Dell EMC Unity Installation and Service PDF
Dell EMC Unity Installation and Service PDF
INSTALLATION AND
SERVICE
PARTICIPANT GUIDE
PARTICIPANT GUIDE
Dell EMC Unity XT Installation and Service
Table of Contents
Module 2: Objectives........................................................................................................101
Module 1: Objectives
• Explain the steps for racking, cabling and powering up a Dell EMC Unity XT
storage system.
• Initialize a Dell EMC Unity XT storage system using the Initial Configuration
Wizard
• Deploy and initialize a Dell EMC UnityVSA
Procedure Overview
Shown here are the basic steps required to get a Dell EMC Unity XT physical
storage system powered up.
Follow the guide to install any optional disk array enclosures (DAEs) and cable
them to the DPE.
Next, attach the Storage Processor (SP) management ports to the end user’s
network and power the system up.
When the SP Fault LED flashes Blue for 3 seconds and Amber for 1 second, the
system is ready to be initialized with the Dell EMC Unity Connection Utility.
Assigning an IP address
Now that the Dell EMC Unity XT system is ready to be configured, let’s take a look
at the options for configuring the system network information.
If the end user has an enabled DHCP environment on their network, the Dell EMC
Unity XT storage system will automatically acquire an IP address when you power
it up and no further action is required. You can open a web browser and point it to
the DHCP acquired address to open Unisphere.
If the end user requires a static IP address for the storage system, then you will
need to download and install the Dell EMC Unity Connection Utility or use the
InitCLI tool. We will discuss the InitCLI tool a little later.
The Dell EMC Unity Connection Utility software is a program used to discover and
configure Unity XT systems with IP networking and hostname information. The
Connection Utility is available for download at support.emc.com or the Dell EMC
Unity All-Flash & Hybrid Info Hub site. It must be installed on a Windows host. The
installer package includes the 32-bit JAVA Platform Standard Edition 1.8 Update
60. Note that you may need to stop host firewall services to be able to discover
storage systems using the Connection Utility.
Before running the Connection Utility, the Dell EMC Unity Family Configuration
Worksheet should be downloaded and completed. The Connection Utility requires
the Product Serial Number Tag (PSNT), a user defined IP address, subnet mask,
and gateway. The PSNT can be found in the packing materials that came with the
system or on the tag on the front of the DPE.
Once a management IP address has been assigned to the storage system, the
user can open an Internet browser session and log into Unisphere with the default
credentials of admin/Password123#.
Unisphere launches the Initial Configuration Wizard to walk the user through the
initial setup and prepare the system for use. After the initial setup is concluded, the
wizard can be launched at any time from the settings window.
The Dell EMC Unity Family Configuration Worksheet should be filled out prior to
using the Initial Configuration wizard.
The user will also need to create a Dell EMC Online Support account for
support.emc.com if he or she hasn’t already done so. This information should be
recorded on the Configuration Worksheet.
Copyright
The Copyright page requires users to check the Accept license agreement box
to continue.
DNS Servers
If you are running the storage system on a dynamic network that includes DHCP
and DNS servers, select Obtain DNS server address automatically to have the
system automatically accept one or more IP addresses for the DNS servers. In
order to obtain automatic DNS entries, your network must be equipped to answer
requests for DNS entries using DHCPv4 for IPv4 networks and DHCPv6 and/or
Router Advertisement RDNSS option (RFC-5006) for IPv6 networks.
If you are not running the storage system on a dynamic network, or choose to
provide a static IP address for the DNS server manually, select Configure DNS
server address manually, select Add and specify the IP address of the DNS
server.
To reorder the available DNS servers, select a DNS server in the list and select
Move Up or Move Down. DNS servers are used in the order that they appear in
the list. If the top server becomes unavailable, the storage system uses the next
one, and so on.
To remove a DNS server from the list, select the DNS server and click Remove.
To disable DNS for the system, select Configure DNS server address manually
and remove all DNS servers from the list. Removing all DNS servers in the list
impacts management connectivity for the storage system. Any setting configured
with a network address will not be resolved to its IP address, and therefore will not
function properly. This does not affect DNS for the NAS servers.
NTP Servers
The next step is to configure NTP. This can be done during the Initial
Configuration wizard, or users can select the Settings icon and then select
Management > System Time and NTP.
To enable NTP synchronization, click Add and specify the IP address of the NTP
server.
NTP is used to synchronize the storage system time with other nodes in the
domain or network. The specified NTP time server must be accessible through the
default gateway associated with the Unisphere management interface.
Time settings may vary by up to one minute between the storage system and the
NTP server. If the difference between the current system (UTC) time and the NTP
server time is too large (approximately 17 minutes), you cannot configure an NTP
server during initial configuration. In Windows environments, Active Directory
domain controllers typically provide the NTP services.
Licenses
Adding licenses provides users the ability to use the feature. From this menu, users
can select Get License Online or in the case where the license has already been
downloaded and saved, Install License.
If you're not sure of which licenses have been installed, select the View License
option. Once the licenses are added, different options may appear in the menus,
depending on the system.
