EMC Storage Monitoring and

Reporting
Version 4.0

Installation and Configuration Guide

P/N 302-002-732
REV 01

Copyright 2016 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Published in the USA.
Published July 2016
EMC believes the information in this publication is accurate as of its publication date. The information is subject to change
without notice.
The information in this publication is provided as is. EMC Corporation makes no representations or warranties of any kind with
respect to the information in this publication, and specifically disclaims implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a
particular purpose. Use, copying, and distribution of any EMC software described in this publication requires an applicable
software license.
EMC, EMC, and the EMC logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of EMC Corporation in the United States and other
countries. All other trademarks used herein are the property of their respective owners.
For the most up-to-date regulatory document for your product line, go to EMC Online Support (https://support.emc.com).
EMC Corporation
Hopkinton, Massachusetts 01748-9103
1-508-435-1000 In North America 1-866-464-7381
www.EMC.com

EMC Storage Monitoring and Reporting 4.0 Installation and Configuration Guide

CONTENTS

Chapter 1

Installing the Virtual Appliance

Installing the Storage Monitoring and Reporting vApp..................................... 6

Starting the vApp............................................................................................ 7

Chapter 2

Installing Using the Binary Installer

Installing on Linux......................................................................................... 10
Configuring the user process limits for a Linux installation............... 10
Installing on Windows Server........................................................................ 11
Configuring virus-scanning software.................................................11

Chapter 3

Uploading License Files

13

Uploading license files.................................................................................. 14

Chapter 4

SolutionPack for EMC VNX

15

Overview....................................................................................................... 16
VNX prerequisites..........................................................................................16
Preparing your VNX for discovery and data collection....................... 16
Adding and configuring devices in Discovery Center...................................... 20
Changing VNX object credentials using Discovery Center...............................21
Troubleshooting............................................................................................ 22
Resolving collector communication errors........................................ 23
Resolving creating stream errors...................................................... 24
Limitations.................................................................................................... 25

Chapter 5

SolutionPack for EMC VPLEX

27

Overview....................................................................................................... 28
Adding and configuring devices in Discovery Center...................................... 28
Troubleshooting performance data collection issues........................29
Configure VPLEX SNMP..................................................................................29
Limitations.................................................................................................... 29

Chapter 6

Logging into the User Interface

31

Logging in to the user interface..................................................................... 32

EMC Storage Monitoring and Reporting 4.0 Installation and Configuration Guide

CONTENTS

EMC Storage Monitoring and Reporting 4.0 Installation and Configuration Guide

CHAPTER 1
Installing the Virtual Appliance

This chapter includes the following topics:

l
l

Installing the Storage Monitoring and Reporting vApp............................................. 6

Starting the vApp.................................................................................................... 7

Installing the Virtual Appliance

Installing the Virtual Appliance

Installing the Storage Monitoring and Reporting vApp

Storage Monitoring and Reporting is installed as an all-in-one virtual appliance (vApp)
with a frontend, backend, and collector on a single VM. You deploy the Storage
Monitoring and Reporting vApp from an OVF template using vSphere Client.
Before you begin
l

Ensure that DRS is enabled.

Ensure that the ports listed in the Ports Usage Matrix are enabled and not blocked by
the firewall.

Gather the following information:

n

vCenter location where you plan to deploy the appliance

Datastore that you can use for deployment

Static IP address to assign to your appliance

Gateway

Netmask

DNS Servers

vApp installations require VMware vSphere 5.x or 6.x.

The vApp is based on SuSE Enterprise Linux 11 SP3.

The MySQL version included with the product is 5.5.36 MySQL Community Server
(GPL)

Procedure
1. Download the OVF template from support.emc.com.
2. Open vSphere Client and connect to the vCenter Server that manages your VMware
environment.
3. Select the Resource Pool where you want to deploy the VM for Storage Monitoring and
Reporting.
4. Select File > Deploy OVF Template.
5. In the Source step, locate the OVF template file.
6. Click Next.
To save time, deploy the appliance in the same local area network (LAN) that your
VMware ESX/ESXi servers share. Deployment across a WAN can take much longer
than a local deployment.
7. In the OVF Template Details step, review the details of the loaded OVF file, and then
click Next.
8. In the End User License Agreement step, review the license agreement. Click Accept,
and then click Next.
9. In the Name and Location step:
a. Accept the default name or type a new name for the appliance.
b. Specify an inventory location for the appliance in your VMware environment.
c. Click Next.
10. In the Deployment Configuration step, select Small, Medium, or Large from the
Configuration drop-down menu.
6

EMC Storage Monitoring and Reporting 4.0 Installation and Configuration Guide

Installing the Virtual Appliance

Consult the Performance and Scalability Guidelines for the recommended configuration
for your target environment.
11. Select the host or cluster where you want to run the deployed template, and then click
Next.
12. Select the destination storage for the virtual machine files, and then click Next.
13. In the Disk Format step, select the storage space provisioning method, and then click
Next.
Option

Description

Thin-provisioned format

On-demand expansion of available storage, used for

newer datastore file systems.

