI-S 1.6
    • All other Dell EMC storage systems with support for SMI-S 1.2
    Hitachi Hitachi VSP
    NetApp
    • ONTAP 9
    • ONTAP 8 (7- mode)
    Pure
    • FlashArray//M
    • FlashArray//X
    Others Other non-IBM storage systems
  4. Specify the connection details and the authentication credentials for the storage systems that you want to add, then click Connect.
    You can close the window and continue your work. To change the default probes and performance monitors, keep the window open and update them when the storage systems are connected.
The storage systems are added for monitoring. Each storage system is automatically added to the default alert policy for the storage system type. A probe is automatically run to collect status and asset information about the storage systems.

Storage systems can be configured for block storage, file storage, a combination of block and file storage, or a combination of file and object storage. The method that a storage system uses for managing data determines the internal resources and object resources that are monitored.

After you add storage systems, a task is added to the list of running tasks on the page banner. If the task fails, the task is added to the list of failed tasks on the page banner. You can retry failed tasks or clear them from the list.

When the collection of data is complete, you can view status information and capacity data about the storage system on the resource list page for the block, file, or object storage system. For example, for block storage systems, you can view the information on the Block Storage Systems page.

After the probe is run, agentless servers are updated with any new information about the host connections on the storage systems. You can review the agentless servers on the Servers page, and make any changes that are required.

Managing alert conditions and notification settings: Review the alert configuration for the storage system. You can change which alert policy manages the storage system. You can also set a storage system to not be managed by any policy.