Storage Pools
The example shows the wizard on a All-Flash array. A Hybrid array allows users to configure
FAST Cache and Pools in this step
During initial configuration, users can configure Pools to be used as the underlying
storage.
A pool is a set of drives that provide specific storage characteristics for the
resources that use them. For example, the pool configuration defines the types and
capacities of the drives in the pool. Before you create storage resources, you must
configure at least one pool.
A pool is required for any storage resource or NAS server you create. It is
recommended that you create at least one pool now, although it is not required.
For physical deployments, the pool configuration also defines the RAID
configurations (RAID types and stripe widths) for these drives.
When creating pools on a Dell EMC Unity XT All-Flash storage system running Dell
EMC Unity XT OE v4.2 or higher, all pools created on the array are Dynamic Pools
by default. All storage resources and software features that are currently supported
on Dell EMC Unity XT are supported on Dynamic Pools.
Dynamic Pools are supported on Dell EMC Unity XT All-Flash physical hardware
only for example Models: Unity XT 380F, 480F, 680F, and 880F). Dynamic Pools
are not supported on the Dell EMC UnityVSA.
Traditional Pools continue to be supported but can only be created using UEMCLI
or REST API on the All-Flash systems.
Alert settings
Use the Alerts Settings option to configure your system to send alert notifications
in email or a Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) message (known as
a trap). Users use this information to determine if a storage system is in need of
maintenance. SNMP traps capture the same information displayed in the
Unisphere alerts list.
Select Email and SMTP to manage the email list, indicate the severity level of the
alert notifications to be sent by using the drop-down options next to Severity and
specify the Simple Mail Transport Protocol (SMTP) server required to send
emails.
Choose Send Test Email to verify that the SMTP server and destination email
addresses are valid.
Select SNMP to configure the SNMP trap destination targets and to indicate the
severity level of the alert notifications to be sent. You specify the authentication
protocol used by traps when you add a destination.
You can only specify the privacy protocol used to encode trap messages when you
edit an existing destination. Choose Send Test SNMP Trap to verify that the
SNMP configuration is valid.
Proxy Server
Select the box to Connect to a proxy server. When the box is selected, enter the
protocol to be used by selecting the radio button, Socks is the default, then enter
the mandatory IP Address and optional username and password.
You should select this if your IT environment does not allow the use of HTTP. Be
aware that technical advisories and notifications about software, firmware, and
language pack upgrades are not supported with the SOCKS protocol.
Selecting the Non-secure (HTTP) option will use port 3128 by default. This HTTP
protocol supports all service tasks including upgrade notifications.
Provided the system is registered in the install base, Dell EMC support credentials
are not required here. Dell EMC employees can use their RSA SecureID
credentials to configure ESRS on the system. Email verification via the access
code is disabled is no support credentials are entered.
The Dell EMC Support Credentials apply to all EMC support services, including:
Customer Information
Customer information is critical for responding quickly to any support issues that
may come up. The contact will receive system alert reminders to update their
contact information every six months.
Email Verification
Since there are no support credentials entered, all fields for Email Verification are
not active. The only active configuration is “Alternative for Support personnel only”.
Enter your employee RSA Credentials and Site ID for the system you are
configuring. The system goes through the configuration process. Users may have
to re-enter their RSA credentials again.
The results should be available after about 15 to 20 minutes. By default, the system
sends collected ESRS data to CloudIQ.
Configure your Gateway Network IPs and Dell EMC Employee RSA Credentials.
After about 15 or 20 minutes, navigate to the System Tasks > Overview and
validate a successful connection has been established for Centralized ESRS.
Integrated ESRS
• Network traffic (HTTPS) must be permitted on ports 443 and 8443 (outbound) to
the Support Center
• Indicate a Policy Manager during configuration
• Indicate a proxy server for the storage system to connect to during configuration
If your ESRS implementation will include a Policy Manager for more control over
remote access to the storage system, you must indicate this when you configure
the ESRS feature. A Policy Manager is applicable only to Integrated ESRS with
Outbound/Inbound connectivity. If the ESRS implementation includes a proxy
server for the storage system to connect to a Policy Manager, you must indicate
this when you configure the ESRS feature.
Centralized
• Network traffic (HTTPS) must be permitted on port 9443 between the Unity
system and the ESRS Gateway server
• Network traffic over port 443 is required for ESRS functionality
• The ESRS gateway server operating environment must be version 3.12.00.04
or later
Only add or remove a storage system from a gateway server with the Unisphere
ESRS configuration wizard. Never manually add or remove a Unity XT system from
an ESRS Gateway server.
As prerequisites for enabling ESRS on the storage system, you must have the
following:
The iSCSI page provides users with an option to configure iSCSI interfaces if the
environment will be connecting hosts to this storage system using the iSCSI
protocol.
iSCSI interfaces enable hosts using the iSCSI protocol to access block storage
(LUNs, Consistency Groups, and VMware VMFS datastores) on the storage
system.
The iSCSI interfaces provide continuous access to data when a Storage Processor
(SP) becomes unavailable because of a system software upgrade or component
failure.
When you add an iSCSI interface on the storage system, you associate it with one
or both Storage Processors (SPs). So, at a given point, there will be multiple iSCSI
interfaces on each SP. These become the available paths hosts, with relevant
access privileges, can use to access the relevant storage resources.