Thick-provisioned format Appliance storage that is allocated immediately and

reserved as a block.

Note

EMC recommends the Thin provisioned format option when the vApp is deployed in a
high performance environment.
14. In the Network Mapping step, select a destination network that has an IP Pool
associated with it for each of the VMs, and then click Next.
15. In the IP Address Allocation step, choose the IP allocation policy and IP protocol to
use, and then click Next.
16. In the Properties step, provide the values for each of the VMs, and then click Next.
17. In the Ready to Complete step, review the list of properties for the appliance, and then
click Finish.
A status bar opens in vSphere Client showing the deployment progress.
18. After you finish deployment, in the Deployment Completed Successfully dialog box,
click Close.

Starting the vApp

Use vSphere Client to start the vApp.
Procedure
1. In vSphere Client, navigate to the Host and Cluster view.
2. From the configured Resource Pool, find the Resource Pool that you selected for the
appliance.
3. Click the VM, and then click Power on the virtual machine in the right-hand pane.
After the initial startup and module installations are complete, the system displays
the login prompt.

Starting the vApp

Installing the Virtual Appliance

EMC Storage Monitoring and Reporting 4.0 Installation and Configuration Guide

CHAPTER 2
Installing Using the Binary Installer

This chapter includes the following topics:

l
l

Installing on Linux................................................................................................. 10
Installing on Windows Server................................................................................ 11

Installing Using the Binary Installer

Installing Using the Binary Installer

Installing on Linux
You can install the product on supported Linux hosts.
Before you begin
l

Ensure that you have a login with root privileges.

Ensure that the ports listed in the Ports Usage Matrix are enabled and not blocked by
the firewall.

Download the installation file from support.emc.com, and place it in a temporary

location on the server.

Procedure
1. Log in to the server as root.
2. Change the permissions of the installer.
For example: chmod +x <file_name>.sh
3. Run the installer from the directory.
For example: ./<file_name>.sh
4. Read and accept the End User License Agreement.
5. Accept the default installation directory of /opt/APG or type another location.

Configuring the user process limits for a Linux installation

Increase the user process limits for the apg user account to a maximum of 65534. This
modification enables services to open 65534 files and 65534 processes when needed.
This step is required for proper functioning of the core software.
Before you begin
l

Make sure you have a login with root privileges.

The core software installed on a server running Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6, CentOS
Linux 6, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) 11, or any other supported Linux
operating systems.

Procedure
1. Open the /etc/security/limits.conf file.
2. Add the following lines for the user.
In this example, the user is apg.
apg
apg
apg
apg

hard
soft
hard
soft

nofile
nofile
nproc
nproc

65534
65534
65534
65534

3. Save the file.

4. To verify the changes, type the following command:
su apg -c 'ulimit -n -u'
5. In the apg.properties file, edit the hostname to a FQDN host name.
6. To restart the services, type the following commands from the bin directory of the
installation:
10

EMC Storage Monitoring and Reporting 4.0 Installation and Configuration Guide

Installing Using the Binary Installer

./manage-modules.sh service stop all

./manage-modules.sh service start all

Installing on Windows Server

You can install the product on supported Windows Server hosts.
Before you begin
l

Ensure that you have a login with system administrator privileges.

Ensure that the ports listed in the Ports Usage Matrix are enabled and not blocked by
the firewall.

Download the installation file from support.emc.com, and place it in a temporary

location on the server.

