Monitoring IBM XIV Storage System with VMware vcenter Operations Manager

Transcription

1 Monitoring IBM XIV Storage System with VMware vcenter Operations Manager A technical report Mandar J. Vaidya IBM Systems and Technology Group ISV Enablement October 2014 Copyright IBM Corporation, 2014

2 Table of contents Abstract...1 Scope... 1 Introduction...1 Prerequisites...2 Background information...2 IBM XIV Storage Systems... 2 VMware vsphere... 3 VMware vsphere API for Storage Awareness (VASA)... 3 VMware vsphere Web Client... 3 VMware Data Center and Cloud Management... 3 VMware vcenter Orchestrator... 3 VMware vcenter Operations Manager... 4 IBM Storage Integration Server... 4 IBM Storage Provider for VMware VASA... 4 IBM Storage Enhancements for VMware vsphere Web Client... 5 IBM Storage Plug-in for VMware vcenter Orchestrator... 5 IBM Storage Management Pack for VMware vcenter Operations Manager... 5 Solution architecture...6 Installation of IBM Storage Integration Server...7 Requirements... 7 Steps... 7 Configuration...8 Add storage arrays to IBM Storage Integration Server... 9 Set storage credentials... 9 Download the management package from IBM Storage Integration Server VMware vcenter Operation Manager configuration Deploy IBM Storage Integration Server Management Package on vcenter Operations Manager Describe management package on vcenter Operations Manager Configure vcenter Operations Manager on IBM Storage Integration Server Set vcenter Operations Manager Attach storage arrays to vcenter Operations Manager Using vcenter Operations Manager to monitor XIV Storage System...19 IBM XIV Overview dashboard IBM XIV Performance dashboard IBM XIV Top 10 dashboard Using ENVIRONMENT OVERVIEW to monitor IBM XIV Storage System resources Using thresholds to monitor IBM XIV systems Summary...28 Appendix A: Test environment...29 Appendix B: IBM Storage adapter icons...30

3 Appendix C: Resources...31 About the author...31 Trademarks and special notices...32

4 Abstract This white paper introduces the use of VMware vcenter Operations Manager to monitor the IBM XIV Storage System using the management package provided by IBM Storage Integration Server. A step-by-step description of the solution installation, configuration, and uses are covered, with sufficient background information. The target audiences for this paper are storage administrators and vcenter Operations Manager administrators. Scope This technical report: Provides background information about VMware Storage APIs and IBM Storage Integration Server. Discusses the benefit of using vcenter Operations Manager to monitor IBM XIV Storage System using IBM Storage Integration Server. This technical report does not: Discuss the configuration of IBM Storwize V7000 and IBM System Storage DS8000 storage with respect to IBM Storage Integration Server. Replaces any document already available related to vcenter Operations Manager and IBM Storage Integration Server. Introduction Integration of storage infrastructure and cloud orchestration systems is required to support softwaredefined environments. Automating storage tasks and collecting storage health state information are the two main storage lifecycle facets of a software-defined environment that are enabled by IBM Storage Integration Server. One of the big challenges in a software-defined environment is determining the root cause for issues arising in the environment. In a production environment, customers cannot wade through the log files and documentation at real time to determine the root cause of a problem, or understand what has changed in an environment. VMware vcenter Operations Management Suite automates data aggregation, analysis collected data, and facilitates operations management by providing a detailed monitoring, trending of performance, capacity, and additional metrics. VMware vcenter Operations Manager provides: Unified operations management for all the data center IT infrastructure Analytic insights into health, risks, issues and efficiency of VMware and supported third-party infrastructure. This paper provides an overview of the integration of IBM Storage Integration Server to monitor XIV Storage System for its health, configuration and performance using vcenter Operations Manager. 1