NAS Servers
Before you can provision a VMware NFS datastore or file system storage, a NAS
server that is appropriate for managing the storage type must be running on the
system. A NAS server is a file server that uses the CIFS protocol, NFS protocol, or
both to catalog, organize, and transfer files within designated shares.
You can balance the performance load on the storage system's SPs by choosing
which NAS servers run on each SP, and which file systems are associated with
which NAS server. For example, if you plan to provide file systems for two high-
load database applications, you can choose to run a separate NAS server on each
SP, and provision the storage for each application from a separate NAS server.
This balances system performance by ensuring that the applications draw their
processing resources from separate SPs. You can create NAS servers that support
different types of file sharing.
Results
The Results page is the last step and displays the choices made during the Initial
configuration Wizard. Always verify the selections, If changes need to be made,
select one of the available options shown in blue text to edit.
InitCLI.exe
Initcli configure –id <value> -ipv4 <static -addr <value> [-mask <value>] [-gateway
<value>] > [-name <value>]
Another way to assign an IP address to the Unity XT storage system is to use the
InitCLI tool. It is installed on a Windows host and run from the Windows command
prompt. The advantage to the InitCLI tool, is that it does not require the host to run
the Java platform. A disadvantage is that the tool does not support configuring IPv6
or DHCP addresses. The InitCLI tool is available on support.emc.com. The tool
must be run from a Windows host on the same subnet as the Unity storage system.
There are two parameters, initcli discover and initcli configure. The discover
parameter searches the network for available systems to be configured and will list
the information about the system including its serial number (ID or PSNT) as shown
in the first example with the red box. The output qualifier specifies the output format
as NVP (Name Value Pair) or CSV (Comma Separated Value). In this case the
CSV format was chosen. The discovered Unity system can then be configured by
using the configure parameter and specifying the serial number of the system or
PSNT, and the IP address, subnet mask, gateway, and a friendly name. In this
case, the PSNT is also used for the friendly name.
1:
The Dell EMC Unity storage software stack, running on purpose built hardware, is
visualized and encapsulated into an OVA file which can be deployed in an ESXi
host.
Reliable block storage is provided to the Dell EMC UnityVSA via a RAID card
associated with the hyper-visor and host hardware (direct attached storage) or via
an external RAID protected storage array ( Dell EMC arrays or 3rd party storage
arrays).
ID protection is provided at the physical level – Dell EMC UnityVSA adds no RAID
protection on top of the virtual disks. Storage is provisioned to the UnityVSA via
Fibre Channel/iSCSI (block) or NFS (file).
VMware vSphere datastores are built from file systems (NFS) or LUNs (VMFS)
provisioned by the backend.
vDisks for the Dell EMC UnityVSA are created from the provisioned ESXi
datastores.
Dell EMC UnityVSA storage pools can then be provisioned from the vDisks. Dell
EMC Unity storage resources (block, file, and VMware datastores) can be
provisioned to hosts using the storage pools. Dell EMC UnityVSA provision block
storage to hosts only using the iSCSI protocol.
The table shows the Dell EMC Unity features that are supported by the Dell EMC
UnityVSA. Note that some of the features that rely on specific physical hardware
are not supported by the Dell EMC UnityVSA.
* = supported
SMB * *
NFS * *
Thin Reporting * *
VVols * *
A static IP address can be assigned to the management interface of the Dell EMC
UnityVSA when the OVA package is deployed using the OVF Template wizard in
vSphere. Also, from the vSphere client interface, it's possible to run the
svc_initial_config command from the Console tab to initialize the management
port.
The Dell EMC UnityVSA OVA deployment is straightforward. A VMWare ESXi 5.5
or later environment is required. Standard tools in the vSphere web client are used
for the deployment. Right click on the ESXi server you want to deploy the OVF
on. Select Deploy OVF Template (an OVA file is synonymous with OVF template)
by selecting the File tab on the menu bar.
It is a good idea to check that the ESXi server used for OVA deployment has
access to the client server running Unisphere and access to the client server to
perform I/O operations from the UnityVSA. From the vSphere Web Client Deploy
OVF Template wizard, locate the OVA file on the local machine and follow the
steps to deploy the virtual appliance.
Shown here are the steps the wizard uses to configure and deploy the UnityVSA
template on the ESXi host.
Select Storage
From the Select Storage page, select a datastore from the list of datastores in
which to create the virtual disks used to store the VM configuration files. For
optimal performance, Dell EMC recommends that you deploy the Dell EMC
UnityVSA VM on a datastore on different physical disks than the datastore in which
you will later create the virtual disks used to provide user data storage to UnityVSA.
Failure to follow this recommendation can lead to system and I/O performance
degradation. Select a disk format for provisioning the VM's virtual disks. Dell EMC
recommends Thick Provision Eager Zeroed.
Select Networks
Configure the networks the deployed VM should use, making sure that:
• The management network is on a network accessible by the workstation used
to access Unisphere.
• The data networks are on networks accessible by the host that will attach to the
Dell EMC UnityVSA.