Procedure
1. Double-click the .exe file.
2. Click Next on the Welcome screen.
3. Read and accept the End User License Agreement. Click I Agree.
4. Select the Destination Folder, and then click Next.
5. Click Install.
6. When the installation is complete, click Next.
7. Click Finish.
8. In the Program Files\APG\bin\apg.properties file, edit the hostname to a
FQDN host name.
9. Restart the services:
manage-modules.cmd service restart all

Configuring virus-scanning software

Running virus-scanning software on directories containing MySQL data and temporary
tables can cause issues, both in terms of the performance of MySQL and the virusscanning software misidentifying the contents of the files as containing spam.
After installing MySQL Server, it is recommended that you disable virus scanning on the
directory used to store your MySQL table data (such as C:\Program Files\APG
\Databases\MySQL\Default\data). In addition, by default, MySQL creates
temporary files in the standard Windows temporary directory. To prevent scanning the
temporary files, configure a separate temporary directory for MySQL temporary files and
add this directory to the virus scanning exclusion list. To do this, add a configuration
option for the tmpdir parameter to your my.ini configuration file.

Installing on Windows Server

11

Installing Using the Binary Installer

12

EMC Storage Monitoring and Reporting 4.0 Installation and Configuration Guide

CHAPTER 3
Uploading License Files

This chapter includes the following topics:

l

Uploading license files.......................................................................................... 14

Uploading License Files

13

Uploading License Files

Uploading license files

Procedure
1. Download the license file from the license portal.
2. Open a browser and connect to the Storage Monitoring and Reporting installation
page at the following URL:
http://<Frontend-hostname>:58080
The Storage Monitoring and Reporting installation page opens.
3. Provide the license file by dragging it onto the text box or clicking the text box and
navigating to the file. If you provide multiple licenses, use the drop-down menu to
specify which type of instance (VNX or VPLEX) you want to install.
The installer analyzes the license file.
4. Click Next.
5. Enter a username and password for the admin user, confirm the password, and then
click Install.
The installation begins and a status bar shows the progress.
6. When the installation is complete, click Restart application to complete the
installation.
The system redirects you to Discovery Center to configure your devices.

14

EMC Storage Monitoring and Reporting 4.0 Installation and Configuration Guide

CHAPTER 4
SolutionPack for EMC VNX

This chapter includes the following topics:

l
l
l
l
l
l

Overview............................................................................................................... 16
VNX prerequisites..................................................................................................16
Adding and configuring devices in Discovery Center.............................................. 20
Changing VNX object credentials using Discovery Center.......................................21
Troubleshooting.................................................................................................... 22
Limitations............................................................................................................ 25

SolutionPack for EMC VNX

15

SolutionPack for EMC VNX

Overview
The SolutionPack for EMC VNX collects performance, topology, and capacity data from
your Unity, VNX, and VNXe systems and displays the data in easy-to-use reports.
With this SolutionPack, you can unify your view of multiple Unity, VNX, and VNXe
systems, including physical storage to host relationships. Capacity reports, such as Raw
Capacity Usage, Usable Capacity, and Usable Capacity by Pool, help you to improve the
availability of business critical applications and services by ensuring that those
applications have the storage resources they need to operate effectively. Performance
reports provide key performance indicators for such fundamental resources as LUNs,
Disks, and File Systems.

VNX prerequisites
The following sections apply when discovering VNX Block Only, VNX Unified/File, and VNX
NAS Gateway/eNAS array types. These sections do not apply for Unity/VNXe2 array types.
There are no discovery prerequisites for Unity/VNXe2 array types.
l

Preparing your VNX for discovery and data collection on page 16

Configuring simple authentication on page 19

Unisphere security file authentication on page 19

Configuring VNX arrays for file storage discovery on page 20

Preparing your VNX for discovery and data collection

Identify the information required to support resource discovery and data collection before
installing the SolutionPack for EMC VNX and perform the necessary pre-configuration.
Storage Monitoring and Reporting uses Navisphere Secure CLI (NavisecCLI) to access the
VNX arrays. NavisecCLI needs to be configured to the "low" security level to properly
communicate with the arrays. In a vApp deployment, this is the default setting. However,
for a binary install, be sure that you install NavisecCLI with the "low" security level.
EMC recommends matching Naviseccli versions with Block Operating Environment
versions of VNX systems configured in the Collector. For information on compatible Block
OE and Naviseccli versions, refer to the VNX OE for Block Release Notes and the Unisphere
Host Agent/CLI and Utilities Release Notes on EMC Online Support.
For block and unified data collection, you must enable statistics logging on the array. To
enable statistics logging, refer to Unisphere documentation.
To prevent Storage Monitoring and Reporting discovery issues after a VNX control station
failover, ensure that the srmuser home directory exists on both the active and secondary
control stations. When a Global or LDAP user is first created on a VNX, the user's home
directory is created on the active control station. When the first failover to the secondary
control station occurs, the VNX does not create the user's home directory on the
secondary control station. Manually create the home directory on the secondary control
station if needed.

