I’ve patched the DIY Heatmaps script, fixing a problem with the table names generated in the database files. You can download it from the Utilities page.
Thanks
Mat.
Tag Archives: navisphere
EMC – DIY Heatmaps – Updated Version
Mat has patched the DIY Heatmaps script, fixing a problem with current model VNXs and updated naviseccli whereby using the –get_drive_type –display_drive_type options of the heatmap script would cause a JavaScript error in the resulting heatmap HTML file. You can download it from the Utilities page.
EMC – DIY Heatmaps – Updated Version
Mat has updated the DIY Heatmaps script to support SAS-type Flash drives. Download it from here, take it for a spin and let us know what you think. And tell your friends.
EMC – Unisphere / Analyzer weirdness
Mat came across a weird problem with Unisphere the other day while he was trying to retrieve some nar files for EMC to look at. Normally I like to post solutions up here but in this case I don’t know what the solution is. Previously, it was my understanding that we could retrieve access multiple nar files from multiple arrays in the same domain via the one Unisphere session. This doesn’t seem to be the case anymore. As background, we run 4 CX4-960s and a CX4-240 in a single Unisphere domain. These arrays were all upgraded to 30.525 recently.
Normally, I’d login to one of the arrays and go to Monitoring -> Analyzer and then Retrieve Archive. So far, so good.
But when I change the “Retrieve Archive From:” selection, I get the following.
Notice that I’m trying to retrieve files from the array serial number 0260, but I’m still seeing 0679, even after hitting Refresh. Maybe it’s Unisphere on that array, let’s try another.
Ok, I’ve logged on to array 0260 and can now retrieve the files I want. But do I still get weird behaviour? Yes, yes I do.
If anyone has any ideas, I’m all ears. I think Mat is going to log a call at some stage.
EMC – DIY Heatmaps – Updated Version
Mat has updated the DIY Heatmaps for EMC CLARiiON and VNX arrays to version 4.01. You can get it from the Utilities page. Any and all feedback welcome.
Updates and Changes to the script
- Add database storage / retrieval for performance stats. The database size will be approximately 2.1 x the size of the NAR file based on the default interval of 30 minutes. On my PC it took a bit over 9 hours to process 64 NAR files into a database, the NAR files were 1.95GB and the resulting database was 4.18GB. However running the script over the database to produce a heatmap only takes seconds.
- Changed to use temporary tables for transitional data. This should slightly reduce the size of the database file, as the temporary data is not written to disk.
- Changed the way the script processes multiple NAR files, the script previously bunched all NAR files into a single naviseccli process, this was problematic if you were processing multiple large NAR files, the script now processes them one at a time.
- Add command line options:
–output_db Output the processed NAR file to the nominated database
–input_db Use the nominated database as the source of data for the heatmap
–s_date Specify a start date/time must be in the format (with quotes if specifying date and time “mm/dd/yyyy hh:mm:ss”
–e_date Specify an end date/time
–retrieve_all_nar When retrieving NAR files from the array, you can now retireve all nar files (it wont overwrite files already downloaded)
–process_only_new If you are downloading NAR files, only process files that haven’t been downloaded previously
–max_nar_files Set the maximum number of files to download and process
Please let us know if you find any bugs or problems with the script, or if you have any further suggestions for changes and enhancements.
Thanks
Mat.
EMC – Maximum Pool LUN Size
Mat has been trying to create a 42TB LUN to use temporarily for Centera backups. I don’t want to go into why we’re doing Centera backups, but let’s just say we need the space. He created a Storage Pool on one of the CX4-960s, using 28 2TB spindles and 6+1 private RAID Groups. However, when he tried to bind the LUN, he got the following error.
Weird. So what if we set the size to 44000GB?
No, that doesn’t work either. Turns out, I should really read some of the stuff that I post here, like my article entitled “EMC CLARiiON VNX7500 Configuration guidelines – Part 1“, where I mention that the maximum size of a Pool LUN is 16TB. I was wrong in any case, as it looks more like it’s 14TB. Seems like we’ll be using RAID Groups and MetaLUNs to get over the line on this one.
EMC – MirrorView Secondary Image States
I sometimes get asked what the definition of these states is, and I frequently have trouble defining it clearly. Fortunately, EMC’s MirrorView Knowledgebook has been updated to incorporate Release 32, and Appendix A has some succinct definitions. If you can’t be bothered looking them up for yourself, here they are.