5 Prerequisites To understand and successfully deploy the IBM Storage Integration Server for vcenter Operations Manager usage, the user needs to address the following prerequisites: Technology skills prerequisites Linux command line familiarity IBM XIV management VMware vcenter Operations Manager Implementation prerequisites Virtual machine or physical server running a compatible Linux distribution IBM XIV Storage System configured and operational vcenter server configured and licensed appropriately VMware vcenter Operations Manager installed and licensed appropriately Background information The following sections provide information about IBM XIV Storage System, VMware product suites, and IBM Storage Integration Server. The sections also explain the capabilities provided by IBM Storage Integration Server for integration with VMware. IBM XIV Storage Systems IBM XIV is a next-generation high-end open disk system. An XIV system has a grid architecture designed for enterprise reliability, performance, functionality and scalability at a lower overall cost, while eliminating the complexity and providing ease of management. The XIV system is ideal for cloud and analytics, offering high service levels for dynamic workloads, easy hyper-scaling including in multi-tenant environments, flexible consumption models, and robust integration with cloud orchestration platforms through OpenStack, RESTful API, VMware, and other means. It fortifies security and data protection through three-way mirroring, hot encryption, and Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) support. The IBM XIV system offers following benefits: Grid design and automation provide tuning-free high performance. Exceptional reliability using three-way mirror capability, self-healing with the capability to rebuild in less than an hour and five-nines design. Ease of management and provisioning, using simplified user interface. Elastic and robust multi-tenancy storage system designed for the needs of cloud environment. Environmental friendly storage system with lower cost per terabytes. For additional information about the IBM XIV Storage System, refer to the following URL: ibm.com/systems/storage/disk/xiv/index.html 2

6 VMware vsphere VMware vsphere is a virtualization platform capable of transforming a traditional data center, consisting of industry standard hardware, into a shared mainframe-like environment. Through the use of virtualization technology, hardware resources are abstracted into pools which may be allocated to a variety of workloads. VMware vsphere is the core enabling technology of VMware software-defined environment. VMware vsphere API for Storage Awareness (VASA) The storage vendors can use the VASA to provide vsphere with information about specific disk arrays for tighter integration between the storage and virtual infrastructure. The shared information includes details on storage virtualization, including health status, configuration, capacity and thin provisioning. This level of detail can now be passed up through VMware vcenter Server to the user. For additional information about VASA refer to the following URL: VMware vsphere Web Client The vsphere Web Client is the primary method for system administrators and users to interact with the virtual data center environment created by VMware vsphere. It manages a collection of objects that make up the virtual data center, including hosts, clusters, virtual machines, data storage, and networking resources. The vsphere Web Client is a web browser-based application that you can use to manage, monitor, and administer the objects that make up your virtualized data center. You can use the vsphere Web Client to observe and modify the vsphere environment in the following ways. Viewing health, status, and performance information on vsphere objects. Issuing management and administration commands to vsphere objects. Creating, configuring, provisioning, or deleting vsphere objects. VMware Data Center and Cloud Management VMware is using its Data Center and Cloud Management tools to efficiently use the virtualized and hybrid cloud infrastructures. Using these tools an organization can provide the perfect software-define environment which can provide quality of service, operational efficiency and compliance by automating and providing visibility into every aspect of virtualized infrastructures and cloud environments. VMware vcenter Orchestrator VMware vcenter Orchestrator simplifies the automation of complex IT tasks and integrates with VMware vcloud Suite components, to adapt and extend service delivery and operational management, thereby effectively working with the existing infrastructure, tools and processes. For additional information about vcenter Orchestrator refer to the following URL: 3