Customize the network settings properties for the Dell EMC UnityVSA VM:
• Enter a user friendly name for the Dell EMC UnityVSA. Leave this field blank to
use the default name: an automatically generated serial number for Dell EMC
UnityVSA.
• If you want to use static IP addresses, enter the IPv4 and IPv6 management
settings.
• If you want to use dynamic IP addresses, leave these fields blank for automatic
configuration using DHCP.
• If you do not have a dynamic network and you do not specify a static IP
address, you must specify the IP address after the OVF template is deployed.
Ready to Complete
Confirm the settings, select the Power on after deployment checkbox if available,
and then click Finish to deploy the OVF template.
From the vSphere client, select the new Dell EMC UnityVSA VM. Select the
Summary tab to view information about the VM. If it is not already powered on,
select Power On to start the VM.
To determine when the VM is fully up and running, monitor the DNS Name field on
the Summary tab. When the DNS Name field displays a system name, the Dell
EMC UnityVSA VM is ready.
If you are not running the Dell EMC UnityVSA on a dynamic network using DHCP
and you did not configure the management interface when you deployed the OVF
template, you must open the vSphere Console and login using the service account
(service/service) and run the svc_initial_config command to assign an IP
address.
Note: Alternatively, you can run the svc_diag command from the vSphere Console
and, from the output, identify the Dell EMC UnityVSA system serial number. Then
use the Connection Utility to discover a list of systems, find the Dell EMC UnityVSA
serial number in the list, and assign an IP address.
Module summary
Module 2: Objectives
• Identify and understand the storage system and storage processor service
tasks
• Access and download product documentation, and maintenance procedures
• Recognize alert severity levels and log entries
• Identify and replace failed CRUs
In the example, the Service Tasks tab has been selected from the menu options.
Note that anytime a menu option is selected, the text will be displayed in blue. On
this page, there are a number of Storage System tasks as well as some Storage
Processor tasks. Let’s first take a look at the various storage system tasks. To
assist with diagnosing and resolving problems with your system, users should
collect service information about the system and save it to a file. The file can be
used by your service provider to analyze the system. The example shows the
Collect Service Information task has been selected. (highlighted in blue) To view
additional information, select the More information which will launch a help page
in Unisphere. To run the service task, select the blue Execute button.
Executing the Collect Service Information task displays a window from which
administrators can either create a new service data collection file or download a
service data collection file from existing collection files if previous collections were
already done. Select the + to create a new service data collection file. The Collect
Service Information window will open and a job will be created and run. It will take
up to 10 minutes for the data collection to complete. Once completed, you can then
choose to open or Save the file to a location of your choice. By default, selecting
Save will save the file to the logged in users Downloads directory. For example, if
I’m logged in as Administrator the file is saved to Administrator > Downloads
directory. To download an existing file, highlight the file you want to download and
select the Download icon in the upper left hand corner. You can then choose to
open or Save the file to a location of your choice.
Save Configuration
The Save Configuration option saves details about the current system
configuration settings to a local file. Your service provider can use this file to assist
you with re-configuring your system after a major system failure or system re-
initialization. You can also use this file to keep a record of system configuration
changes. Select Save Configuration and Execute. As with the Collect Service
Information option, users have the option to select Create New or Download
Existing files. It is a best practice to save the configuration settings after each
major configuration change to ensure you have a current copy of the storage
system configuration settings. It is also recommended that you save the file to a
remote location as a backup against possible failures. Be aware you can only
request one save configuration at a time. When attempting multiple save
configuration request, allow a request to complete before initiating the next request.
Note only details about your system configuration are saved to the file and you
cannot restore your system from this file. The save process allows a maximum of
120 minutes in which to complete the capture. The system will abort uncompleted
capture requests upon reaching this time limit.
There may be times when communications between Unisphere and the storage
system get interrupted. Restarting the management server can resolve this issue.
The restart process will take approximately 3-5 minutes to complete. During that
time, alerts will be generated indicating the connection and down and once
restored, when the connection is back up. Although the Reboot option for the
Storage Processor can be used as well, the Restart Management Server option is
preferred since data access to the storage system is preserved. You cannot restart
the management software when both Storage Processors (SPs) are in Service
Mode.
Users also have the option to Generate diagnostic data for Management
Software is needed.
Reinitialize
Selecting the Reinitialize option will reset the storage system to the original factory
settings. Both Storage Processors (SPs) for a dual SP system or the single SP for
a single SP system must be installed, operating normally, and in Service Mode. To
put the SP(s) in Service Mode, execute the Enter Service Mode task on each SP
below. Note with physical deployments, if you removed an SP or an SP faulted, you
must replace it before placing it in Service Mode.
Important: Re-initializing will destroy all system configuration settings and stored
data on the storage system. It is recommended that you back up all the data and
configuration settings to an external storage system. Once the system is
reinitialized, copy or restore all the data back to it. The Unisphere may get a
timeout when the system starts re-initializing. Wait for 90 to 120 minutes while the
system is being reinitialized.
After the storage processor has been initialized, the default password for the
Service account will be Service. When any service operations need to be done,
such a placing the SP into Service or Reset and Hold mode, the service password
must be entered. As a best practice, you may want to change the default service
password once the system is available.