Specifying a non-default NavisecCLI installation location

If NavisecCLI is installed in a non-default location, you must modify the location using the
command line.
The default installation locations are:
16

EMC Storage Monitoring and Reporting 4.0 Installation and Configuration Guide

SolutionPack for EMC VNX

vApp /opt/Navisphere/bin/naviseccli

Windows binary C:\Program Files(x86)\EMC\Navisphere CLI\

Linux binary /opt/Navisphere/bin/naviseccli/

Procedure
1. Open an SSH (Linux) or RDP (Windows) session to the Storage Monitoring and
Reporting server.
2. Navigate to <install_location>/APG/bin.
3. Type the following command:
Linux: ./manage-modules.sh update emc-vnx-collect emc-vnx
Windows: manage-modules.cmd update emc-vnx-collect emc-vnx
4. At each system prompt, accept the default with the following exceptions:
l

At the Enter the step to modify, 'yes' to accept them, or

'no' to cancel the operation prompt, type yes.

At the Do you want to modify the module configuration? prompt,

type yes.

At the Specify custom naviseccli path prompt, type yes.

5. At the Naviseccli Path prompt, type the NavisecCLI path and hit Enter.
6. At the Do you want to specify another Unity/VNX system? prompt,
type yes, and then keep accepting the defaults. This ensures that any devices that
were previously provided are kept after modifying the NavisecCLI path.
Results
When you reach the end of the devices, the system restarts the collector with the updated
NavisecCLI path.

Preparing your VNX for discovery and data collection

17

SolutionPack for EMC VNX

./manage-modules.sh update emc-vnx-collect emc-vnx

Required dependencies, in processing order:
[1]
java '8.0.92' v8.0.92
[2]
topology-mapping-service 'Default' v1.4u1
[3]
module-manager '1.10u1' v1.10u1
[4]
license-manager 'Default' v5.6
[5]
collector-manager 'emc-vnx' v5.8u1
[6]
failover-filter 'emc-vnx' v5.2
[7]
cross-referencing-filter 'emc-vnx' v1.6u1
[8]
group-filter 'emc-vnx' v2.1u2
[9]
variable-handling-filter 'emc-vnx' v1.15u1
[10]
inline-calculation-filter 'emc-vnx' v6.3u1
[11]
stream-collector 'emc-vnx' v1.3u1
[12]
jdbc-drivers 'Default' v2.7u1
[13]
script-engine 'Default' v1.4u1
[14]
property-tagging-filter 'emc-vnx' v2.10u1
[15] U emc-vnx-collect 'emc-vnx' v4.0 => v4.0
> 14 not modified, 1 to update
> 2.5 MB space required / 114.5 GB available
? Enter the step to modify, 'yes' to accept them, or 'no' to cancel
the operation [yes] > yes
Starting update of emc-vnx-collect emc-vnx from v4.0 to v4.0...
* Gathering information...
* Module found in '/opt/APG/Block/emc-vnx-collect/emc-vnx'.
* It will now be updated using 'emc-vnx-collect-4.0.pkg'.
* Unpacking files...
* Updating files... 100%
* 229 files have been updated.
* Finalizing update...
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?

?
?
?
?
?

18

Do you want to modify the module configuration? (yes/no) [n] > yes
Activate the FailOver-Filter (yes/no) [y] >
Hostname or IP address to send data to [localhost] >
Network port to send data to [2020] >
Tomcat hostname or IP address [localhost] >
Configure custom Tomcat port (yes/no) [n] >
[1] HTTP
[2] HTTPS
Tomcat communication protocol [1] >
Username [ws-user] >
Password [?????] >
Frontend Web service instance name [APG-WS] >
Topology Service hostname or IP address [localhost] >
Web-Service gateway hostname or IP address [localhost] >
Web-Service port number [48443] >
[1] Basic
[2] Certificate
Authentication schema [2] >
Event server hostname or IP address [localhost] >
Event server port number [52001] >
Configure Alert consolidation (yes/no) [n] >
Specify custom naviseccli path (yes/no) [n] > yes
Naviseccli Path > /opt/Navisphere/bin/naviseccli
Do you want to specify another Unity/VNX system? (yes/no) [y] > y
[1] VNX Block Only
[2] VNX NAS Gateway/eNAS
[3] VNX Unified/File
[4] Unity/VNXe2
VNX type [1] >
Unique friendly name [FNM00083700047] >
SP A IP [lglad053] >
SP B IP [lglad054] >
Use Naviseccli security file (yes/no) [n] >
[1] LDAP
[2] global
[3] local

EMC Storage Monitoring and Reporting 4.0 Installation and Configuration Guide

SolutionPack for EMC VNX

?
?
?
?