7 VMware vcenter Operations Manager VMware vcenter Operations Manager is the key component of the VMware vcenter Operations Management Suite. It provides comprehensive visibility and insights into the performance, capacity and health for VMware infrastructure. For additional information about vcenter Operations Manager refer to the following URL: IBM Storage Integration Server IBM Storage Integration Server provides the IBM storage infrastructure integration with cloud systems. It is characterized as follows: Is managed by storage administrators Provides a single point of simple deployment and customer IT certification Has a small footprint Uses simple graphical user interface (GUI) and command-line interface (CLI) Reduces control traffic to multiple devices and plug-in through data and task aggregation Is VMware certified As of the publication of this paper, IBM Storage Integration Server supports storage integration with various VMware environment components: VMware vsphere APIs for Storage Awareness (VASA) VMware vsphere Web Client VMware vcenter Orchestrator VMware vcenter Operations Manager IBM Storage Integration Server is the foundation for future integration of additional IBM storage products with any cloud solutions. IBM Storage Integration Server consists of the following cloud interfaces. IBM Storage Provider for VMware VASA The IBM Storage Provider for VMware VASA improves the ability to monitor and automate storagerelated operations on VMware platforms. From its IBM Storage Integration Server host, the IBM Storage Provider for VMware VASA provides a standard interface for any connected VMware vcenter Server using the VMware VASA. Using IBM Storage Provider for VMware VASA, administrators can: View IBM Storage capabilities as it delivers information about IBM storage topology State of IBM storage as it sends real-time alerts to vcenter Server Optimize the virtual machine storage placement automatically 4

8 IBM Storage Enhancements for VMware vsphere Web Client The IBM Storage Enhancements for VMware vsphere Web Client integrates with the VMware vsphere Web Client platform and enables VMware administrators to: Independently and centrally manage their storage resources on IBM System Storage. Discover the datastore relation down to IBM Storage volumes and file shares View native IBM storage array, pool, and volume / shares properties Self-provision volumes and file shares from delegated pools for storing VMware datastores As opposed to the IBM Storage Management Console for VMware vcenter, which is individually installed on each vcenter server, the IBM Storage Enhancements for vsphere Web Client is installed only on the vsphere Web Client Server, allowing multiple vcenter servers to use IBM storage resources. In addition, storage pool attachment and detachment operations are performed on the IBM Storage Integration Server side, rather than on the vsphere Client side. IBM Storage Plug-in for VMware vcenter Orchestrator The IBM Storage Plug-in for VMware vcenter Orchestrator allows VMware administrators to include IBM storage discovery and provisioning in their vcenter Orchestrator automation workflows. The plug-in package can be downloaded from the IBM Storage Integration Server and can then be deployed on the vcenter Orchestrator server. The deployment includes the matching of a unique token key that is set on both servers. Using vcenter Orchestrator plug-in, VMware administrators can: Apply simple IBM storage discovery and provisioning in custom automated workflows Preplan and automate IBM storage-based operations in their virtualized cloud environments, either directly from vcenter Orchestrator or through the VMware vcloud Automation Center (vcac) platform. Application owners can self-provision storage and IBM storage-based workloads Note: In version 1.5.0, the IBM Storage Plug-in for VMware vcenter Orchestrator supports only XIV Storage Systems. IBM Storage Management Pack for VMware vcenter Operations Manager The IBM Storage Management Pack for VMware vcenter Operations Manager allows Operations Manager users to obtain comprehensive monitoring information about the IBM Storage resources that are utilized in their virtualized environment. The management pack can be downloaded from the IBM Storage Integration Server and can then be deployed on the vcenter Operations Manager server. Using IBM Storage Management Pack, vcenter Operations Manager can: Be notified on unexpected IBM Storage behavior (trend analysis, alerts and events) Easily traverse relations between virtual machine (VM) and IBM Storage components and resolve root cause from impacted workload View trends of a rich set of IBM Storage stats and apply ready or custom thresholds for notification Centrally view IBM Storage alerts and events 5

9 The storage-related data includes monitoring data of all logical and physical elements, covering storage arrays, storage domains, storage pools, volumes, hosts, hosts initiators, modules, target ports, disks, health status, events, thresholds, and performance. Note: In version 1.5.0, the IBM Storage Management Pack for VMware vcenter Operations Manager supports only XIV Storage Systems. Solution architecture Figure 1: Solution architecture VMware vcenter Operation Manager is managed using management web console and internally it consists of two virtual machines namely UI VM and Analytics VM. UI VM allows an administrative access to the portal for performing monitoring tasks. It also allows access to the results of the analytics in the form of badges and scores using the web-based application. The Analytics VM is responsible for collecting, storing and performing analytics on the data from vcenter Server, vcenter Configuration Manager and the third-party data sources. IBM Storage Integration Server comes with vcenter Operations Manager XIV adapter which once configured with XIV system, enables it to monitor XIV Storage System through vcenter Operations Manager. This adapter reports XIV systems-related information such as storage arrays, storage pools, and volumes to vcenter Operations Manager every five minutes by default. This adapter pushes the following 6