Important: Make sure to read all instructions before performing this service task.
Users will have to enter the service password to complete the power down
operation. Note the power up procedure must be performed in a particular order.
Click Help to review and print the power up procedure prior to shutting down the
system.
To connect to the system and perform advanced system maintenance, you need to
enable the Secure Shell (SSH) protocol on the storage system. To enable SSH,
highlight Enable SSH and click Execute. You will be prompted for the service
password. This service action allows you to run service tools, such as service
actions or service scripts, on the storage system. Once SSH is enabled, you or
your service provider can run the tools through a service portal. When the service
tools have finished running, disable the SSH protocol to ensure that the system is
secure. To learn more about using service commands, refer to the Unity Service
Commands Technical Notes document available on support.emc.com.
Hardware Upgrade
The Enter Service Mode task is a Storage Processor service task, meaning it
applies to an individual SP, and not to the storage system as a whole. Entering
service mode may be required to re-image an SP, reinitialize the storage system,
or replace certain hardware components. An SP will also automatically enter
service mode when it is unable to resolve an issue and thus requires intervention.
When an SP enters service mode it stops servicing I/O to hosts and all I/O loads on
the SP failover to the peer SP if it is healthy. Note also one of the SP’s will be the
Primary SP as shown next to SPA in the example. Once you select the task and
click Execute, you will be prompted for the service password. Wait at least 10
minutes for the SP to enter service mode and do not attempt any actions in
Unisphere until it has completed. To verify that the SP is in service mode, check
that the Mode field displays Service. Here, both SP Modes are reported as
Normal. Note that Unisphere may not refresh automatically. If prompted, reload
Unisphere. If not, refresh the browser manually. To physically confirm the SP is in
service mode, ensure the SP fault LED flashes alternating amber and blue.
Reboot
The Reboot SP task can resolves minor problems with the SP, its components, or
the system software on the SP. This task is also used to reboot an SP that is in
service mode to return it to normal mode, provided that the SP is healthy enough to
do so. Note that when an SP reboots, it stops servicing I/O to all connected hosts.
If the peer SP is healthy and in normal mode, it will service the rebooting SP’s I/O
to hosts and it’s write cache will remain enabled. Once you highlight the task and
click Execute, you will be prompted for the service password. After waiting a few
minutes and refreshing Unisphere, confirm the SP reboot has completed by noting
the SP Mode Field. It should display Normal Mode.
spa login:
In order to monitor the SP boot process, you need to establish a Serial Over LAN
(SOL) connection to the SP service port. This is accomplished using the IPMI tool.
The IPMI tool can be found on support.emc.com by searching the Dell EMC Unity
Support Tools section. First, install the tool to the C:\ directory of your service
laptop. Next, set your local network adapter to the IP address 128.221.1.250 and
then issue the command shown to connect to SP A. If you need to connect to both
SP A and SPB, you can connect to the service ports via a small Ethernet switch.
Open another command prompt window and issue the command again to SP B. It
is the same command except that the IP address for the service port for SP B ends
in 253. Please refer to the EMC IPMI Tool Technical Notes document available on
support.emc.com for the complete details.
The Reimage task is used to safely fix problems with the system software that
could not be resolved by rebooting the SP. Re-imaging re-installs the system's root
operating system while leaving the user's data intact. The system configuration
settings and stored files will not be changed. Re-imaging an SP requires that it is
first placed in service mode. That is why the Execute button for this task is now
greyed out. Once you have the SP in service mode and execute the re-image task,
wait at least 20 minutes while the system re-images the SP and do not attempt any
actions in Unisphere until it has completed. After it has completed reimaging, it will
boot into service mode.
You can then use the reboot service task to reboot it to Normal Mode. When an SP
is in service mode it stops servicing I/O to hosts. In physical deployments, all NAS
servers on the SP failover to the other SP, if it is healthy. By default, when
reimaging has completed, the NAS servers fail back to the SP. If the Failback
Policy is disabled, all NAS servers on the SP will not fail back automatically and will
remain on a single SP. Performance can degrade significantly when all NAS
servers reside on a single SP. You can fail back the NAS servers manually.
The Reset and Hold service task attempts to reset and hold the selected SP so
that users can replace the faulty I/O Module(s) on that SP.
The process can take several minutes to complete. While in the Reset and Hold
state, the SP stops I/O services. All storage resources and NAS servers on the SP
failover to the peer SP, if healthy. When the SP returns to the Normal Mode, by
default, the storage resources and NAS servers fail back to it with minimal
disruption to hosts and I/O services resume. An SP that is held in reset cannot be
rebooted from Unisphere unless Unisphere can communicate with the peer SP. If
the peer SP is not running, the SP that is held in reset would need to be physically
power cycled in order to reboot it.
Alerts are usually events that require attention from the system administrator and
one of the first indicators that a system may need maintenance. For example, you
might receive an alert telling you that a disk has faulted or that the Unity system is
running out of space. There are several ways for viewing alerts on a Unity XT
storage system. On the left Dashboard menu, navigate to the EVENTS section and
select Alerts. The system displays all alerts and a brief description of the alert in
the right window. Another method is to click on the Bell from the top menu. A
window will appear displaying recent alerts and provide links to Search the
Knowledge Base or View All Alerts. Users also have the option to Customize the
Dashboard view and add a System Alerts view block (not shown). With this option,
when the Unisphere Dashboard is selected, the view block on the dashboard
shows these alerts categorized by critical, error, and warning. (see next slide).