?
?
?
?
?
?
?

Naviseccli User Scope [2] >

Naviseccli Username [emc] >
Naviseccli Password [?????] >
More entries? (yes/no) [y] >
[1] VNX Block Only
[2] VNX NAS Gateway/eNAS
[3] VNX Unified/File
[4] Unity/VNXe2
VNX type [4] >
Unique friendly name [CF2EN154000003] >
Management IP or hostname [10.247.28.164] >
Username [admin] >
Password [?????] >
More entries? (yes/no) [n] >
Use advanced settings (yes/no) [n] >

* Updating service 'collector-manager emc-vnx'...

[ updated ]
* Starting 'collector-manager emcvnx'...
[ OK ]
Update complete.

Configuring simple authentication

You can configure simple authentication with VNX arrays using the default Storage
Monitoring and Reporting account.
In order to poll and collect performance statistics from a VNX array, administrator
privileges are required for the user account used to access the arrays.
Note

The preferred method for secure polling and collection of data from VNX arrays is to
configure authentication using a Unisphere security file. Refer to Unisphere security file
authentication on page 19.
Procedure
1. Configure the default Storage Monitoring and Reporting account (apg) with
administrator privileges to access the VNX array as described in the Unisphere
documentation.
2. Validate access to the VNX array by running the following block command:
naviseccli -h (host) -user username -password password -scope 0
getagent

Unisphere security file authentication

A Unisphere security file is the preferred method to provide secure polling and data
collection from VNX arrays.
When you create a security file, the username you use to log in to the current host is
automatically stored in the security file, or you can specify an alternative username for
the security file in the -AddUserSecurity request using the optional -user switch. If
you omit the -user switch, the security file uses your current username. You can also
target the security file at a specific storage system using the -ip option.
You can store the security file on the Collector host and edit parser XML files to include
this path which will provide the required authentication to access the arrays.
Note the following:
Preparing your VNX for discovery and data collection

19

SolutionPack for EMC VNX

By default, the security file is stored in your default home directory. With NavisecCLI,
you can specify an alternative file path using the optional -secfilepath switch.

Security files are generated exclusively for use by the user who creates them. By
default, the EMC VNX collector manager runs under the accounts apg (for Linux) or
SYSTEM (for Windows). In order to use a Navisphere CLI security file in this default
configuration, the security file must be created using the above account(s). If the
collector is configured to run as a different user (such as in the scenario described in
the EMC White Paper Running Windows Collector Services Using Least Privileges,
https://community.emc.com/docs/DOC-36060), the security file to be used by the
collector must have also been created by that same user account.

Important: For VNX collectors running on Windows, explicitly specifying the full
security file path is required when configuring VNX discoveries, even if the security
file resides in the default %USERPROFILE% directory.

Once the security file exists, you can edit XML configuration files that are used to poll
and collect data to specify the path to the security file on the Collector host. The
security file handles authentication.

For details on configuring a security file on a host, refer to the Unisphere

documentation.

Configuring VNX arrays for file storage discovery

Learn how to configure VNX arrays for file storage discovery.
Procedure
1. Log into Control Station as the root user.
2. Open the nas_mcd.cfg configuration file in the /nas/sys/ directory.
3. Enable the XMLAPI service by uncommenting the following entry:
daemon "XML API Server"
executable
optional
canexit
autorestart
ioaccess

"/nas/sbin/start_xml_api_server"
yes
yes
yes
no

4. Type # service nas start, and press Enter to restart the XML-API service.
5. If you have multiple VNX arrays in your storage environment, repeat this procedure on
each VNX array.