10 XIV systems information to vcenter Operations Manager Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) post adapter through HTTP post requests. Resource definition and all its relevant matrices. Relationship between the XIV resources Relationship between XIV volume and VMware datastore XIV events The IBM Storage Integration Server provides management package in the form of PAK file which can be deployed on vcenter Operations Manager. This management package consists of dashboards, icons and resource definitions. After the management package is deployed, a new type of adapter named IBM Storage Adapter and XIV systems dashboards namely IBM XIV Top 10, IBM XIV Overview, and IBM XIV Performance can be seen on the vcenter Operations Manager. These dashboards display detailed status, statistics, metrics, and analytics data alongside hierarchical flowcharts with graphic representation of XIV Storage System elements. They also show relationships between IBM storage elements and data stores, VM, and hosts are displayed graphically in a drill-down style, providing administrator complete and up-todate picture of their used storage resources. Installation of IBM Storage Integration Server Installation and configuration of IBM Storage Integration Server is a short two part process. After IBM Storage Integration Server is configured, the ISV enablement features that will be used need to be configured appropriately. This section provides a quick overview of the IBM Storage Integration Server installation process. For detailed instructions, visit the IBM Knowledge Center at: pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/strhosts/ic/index.jsp?topic=%2fcom.ibm.help.strghosts.doc%2fisishomepage.html Requirements Steps Server running a compatible version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux IBM Storage Integration Server compatible web browser Shell access to the server as a privileged user IBM Storage Integration Server installation package IBM Storage Integration Server uses several external components such as PostgreSQL and Nginx. The IBM Storage Integration Server installation package includes RPM files for all the required components at the support version. Perform the following steps to begin the installation process. 1. Extract the contents of the installation package to a convenient working directory. For example /tmp or ~/. # tar xvf ibm_storage_integration_server-1.5-*.tar.gz 2. Go to the extracted directory. It contains the following RPM files: ibm_storage_integration_server-1.5-*.bin IBM Storage Integration Server BIN file 7

11 nginx el6.ngx.x86_64.rpm postgresql pgdg.rhel6.x86_64.rpm postgresql92-contrib pgdg.rhel6.x86_64.rpm postgresql92-libs pgdg.rhel6.x86_64.rpm postgresql92-server pgdg.rhel6.x86_64.rpm uuid el6.x86_64.rpm ibm_storage_integration_server_java_runtime_extension-1.5.0*.bin Required if DS8000 is used 3. Install all RPM files by issuing the following command. # rpm vi *.rpm 4. Enter chmod +x ibm_storage_integration_server-1.5-*.bin to authorize the installation of the product BIN file. 5. Enter./ibm_storage_integration_server-1.5-*.bin to start the installation. 6. Enter 1 to accept the license agreement and complete the installation. During the installation of the IBM Storage Integration Server service, you need to make a note of the following actions that take place. A new local user account is created and is named isis. This user account is used to run the IBM Storage Integration Server service and also to manage it locally. A firewall rule is added to allow incoming traffic on port The ibm_storage_integration_server service is configured to start automatically. Configuration The IBM Storage Integration Server web-based GUI is the primary means of managing the IBM Storage Integration Server. It provides users an intuitive interface to manage the tasks of attaching storage arrays, configuring the ISV feature connectivity, and managing user accounts. To log in to the IBM Storage Integration Server GUI, navigate to: using a supported web browser. It opens a login prompt as shown in Figure 2. Figure 2: IBM Storage Integration Server login window 8