- Synchronized – The secondary image is identical to the primary. This state persists only until the next write to the primary image, at which time the image state becomes Consistent.
- Consistent – The secondary image is identical to either the current primary image or to some previous instance of the primary image. This means that the secondary image is available for recovery when you promote it.
- Synchronizing – The software is applying changes to the secondary image to mirror the primary image, but the current contents of the secondary are not known and are not usable for recovery.
- Out-of-Sync – The secondary image requires synchronization with the primary image. The image is unusable for recovery.
- Rolling Back (MV/A only) – A successful promotion occurred where there was an unfinished update to the secondary image. This state persists until the Rollback operation completes.
I think one of the key things here is to pay attention to the various image states, particularly if you’re seeing a lot of out-of sync states on your secondaries. You don’t want to have to explain to people why they can’t recover secondaries in the event of a serious failure. And, more importantly, get on Powerlink and check out the MirrorView Knowledgebook (H2417).
EMC – DIY Heatmaps – Updated Version
Mat has updated the DIY Heatmaps for EMC CLARiiON and VNX arrays to version 3.0211. You can get it from the Utilities page here. Any and all feedback welcome. Changes below:
Add –min_colour, –mid_colour, –max_colour options (just a change of spelling of colour)
Remove case sensitivity for colours
Added FC SSD drive type
EMC – CX4 FAST Cache cosmetic issues and using /debug
I noticed that one of our CX4s was exhibiting some odd behaviour the other day. When looking at the System Information window, I noticed that FAST Cache seemed broken. Here’s a picture of it.
Going to the FAST Cache tab on System Properties yielded the same result, as did the output of naviseccli (using naviseccli -h IPaddress cache -fast -info). Interestingly, though, it was still showing up with dirty pages.
We tried recreating it, but the 8 * 100GB EFDs we were using for FAST Cache weren’t available. So we logged a call, and after a bit of back and forth with support, worked out how to fix it. A few things to note first though. If support tell you that FAST Cache can’t be used because you’re using EFDs, not SSDs, ask to have the call escalated. Secondly, the solution I’m showing here fixes the specific problem we had. If you frig around with the tool you may end up causing yourself more pain than it’s worth.
So, to fix the problem we had, we needed to log in to the /debug page on the CX4. To do this, go to http://<yourSPaddress>/debug.
You’ll need your Navisphere or LDAP credentials to gain access. Once you’ve logged in, the page should look something like the following (paying particular attention to the warning).
Now scroll down until you get to “Force A Full Poll”. Click on that and wait a little while.
Once this is done, you can log back into Unisphere and FAST Cache should look normal again.
Hooray!
EMC – naviseccli -AddUserSecurity
There are any number of reasons why you mightn’t want to store your CLARiiON credentials in an encrypted file in your home directory. I can’t think of any. This post will cover the basics of setting yourself up with a security file that means you won’t have to keep entering your username, scope and password every time you want to use naviseccli.
-AddUserSecurity
This is the command to add user security information to the security file on this host. You need to use the -scope switch to add scope information to the security file. You can also use the -password switch or enter your password into the password prompt, to supply the required password information to the security file. If you don’t specify the -user switch, naviseccli assumes that the currently logged in user is the username you wish to use. The -secfilepath switch is also optional with this command. Note that if you use the -secfilepath switch, you can specify an alternative location to your default home directory, for the security file on this host. Keep in mind that you will then need to use the -secfilepath switch in each subsequent command you issue. You might find this tiresome.
-RemoveUserSecurity
This blats any user security information about the current user from the security file on this host.
-scope 0|1|2
Specifies whether the user account on the storage system you want to log in to is global (0), local (1), or LDAP (2). A global account is, as the name implies, global for the Navisphere / Unisphere domain you’re working in. A local account is effective on only the storage systems for which the administrator creates the account. LDAP maps the username/password entries to an external LDAP or active directory server for authentication.
-secfilepath filepath
Stores the security file in a specified location. This is useful if for some reason you don’t want the security file stored in your default home directory.
Enough talk. Here’s an example of how to setup the security file.
c:\>naviseccli -AddUserSecurity -Scope 0 -user san_admin
Enter password:
Assuming that the user san_admin is valid for the domain, and assuming that I’ve entered the password correctly, I can now run commands against any array in the domain without entering the username, password or scope. When you have a long password this can lead to some real time savings :)