Adding and configuring devices in Discovery Center

Procedure
1. From Discovery Center > Devices Management, click EMC VNX.
2. Click Add new device.
3. If the Server field appears, select the server where the device will be dispatched.
4. If the Instance field appears, select the instance of the emc-vnx-collect where the
device will be dispatched.
5. In VNX type, select VNX Block Only, VNX NAS Gateway/eNAS, VNX Unified/File, or
Unity/VNXe2.
If the following fields appear, enter the information specified:
20

EMC Storage Monitoring and Reporting 4.0 Installation and Configuration Guide

SolutionPack for EMC VNX

a. In Unique friendly name for the VNX system, type the name.
b. In SP A IP, type the IP address of the SPA.
c. In SP B IP, type the IP address of the SPB.
d. In Use Naviseccli security file, select this checkbox if you are using the security
file.
e. In Naviseccli User Scope, select LDAP, Global or Local.
f. In Naviseccli Username and Naviseccli Password, type the Naviseccli credentials
for the block storage systems.
g. In Primary control station IP, type the IP address of the primary control station.
h. In Secondary control station IP, type the IP address of the secondary control
station.
i. In VNX File User Scope, select LDAP, Global, or Local.
j. In VNX File Username and VNX File Password, type the credentials for the file
storage system.
k. In Management IP or hostname, type the IP address for the Unity/VNXe2 system.
l. In Username, type the username for the Unity/VNXe2 system.
m. In Password, type the password for the Unity/VNXe2 system.
6. Click Validate and Add to validate the credentials.
Note

This button tests array connectivity and credentials using the default user apg (Linux)
or SYSTEM (Windows). If the VNX collector-manager is configured to run under a
custom user (not the default) and uses a Naviseccli security file that is configured for
that user, the test results will show failures. However, these can safely be ignored if
the underlying collector-manager user & security file are correctly configured.
7. Click Ok.
8. Click Save.

Changing VNX object credentials using Discovery Center

Using Discovery Center, you can export, modify, and then import VNX credentials.
Procedure
1. From Centralized Management, click Discovery Center > Devices Management > EMC
VNX.
2. Click Export and save the .csv file.
3. Open the .csv file in a text editor, such as Notepad++.
4. In the file, identify the credentials that need to be changed.
In the example below, the username and password for test-user has been
identified.
Server,Instance,type,friendlyname,block.spa,block.spb,block.use_sec
file,block.secfilepath,block.userscope,block.username,block.passwor
d,file.csprimary,file.cssecondary,file.username,file.password,unity
Changing VNX object credentials using Discovery Center

21

SolutionPack for EMC VNX

.management,unity.username,unity.password
servername.emc.com,'emcvnx','unified','FNM00130900273','lglad065','lglad066','false',,'glo
bal','testuser','{5D6FAF32A927B424BFD17D71D5F6C85AC37CE3232E9012FE490DE482509
8BCA753E17FDC23F4E60C53320DA7E9FCC4AA}','lglad064',,'nasadmin','{90
39753E3695E8B7027D0B95749AF1620E2A392FB1224E6DF4A19266F1F4859F6C6F7
916124ACB801DB00BCADFBA6DCC}',,, servername.emc.com,'emcvnx','block','FNM00083700047','lglad053','lglad054','false',,'globa
l','emc','{A921446A3F75CF9174C9365B8073E3F33732087BB8C2694B8215AFA8
051D970E4128A57E63342BE997C0BFE3C10F6468}',,,,,,,

5. Change the credentials in the .csv file.

In the example below, test-user has been changed to test2 and the password
has been changed to password456.
Server,Instance,type,friendlyname,block.spa,block.spb,block.use_sec
file,block.secfilepath,block.userscope,block.username,block.passwor
d,file.csprimary,file.cssecondary,file.username,file.password,unity
.management,unity.username,unity.password
servername.emc.com,'emcvnx','unified','FNM00130900273','lglad065','lglad066','false',,'glo
bal','test2','password456','lglad064',,'nasadmin','{9039753E3695E8B
7027D0B95749AF1620E2A392FB1224E6DF4A19266F1F4859F6C6F7916124ACB801D
B00BCADFBA6DCC}',,,
servername.emc.com,'emcvnx','block','FNM00083700047','lglad053','lglad054','false',,'globa
l','emc','{A921446A3F75CF9174C9365B8073E3F33732087BB8C2694B8215AFA8
051D970E4128A57E63342BE997C0BFE3C10F6468}',,,,,,,

6. Save the .csv file.

7. In Discovery Center, click Import.
8. Select the Merge the devices with the existing ones? checkbox.
9. Click Browse to find the .csv file with the new credentials.
10. Click Ok.
A dialog appears indicating that the devices have been replaced (all of them will be
refreshed, even if the credentials were only updated for one object).
11. Click Continue.
The Discovery Center credentials page refreshes, displaying all contents in italics.
12. Click Save for the changes to take effect.
This will restart the VNX collector instance(s) and update the credentials that are
used.