Clicking one of the icons will open the Alerts page showing the records filtered by
the chosen severity level. Alerts will display an icon to indicate the severity of the
issue. The view block on the dashboard shows these alerts categorized by critical,
error, and warning which will be better explained on the next slide. Clicking one of
the icons will open the Alerts page showing the records filtered by the chosen
severity level.
System alerts with their severity levels are recorded on the System Alerts page.
The Dashboard of the Unisphere interface shows an icon with the number of alerts
for each recorded severity category. The link on these icons will open the Alerts
page filtered by the selected severity level. Shown here is a table providing an
explanation about the alert severity levels from least to most severe. Logging levels
are not configurable.
Alert Details
To view detailed information on a system alert, select the alert from the list of
records of the Alerts page. Details about the selected alert record will be displayed
in the right pane. The information will include the time the event was logged,
severity level, alert message, description of the event, acknowledgement flag,
whether or not the alert has been acknowledge, and the component that was
affected by the event, and the current state of the alert. In the default view, you can
only see active alerts. You can change the view to see active and inactive alerts by
selecting Column > State and filtering the State column by the different alert states:
Active_Manual: Status when the alert is active and must be manually cleared.
Active_Auto: Status when the alert is active but will be automatically cleared when
the issue is resolved.
Inactive: Status when the alert is no longer active because it has been resolved.
Updating: Status when the alert is transitioning between the other states.
Having control over Dialhome events frees up support personnel and resources
from responding to events that are not necessary and saves time. CloudIQ data is
still sent when using suppression and is not affected.
By examining the Unisphere GUI, users can get a history of Jobs including both
active and failed that have run on the system. To view the job properties, double
click on the job. To get further detailed information on a system job, click on the
Failed text. The information will include the time the event was logged, severity
level, alert message, description of the event, acknowledgement flag, the
component that was affected by the event, and the current status of the
component.
Use the Logs option to view information on events that have been logged by
Unisphere. These are real time system changes. By default, logged events are
sorted by the time the event was posted, from most recent to earlier. Users can
customize the view as well as sort, filter, and export data. The event log list can be
sorted by Date/Time in ascending or descending order.
You can also configure the system to send log information to a remote host. When
you configure remote logging, you must specify the network address of a host that
will receive the log information. The remote host must be accessible from the
storage system, and security for the log information must be provided through
network access controls or the system security at the remote host. By default, the
storage system transfers log information on port 514 using the UDP protocol,
although you can use Unisphere to configure the transmission protocol (UDP or
TCP) and system port used for transferring log messages. You can also select the
type of information contained in the logs (according to the component that issues it)
and the language of any text content in the log using Filter.
Before configuring remote logging for a system, you must configure a remote
system running syslog to receive log information from the storage system. A
root/administrator on the receiving computer can configure the remote syslog
server to receive log information by editing the syslog configuration file. For
example, syslog-ng.conf. on the remote system.
• License upgrades
• Dell EMC Unity XT OE software upgrades
• Drive firmware upgrade
• Language pack upgrade
The example displays the available options under the Software and License
settings option. Navigate and select the Settings icon in the upper right corner of
Unisphere to launch this window. One selected, the Software and Licenses menu
is displayed. Use the bar to scroll down and view all licenses. A green icon
indicates an installed license for the respective feature/function. A red icon
indicates the license for the feature/function is not installed or valid. Users have the
option of selecting the blue text to Install License of Get License Online. In the
example, we see the issued license does not include Data at Rest Encryption.
Unity XT storage systems are order-able as either encrypted or non-encrypted. The
encryption state is set the first time a license is applied and you cannot apply
another license at a later time to enable or disable. A destructive re-initialization
would be required to change the encryption state. Select Install License and follow
the wizard to locate and install the requested license. To Get License Online
users must have a valid support account to download the license.
Updates are made when a new version or patch is released, or when new
information is discovered. Depending on the implementation, you can obtain
updates from online support or from your service provider. It’s a best practice given
the time, to perform a system health check about a week before installing an
upgrade. This will ensure you have time to resolve underlying problems that may
prevent a successful update. Select Perform Health Check to launch the script.
Selecting Start Upgrade prompts the user to select a file to upload to the server.
Users can use the Browse option to search for the location of the file. When you
upload a new upgrade file onto your system, it replaces the previous version since
there can only be one upgrade candidate on the system at a time. In the example,
the current version of the code is displayed along with the release date of the
version. Selecting Download New Software brings the user to the support page
where the latest released version of the Dell EMC Unity OE upgrade file is located.
You will be prevented from using Unisphere or the CLI to make configuration
changes to the system while the upgrade is in progress. Also note, that Unisphere
is temporarily disconnected during the upgrade when the primary storage
processor reboots and may take a few minutes to be automatically reconnected.