12 For the first time after installation, the initial user name is admin and the password is adminadmin. It is strongly recommended to change the password as soon as possible or create a new user and delete the admin account. Add storage arrays to IBM Storage Integration Server IBM Storage Integration Server is capable of managing multiple IBM storage systems from a single installation. The single installation allows consumers of IBM Storage Integration Server services, such as vcenter Orchestrator, vcenter Operations Manager, VMware vsphere Web Client and VASA, to have a single point of contact for multiple storage systems. This reduces configuration complexity and management overhead. For this to function, all storage systems that IBM Storage Integration Server provides services for must be connected to the IBM Storage Integration Server. Set storage credentials To add a storage system to the IBM Storage Integration Server, storage array credentials must be defined. 1. Navigate to the Arrays tab. Click admin to configure the login credentials for the storage system. IBM Storage Integration Server uses a single set of credentials to access all storage systems. Administrators need to ensure that proper user accounts exist on all storage systems connecting to the IBM Storage Integration Server. Figure 3: Setting the storage credentials 2. To add a storage system to the IBM Storage Integration Server, click Add in the Storage Arrays section. 9

13 Figure 4: Storage arrays 3. Enter the host name or the IP address of the IBM storage array that you want to add and then select the appropriate storage array type. Figure 5: Adding the storage arrays 4. Verify that the storage system is added successfully. Figure 6: Verifying the storage array Download the management package from IBM Storage Integration Server IBM Storage Integration Server provides management package in the form of PAK file which can be deployed on vcenter Operations Manager. This Management Pack consists of dashboards, icons and resource definitions. 10

14 1. To download the PAK file from IBM Storage Integration Server, click vcops and then click Download PAK file, as shown in Figure 7. Figure 7: Downloading management package 2. Save the file to your computer to later upload it to vcenter Operations Manager. Figure 8: Save management package to the local computer VMware vcenter Operation Manager configuration Deploy IBM Storage Integration Server Management Package on vcenter Operations Manager 1. After the management package is downloaded to the computer, access vcenter Operations Manager administrative web console using or IP address of the vcops UI>/admin. 11

15 Figure 9: Logging in to vcenter Operations Manager 2. In case vcenter Operations Manager is configured for the first time, then follow the initial configuration wizard to configure vcenter Operations Manager with the vcenter server. Figure 10: vcenter Operations Manager registration 3. After the vcenter Operations Manager is registered with vcenter server, click the Update tab and then click Browse and select downloaded management package from IBM Storage Integration Server. After that, click Update to deploy management package to vcenter Operations Manager. 12

16 Figure 11: Deploying management package on vcenter Operations Manager 4. Select the check box to accept IBM license information and click OK to continue. Figure 12: Accepting IBM terms for the agreement 5. Click OK to confirm updating the management package. 13

17 Figure 13: Confirm PAK file update VMware vcenter Operations Manager will give confirmation message after the management package is deployed successfully. Figure 14: Management package deployment confirmation Describe management package on vcenter Operations Manager After successfully deploying management package on vcenter Operations Manager, it needs to be described using vcenter Operations Manager web-based custom user interface. 1. Log in to vcenter Operations Manager web-based custom user interface Address or FQDN of vcops server>/vcops-custom and enter the user name and password and click Login to log in to the custom GUI. 14

18 Figure 15: Log in to vcenter Operations Manager custom GUI 2. On the custom user interface main dashboard, click ADMIN and then click SUPPORT to open the support page. On the support page, click the Info tab and then click Describe to start describing the IBM Storage Integration Server management pack. Figure 16: Starting the describe process 15

19 3. After the describe process is started and completed successfully, refresh the custom user interface. Verify that IBM Storage Adapter is displayed under the Adapters Info section. Figure 17: IBM Storage Adapter information verification Configure vcenter Operations Manager on IBM Storage Integration Server After the management pack is successfully deployed, revisit the IBM Storage Integration Server user interface and then click the vcops tab to add vcenter Operations Manager server and attach the XIV systems to it. Set vcenter Operations Manager 1. Click the vcops tab to set vcenter Operations Manager, enter IP address or fully qualified domain name (FQDN) of vcenter Operations Manager UI VM, user name, password and then select the check box to confirm you have installed PAK file on the vcenter Operations Manager server and then click Save to save vcenter Operations Manager details. 16

