IBM FlashSystem Comprestimator

Comprestimator can also be used without any flag to get help and usage information. Following is an example of the output you should expect for each analyzed device/partition:

Examples

Linux

To display the usage information:

# ./comprestimator

To list all the available device names in Linux:

# fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 78.3 GB, 78383153152 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9529 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000021
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 8555 68718006 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 8556 8924 2963992+ 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 8556 8924 2963961 82 Linux swap / Solaris

Use the device names listed in the output, in this example: /dev/sda1, /dev/sda2, /dev/sda5.

To run a standard scan of /dev/sdb device (Linux version):

# ./comprestimator –d /dev/sdb -s DRP

Version: 1.5.3.1 (Build w0117)
Start time: 13/07/2013 15:54:02.918234
Device name: /dev/dm-2
Device size: 500.0 GB
Number of processes: 10
Exhaustive: no
Sample# | Device | size (GB) | Compressed Size(GB) | Total Savings(GB) | Total Savings(%) |Thin Provision Savings(%) | Compression Savings (%) | Compression Accuracy Range(%)
3425 | /dev/dm-2 |500.0|112.8| 387.1 |77.4% |39.6% |62.6% |4.7%

VMWare vSphere ESXi 4

The device names that can be scanned using Comprestimator on an ESXi 4 Server can be obtained by using the following command when logged in to the ESXi server with root account using SSH:

~ # esxcli corestorage device list

To display a shorter, more readable list, you can use the following command to filter out unnecessary information:

~ # esxcli corestorage device list | grep Dev
    Device Type: Direct-Access
    Devfs Path:
/vmfs/devices/disks/naa.600605b0042ff75017a86e2e531227e7
    Device Type: Direct-Access
    Devfs Path: /vmfs/devices/disks/naa.6005076801ac861ef800000000000007
    Device Type: Direct-Access
    Devfs Path: /vmfs/devices/disks/naa.6005076801ac861ef800000000000008
    Device Type: Direct-Access
    Devfs Path: /vmfs/devices/disks/naa.6005076801ac861ef80000000000000a
    Device Type: Direct-Access
    Devfs Path: /vmfs/devices/disks/naa.6005076801ac861ef80000000000000b
    Device Type: Direct-Access
    Devfs Path: /vmfs/devices/disks/naa.6005076801ac861ef80000000000000d
    Device Type: CD-ROM
    Devfs Path: /vmfs/devices/cdrom/mpx.vmhba0:C0:T0:L0

This will list only the device types and their respective path names. The device path names can then be used as arguments for Comprestimator.

To scan a device in ESXi 4:

 # ./comprestimator -d /vmfs/devices/disks/naa.600605b0042ff75017a86e2e531227e7

VMWare vSphere ESXi 5 or later

The device names that can be scanned using Comprestimator on an ESXi 5 Server can be obtained by using the following command when logged in to the ESXi server with root account using SSH:

~ # esxcli storage core device list

To display a shorter, more readable list, you can use the following command to filter out unnecessary information:

~ # esxcli storage core device list | grep Dev

This will list only the device types and their respective path names. The device path names can then be used as arguments for Comprestimator.

To scan a device in ESXi 5:

# ./comprestimator -d /vmfs/devices/disks/naa.60050768029c00e8140000000000002d

Windows

To scan a device in Windows, first identify the disk number using the -l argument:

# comprestimator –l

Drive number [0]        \\?\ide#diskhitachi_hts725032a9a364pc3zc70f#5&1e544866&0&0.0.0#{53f56307-b6bf-11d0-94f2-00a0c91efb8b}

The drive numbers reported match the “Disk x” reported in Windows Disk Management. Now run a standard scan of disk 0:

# comprestimator –n 0 -v
Version: 1.5.1.1 (Build w0082)
Start time: 17/07/2013 17:33:08.728421
Device name: \\?\ide#diskhitachi_hts725032a9a364pc3zc70f#5&1e54866&0&0.0.0#{53f56307-b6bf-11d0-94f2-00a0c91efb8b}
Device size: 298 GB
Number of processes: 10
Exhaustive: no
...
...

Alternatively, the drive numbers reported match the “Disk #” reported in Windows Disk Management. Now run a standard scan of disk 0:

# comprestimator –d "\\?\ide#diskhitachi_hts725032a9a364_________________pc3zc70f#5&1e544866&0&0.0.0#{53f56307-b6bf-11d0-94f2-00a0c91efb8b}"

Known issues

The following is a list of known issues in the software current release. These issues are due to a combination of environment constraints and current version limitations.

Troubleshooting

Linux, ESXi

1. Run the tool with –v option – check output;
2. Check the contents of the log file – comprestimator.log in the current working directory;
3. Confirm that the device is readable using standard UNIX commands:
   bash-4.2# dd bs=262144 if=/dev/rdsk/c1t0d0s2 of=/dev/null
4. If the device cannot be read, verify that it is indeed a raw device path name;
5. If the utility crashes or hangs, rerun the utility in verbose mode, and with trace information:
   # strace –o /tmp/strace.txt –f ./comprestimator –v –d /dev/sdb
6. Check the contents of the log file – "comprestimator.log" in the current working directory.