Note: Automatic Reboot of SPs: The default option during a software upgrade is
to automatically reboot both storage processors, one-at-a-time, as soon as the
software upgrade image is staged and the system is prepared for the upgrade. If
you like tighter control over when the reboots happen, you can clear this option so
that upgrade can be started and staged, but neither storage processor will reboot
until you are ready. Doing so reduces the duration of the window (approximately
10-20%) when the storage processors could be rebooting, which makes it easier to
plan for a time of reduced activity during the upgrade. If that window is not a factor
during your upgrade, then leave the default option of rebooting the storage
processors automatically to avoid delays with the upgrade completing. To
summarize, selecting this option will automatically reboot your storage processors
during the upgrade and finalize the new software. Un-selecting this option will
pause the upgrade after all non-disruptive tasks have completed. User input is
required to manually reboot the storage processors and finish the upgrade.
• The system automatically downloads a new Dell EMC Unity OE version when
available
Once the download is complete, an alert is displayed in Unisphere
• The feature requires ESRS to be implemented as a prerequisite
• The user still have to option to manually upload a different Dell EMC Unity OE
image is needed
• Dell EMC remote service team handles the upgrade process
Decreases the time spent for connecting and uploading code to each system
they need to upgrade
With the latest Dell EMC Unity OE release, users now have the option to use the
Automated Software Download (ASD) feature. When a new version of the OE is
available, the system can automatically download the new version and once the
download is completed, an alert is generated in Unisphere. In order to use this
feature, two-way ESRS must be implemented on the system. Users still have the
option to manually upload a different image if needed. The remote service team
handles this process which should decrease the time spent for connecting and
uploading code to each system they need to upgrade.
2. The remote service team targets the serial number of each system to be
upgraded with the desired Dell EMC Unity XT OE through the ESRS FTP
server.
3. The system detects the code and automatically downloads it within a specified
period of 24 hours.
At times, drive firmware may need to be updated for compatibility with the Dell
EMC Unity OE version. From the Drive Firmware option, verify the version under
the Firmware Version column. If a new version is available, use the Obtain Drive
Firmware Online option shown on the bottom. This option will link to the support
page and display any new drive packages.
Drive Firmware
Drive firmware can also be embedded into the latest Operating Environment (OE).
If drive firmware must be updated, use the Upgrade Drive Firmware option shown
on the bottom left. This option will initiate the Upgrade Drive Firmware wizard.
The first page of the wizard suggests that a Health Check be performed on the
array before updating any drive firmware. If the Health Check passes, the next
page, Select Drive Firmware, presents the options to Use firmware package
included with the OE software upgrade bundle or Upload a File from the Dell
EMC support site. Once you have the file on the array, you will receive a Summary
page with a warning of how long the upgrade may take. The time may be from
minutes to several hours, depending on how many drives are being upgraded. After
clicking Next, the upgrading starts and lastly you will receive a Results page.
Locating and downloading Language Packs follows the same process a drive
firmware. If a new version is available, use the Obtain Language Pack Online
option shown on the bottom. This option will link to the support page and display
any available Language packages. In the example, we see several Language
Packs available. Click on the package you want to download and choose a
directory of your choice, then use the Install Language Pack option to load it.
System Limits
The System Limits option provides users with a table of limits for the currently
running Dell EMC Unity OE version. Be aware these limits may change between
versions. The SolVe pocket reference guide is also a good source for the limits.
Use the scroll bar to view all limits.
The slide shows both hot plug-able and non hot plug-able CRUs. * See KB article
496672 and contact technical support before replacing this part. Always refer to the
CRU replacement procedures for guidelines when performing the swap of a part.
SolVe Desktop can be used to generate CRU procedures for Dell EMC products.
In this example, SolVe has been launched and Unity is selected as the product. To
generate a procedure for CRUs, select CRU procedures from the menu then
select the procedure for the component replacement you are going to perform.
Note that SolVe is updated periodically so it’s a good idea to load the latest version
when prompted to do so. Always try to maintain the most current version.
http://bit.ly/unityinfohub
Documentation can be located at the Dell EMC Unity All-Flash and Hybrid Info
Hub. The site provides a one-stop page for all things Unity. Click on any of the
useful links for details.
To determine the health status of a storage system, view the System View >
Summary page. Any Hardware issues (physical deployments only) are displayed.
There is also vital information available that is used when a component needs to be
replaced. The health of any storage system is determined by viewing the health
icon explained in the next slide.
To identify, locate, and view the status of CRUs and FRUs on Dell EMC XT Unity
storage system, users can select the System View option under the System
menu. From this page, users can select the Enclosures tab then use the
Enclosures dropdown to select the appropriate display. Users can also choose the
way in which the selected component is displayed by clicking on Front, Rear, or
Top. The SP, DPE, or DAE containing the faulted part that needs attention is
identified with a health icon. Note there are several components located within a
DPE or DAE. For example, drives, I/O modules, SFPs and so forth. If one of those
components fails, the component displays a health icon and is highlighted in the
chassis to display its location. Once identified for replacement, users can click on
the component to display details such as the Storage system serial number
located in Summary details and Product ID / Serial Number (SN) - located on
the Enclosures page in the component's description.