20 Figure 18: Setting vcenter Operations Manager server 2. After successfully configuring, notice that the vcenter Operations Manager server is displayed on the vcops tab. Figure 19: vcenter Operations Manager details Attach storage arrays to vcenter Operations Manager Perform the following tasks to attach storage arrays to vcenter Operations Manager. 1. You need to attach IBM storage arrays that you would like to monitor by the vcenter Operations Manager. Click Attach Array. 17

21 Figure 20: Selecting the attach array 2. Select the check box for the storage array you need to attach and click Attach. Figure 21: Attaching storage array to be monitored 3. IBM Storage Integration Server displays the successfully attached storage array which will be monitored through vcenter Operations Manager. After this step, IBM Storage Integration Server might start pushing the information to vcenter Operations Manager using HTTP post requests. Figure 22: Successful attachment of storage array 18

22 Using vcenter Operations Manager to monitor XIV Storage System After successfully configuring IBM Storage Integration Server with vcenter Operations Manager, it periodically starts sending XIV systems information to vcenter Operations Manager. IBM Storage Integration Server provides the following XIV dashboards to monitor XIV systems through vcenter Operations Manager: IBM XIV Overview IBM XIV Performance IBM XIV Top 10 The management pack also provides icons related to IBM storage adapter, which are displayed in XIV dashboards in vcenter Operations Manager. The complete list of icons is provided in the Appendix B: IBM Storage adapter icons section. To view XIV dashboards, log in to vcenter Operations Manager custom user interface as shown in Figure 15, and then click DASHBOARDS IBM STORAGE to view the available XIV dashboards. Figure 23: Browsing to XIV Storage System dashboards IBM XIV Overview dashboard IBM XIV Storage System Overview dashboard provides clickable icons that represent relationships between all virtual elements and storage elements that are in use. This dashboard provides the XIV system and virtual machine relationship to the customer. It also provides the XIV ARRAY ALERT (ALL ARRAYS) widget at the lower-left pane of the dashboard which shows all XIV system alerts. In order to view the relationships, click the IBM XIV Overview dashboard and then click XIV STORAGE ARRAYS. This highlights all the resources related to the storage array. Then, click any icon on the XIV 19

23 AND VCENTER RELATIONSHIPS window on the right pane of the dashboard. It shows all the relationships related to the element. When you click on a virtual machine, this dashboard highlights all the relationships between the virtual machine and XIV Storage System as shown in Figure 25. Figure 24: Upper-left pane of IBM XIV dashboard Figure 25: Right pane of IBM XIV Overview dashboard 20

24 IBM XIV Performance dashboard IBM XIV Performance dashboard provides metrics information on the graphical elements that you click upon. In order to view performance information related to XIV systems element, click the IBM XIV Performance dashboard and then search for the relevant virtual machine from the search bar and then click the DATASTORE object in the XIV AND VCENTER RELATIONSHIP window at the lower-left pane of the dashboard. It loads the health of an element and all the elements in its relationship tree in the HEALTH TREE window on the upper-right pane of the dashboard. In the HEALTH TREE pane, you might be able to drill-down between all the resources. When you click on the object in the HEALTH TREE pane, it may drill down. After selecting an element from the HEALTH TREE, it will provide metric selector to view performance information related to the storage element. Once you select performance metric from the METRIC SELECTOR, it may load performance information in a graphical format in the METRIC GRAPH in the lower-right pane of the dashboard. Figure 26: Left pane of IBM XIV Performance dashboard 21

25 Figure 27: Upper-right pane of IBM XIV Performance dashboard Figure 28: Lower-right pane of IBM XIV Performance dashboard IBM XIV Top 10 dashboard IBM XIV Top 10 dashboard includes the following charts, each with ten entries: Top 10 XIV volumes by IOPS (in the last hour) Top 10 XIV volumes by IOPS (in the 24 hours) Top 10 XIV volumes by throughput (in the last hour) Top 10 XIV volumes by throughput (in the 24 hours) Top 10 XIV hosts by IOPS (in the last hour) Top 10 XIV hosts by IOPS (in the 24 hours) Top 10 XIV hosts by throughput (in the last hour) Top 10 XIV hosts by throughput (in the 24 hours) 22

26 In order to view XIV Top 10 related information on the IBM XIV systems elements, click the IBM XIV Top 10 dashboard and select the appropriate pane to view the Top 10 statistics of an XIV system s element. Figure 29: IBM XIV Top 10 dashboard Using ENVIRONMENT OVERVIEW to monitor IBM XIV Storage System resources In vcenter Operations Manager, the environmental overview page shows health of all the resources. In vcenter Operations Manager, a resource is an entity for which data is collected. To make resources easier to find in the custom user interface, an administrator assigns resources to resource tag values. A resource tag is a type of information. Click Adapter Kinds in the left pane to view the IBM Storage Adapter resources. In order to easily find XIV systems-related information, all the XIV resources are grouped under IBM Storage Adapter in an environmental overview page. To view overview of IBM XIV systems resources, click the ENVIRONMENT tab and then click ENVIRONMENT OVERVIEW in vcenter Operations Manager custom user interface. 23

27 Figure 30: Browsing to the environment overview page You can maximize the Adapter Kinds section to view IBM Storage Adapter. In order to view the health of XIV systems resources, you can select IBM Storage Adapter in the left pane of an environmental overview page. Selecting and clearing resources in the left pane will load health of the resources on the right pane of environmental overview accordingly. This page might provide centralized view of all the resources monitored by vcenter Operations Manager. In case of any issue with the resource, it can be easy to narrow down to the problem and finding out the relationships associated with the resources. Figure 31: Left pane of an environmental overview page 24

28 Figure 32: Right pane of environmental overview page Using thresholds to monitor IBM XIV systems VMware vcenter Operations Manager maintains thresholds of normal behavior for each attribute and generate anomalies when a metric violates threshold and it generates an alert. When vcenter Operations Manager details are set in IBM Storage Integration Server (refer to the Set vcenter Operations Manager section), it pushes default thresholds related to IBM XIV array resource to vcenter Operations Manager. In case user wants to modify the defaults thresholds, user can modify it in vcenter Operations Manager custom user interface. 1. Log in to vcenter Operations Manager custom user interface 2. Click ENVIRONMENT CONFIGURATION ATTRIBUTE PACKAGES. 25

29 Figure 33: Browse to attribute packages 3. In the Manage Attribute Packages window, select IBM Storage Adapter from the Adapter Kind drop-down list and also select an appropriate resource kind from a drop-down list. Then, doubleclick All Attributes to show the threshold for all attributes related to a resource kind. Figure 34: Selecting the adapter kind and resource kind 4. In the Attributes To Configure pane, maximize counters and select the attribute which needs to be configured. The right pane loads and display the current default thresholds pushed by IBM Storage Integration Server. In the Advanced Configuration pane, modify the threshold and select the critical level to set threshold to become key indicator. After making appropriate configuration, click OK to configure new threshold and vcenter Operations Manager starts sending alerts when the thresholds are reached. 26

30 Figure 35: Setting threshold to IBM storage resource 27

31 Summary As software-defined storage is gaining a lot of traction, IBM Storage Integration Server provides a perfect platform to independent software vendors (ISV) to enable software defined storage capability with the integration of their advanced functions to manipulate the provisioning of IBM storage systems. IBM Storage Integration Server is a single server that acts as an intermediary between IBM storage systems and the ISV solutions. This design allows the IBM Storage Integration Server to easily provide support for multiple IBM storage systems and quickly support new ISV integrations, and provides a unified management interface for all ISV integrations. IBM Storage Integration Server management package provides the capability to monitor IBM XIV Storage System through VMware vcenter Operations Manager. This integration provides a centralized monitoring of XIV resources and its resource relationships through vcenter Operations Manager simplifying the overall monitoring of infrastructure. 28

32 Appendix A: Test environment The following information provides details about the test environment used for testing the solution. For officially supported configuration details, refer to the Release Notes section in the IBM Storage Integration Server Knowledge Center at: pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/strhosts/ic/index.jsp?topic=%2fcom.ibm.help.strghosts.doc%2fisishomepage.html Sr. No Description Version 1 IBM XIV Storage System VMware vsphere Hypervisor (ESXi) Server VMware vcenter Server VMware vcenter Operations Manager IBM Storage Integration Server 1.5 Table 1: Test environment 29