Let's summarize the key topics covered in the module. Storage system service
tasks are performed on the entire system. The collection of diagnostic data for
support personnel, saving system configuration, re-initializing, performing hardware
upgrades, and providing system access are some of these tasks.
To service and maintain the storage system, users must follow the proper
procedures and guidelines. Being able to quickly locate and download those
procedures are important and save time.
Recognizing when a component fails is done by viewing system alerts and log files.
Understanding these alerts and logs help to expedite service and maintenance
times.
We then looked at the CRUs in the system and where to locate and download the
removal and replacement procedures for those CRUs.
To reboot a storage processor on a Dell EMC Unity system, first ensure that the storage processor is in Service Mode if needed. This mode allows for maintenance operations such as rebooting. The reboot tasks can be executed directly from the Service Tasks menu in the Unisphere management interface. It's crucial to understand the alerts and log files that might indicate the need for a reboot. After initiating the reboot, monitor the SP reboot process to ensure smooth functioning . Post-reboot, check system alerts and logs to confirm that there are no error messages and that the connections are back to normal. Make sure data access has been preserved or successfully restored if this was a planned event. Verify the health of the storage system and components using the System View in Unisphere, checking the status LEDs on the hardware to ensure successful reboots. This includes ensuring that no ongoing disruptions appear in service and that all functionalities are restored .
Re-imaging is recommended when software issues cannot be resolved by rebooting. The SP must first be in service mode, and the procedure should not disrupt existing data or configuration. After re-imaging, NAS servers may require manual failback if the Failback Policy is disabled .
Dell EMC Unity systems use the Customer Information page to maintain up-to-date contact details for customers, ensuring quick responses to support issues. Customers receive reminders every six months to update this information .
To place a storage processor (SP) in service mode on a Dell EMC Unity system, you must perform the following steps: 1. Select the "Enter Service Mode" task for the specific Storage Processor. This task is specific to the SP and not the entire system . 2. Once the task is selected, click "Execute" and enter the service password when prompted . 3. Wait at least 10 minutes for the SP to enter service mode. Do not attempt any actions in Unisphere during this time . 4. Verify the SP is in service mode by checking that the Mode field displays "Service" in Unisphere, or by ensuring the SP fault LED flashes alternating amber and blue . The SP will stop servicing I/O to hosts, and all I/O loads will failover to the peer SP if it is healthy . Note that the service password must be entered for any service operations, including putting the SP into service mode .
When Dell EMC Unity storage processors (SPs) enter service mode, they stop servicing Input/Output (I/O) to hosts. The I/O load from the affected SP will failover to the peer SP if it is healthy, maintaining system operations, although performance might be affected if only one SP is handling the load . If both SPs are put into service mode for any tasks such as reinitialization, access to the storage system is lost , and hosts will lose access to the system as all I/O services stop .
vDisks for Dell EMC UnityVSA are provisioned from ESXi datastores and further used to create storage pools . These storage pools enable the provisioning of storage resources such as block, file, and VMware datastores to hosts . vDisks do not have additional RAID protection layers beyond the hypervisor's RAID configuration . When it comes to network protocols, storage can be provisioned to UnityVSA via Fibre Channel/iSCSI for block storage and NFS for file storage . However, Fibre Channel is not supported on Dell EMC UnityVSA, making iSCSI necessary for block storage provisioning . In summary, iSCSI and NFS are the primary protocols used for network connectivity in provisioning with Dell EMC UnityVSA.
Reinitializing a Dell EMC Unity storage system involves resetting the system to its factory default settings. This process is typically used to recover from configuration issues or to repurpose the system for a different application. During reinitialization, all data and configuration settings are erased, and the system is returned to its initial unconfigured state. The hardware itself remains unaffected, but the data and system settings are completely removed, requiring the user to set up the system again from scratch using tools like the Dell EMC Unity Connection Utility for assigning IP addresses and network settings. Reinitialization provides a clean slate, allowing for new configurations but also requires careful consideration to ensure data backup and recovery processes are managed beforehand, as this step is irreversible .
Dell EMC UnityVSA supports features such as SMB, NFS, FAST VP Tiering, asynchronous unified replication, Unisphere HTML 5 GUI + REST API, Host I/O Limits, monitoring and reporting, thin reporting, and vVols . Unsupported features in UnityVSA when compared to Unity XT include FAST Cache, Data at REST Encryption (D@RE), Fibre Channel, and synchronous replication, which are dependent on specific physical hardware . Additionally, while Unity XT can support Dynamic Pools on all-flash systems, UnityVSA does not support Dynamic Pools .
The Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) tool plays a crucial role in managing Dell EMC Unity storage processors (SPs), especially during reboot processes. IPMI allows remote management and monitoring of the hardware, facilitating tasks such as rebooting SPs. This capability is particularly relevant during software upgrades in which storage processors may need to reboot automatically or manually at the user’s discretion, depending on the chosen upgrade settings . Rebooting through IPMI ensures System Processing Units are properly reinitialized or re-imaged, continuing data service without requiring physical presence, thereby offering flexibility and minimizing downtime .
Downgrading from ESRS Two-way to ESRS One-way configuration is not supported in Dell EMC Unity XT systems. However, upgrading from a One-way to a Two-way configuration is possible .