33 Appendix B: IBM Storage adapter icons Sl. No Icon Icon description 1 IBM Storage adapter 2 IBM XIV array 3 IBM XIV disk 4 IBM XIV domain 5 IBM XIV host 6 IBM XIV Host Fiber Channel (FC) initiator 7 IBM XIV host internet Small Computer System Interface (iscsi) initiator 8 IBM XIV module 9 IBM XIV module FC port 10 IBM XIV module iscsi port 11 IBM XIV pool 12 IBM XIV volume Table 2: IBM storage adapter icons 30

34 Appendix C: Resources The following websites provide useful references to supplement the information contained in this paper: IBM Systems on PartnerWorld ibm.com/partnerworld/systems IBM Redbooks ibm.com/redbooks IBM Publications Center IBM XIV Storage System Knowledge Center publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/ibmxiv/r2/index.jsp VMware 5.5 Documentation Center VMware vcenter Operations Manager Documentation IBM Storage Integration Server Documentation pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/strhosts/ic/index.jsp?topic=%2fcom.ibm.help.strghosts.doc%2fisishomepage.html About the author Mandar J. Vaidya is an ISV solutions engineer in IBM Systems and Technology Group ISV Enablement. He has more than 15 years of experience working with various storage and systems technologies. Mandar holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree from the University of Pune, India. You can reach Mandar at mandar.vaidya@in.ibm.com. 31

35 Trademarks and special notices Copyright IBM Corporation References in this document to IBM products or services do not imply that IBM intends to make them available in every country. IBM, the IBM logo, and ibm.com are trademarks or registered trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both. If these and other IBM trademarked terms are marked on their first occurrence in this information with a trademark symbol ( or ), these symbols indicate U.S. registered or common law trademarks owned by IBM at the time this information was published. Such trademarks may also be registered or common law trademarks in other countries. A current list of IBM trademarks is available on the Web at "Copyright and trademark information" at Linux is a trademark of Linus Torvalds in the United States, other countries, or both. Other company, product, or service names may be trademarks or service marks of others. Information is provided "AS IS" without warranty of any kind. All customer examples described are presented as illustrations of how those customers have used IBM products and the results they may have achieved. Actual environmental costs and performance characteristics may vary by customer. Information concerning non-ibm products was obtained from a supplier of these products, published announcement material, or other publicly available sources and does not constitute an endorsement of such products by IBM. Sources for non-ibm list prices and performance numbers are taken from publicly available information, including vendor announcements and vendor worldwide homepages. IBM has not tested these products and cannot confirm the accuracy of performance, capability, or any other claims related to non-ibm products. Questions on the capability of non-ibm products should be addressed to the supplier of those products. All statements regarding IBM future direction and intent are subject to change or withdrawal without notice, and represent goals and objectives only. Contact your local IBM office or IBM authorized reseller for the full text of the specific Statement of Direction. Some information addresses anticipated future capabilities. Such information is not intended as a definitive statement of a commitment to specific levels of performance, function or delivery schedules with respect to any future products. Such commitments are only made in IBM product announcements. The information is presented here to communicate IBM's current investment and development activities as a good faith effort to help with our customers' future planning. Performance is based on measurements and projections using standard IBM benchmarks in a controlled environment. The actual throughput or performance that any user will experience will vary depending upon considerations such as the amount of multiprogramming in the user's job stream, the I/O configuration, the storage configuration, and the workload processed. Therefore, no assurance can be given that an individual user will achieve throughput or performance improvements equivalent to the ratios stated here. 32

36 Photographs shown are of engineering prototypes. Changes may be incorporated in production models. Any references in this information to non-ibm websites are provided for convenience only and do not in any manner serve as an endorsement of those websites. The materials at those websites are not part of the materials for this IBM product and use of those websites is at your own risk. 33