Troubleshooting
Use this section to troubleshoot common errors.

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SolutionPack for EMC VNX

Resolving collector communication errors

There may be cases where the collector runs into issues reaching the array. Some known
examples are listed below.
When a VNX storage processor is not reachable via Navisphere Secure CLI (NavisecCLI) or
when the NavisecCLI security file has not been properly configured, error messages like
those shown below will appear in the collection logs.
SEVERE -- [2015-10-06 10:30:22 EDT] -- DataListener
$ValueFormatter::createValues(): No value found for key agent-spamemory, context VNX1 and properties {topopass=value,
friendlyname=APM00140634211, scopeflag=, spb=losat164.lss.emc.com,
spa=losat163.lss.emc.com, topouser=value, POLLING_COUNTER=0,
deviceid=1, command=/opt/Navisphere/bin/naviseccli,
topoport=localhost:48443, secfilepath=/tmp, userflag=,
sstype=Unified, password=,
cimauthorization=@{user}:@{password}:@{scope}, passwordflag=,
nopollflag=-nopoll, scope=, secfilepathflag=-secfilepath, user=}
SEVERE
-- [2015-10-06 11:50:22 EDT] -AbstractStreamHandlerJob::prepareNextStep(): Error executing handler
XslStreamTransformer containing 1 sub handlers
com.watch4net.apg.ubertext.parsing.StreamHandlerException: Error
while transforming stream
at
com.watch4net.apg.ubertext.parsing.transformer.XslStreamTransformer.ex
ecute(XslStreamTransformer.java:58)
at
com.watch4net.apg.ubertext.parsing.AbstractSimpleStreamHandler.handleE
xecution(AbstractSimpleStreamHandler.java:39)
at
com.watch4net.apg.ubertext.parsing.concurrent.AbstractStreamHandlerJob
.prepareNextStep(AbstractStreamHandlerJob.java:180)
at
com.watch4net.apg.ubertext.parsing.concurrent.SimpleStreamHandlerJob.s
tep(SimpleStreamHandlerJob.java:41)
at com.watch4net.apg.concurrent.executor.AbstractJobExecutor
$SequentialJob.step(AbstractJobExecutor.java:419)
at
com.watch4net.apg.concurrent.executor.AbstractJobExecutor.executeJobRu
nner(AbstractJobExecutor.java:122)
at
com.watch4net.apg.concurrent.executor.AbstractJobExecutor.access
$500(AbstractJobExecutor.java:22)
at com.watch4net.apg.concurrent.executor.AbstractJobExecutor
$JobRunnerImpl.run(AbstractJobExecutor.java:274)
at
java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.j
ava:1142)
at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor
$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:617)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:745)
Caused by: net.sf.saxon.trans.XPathException: Error reported by XML
parser: Content is not allowed in prolog.

To resolve the communication issues shown above, follow the steps below.
Procedure
1. Using the collection logs, identify the VNX storage processor that is not able to
communicate with the collector, as shown in the example error below:
SEVERE -- [2015-10-06 10:30:22 EDT] -- DataListener
$ValueFormatter::createValues(): No value found for key agent-spamemory, context VNX1 and properties {topopass=value,
Resolving collector communication errors

23

SolutionPack for EMC VNX

friendlyname=APM00140634211, scopeflag=, spb=losat164.lss.emc.com,

spa=losat163.lss.emc.com, topouser=value, POLLING_COUNTER=0,
deviceid=1, command=/opt/Navisphere/bin/naviseccli,
topoport=localhost:48443, secfilepath=/tmp, userflag=,
sstype=Unified, password=,
cimauthorization=@{user}:@{password}:@{scope}, passwordflag=,
nopollflag=-nopoll, scope=, secfilepathflag=-secfilepath, user=}

In this example, storage processor A on the array APM00140634211 cannot

communicate with the collector.
2. Ensure the storage processor is reachable via NavisecCLI from the VNX collector host
given the same credentials used in Storage Monitoring and Reporting.
3. Ensure that the NavisecCLI security file has been properly configured. For more
information on configuring the security file, refer to Unisphere security file
authentication on page 19.

Resolving creating stream errors

An error message, like the one shown below, will appear in the collection logs when
the /opt/APG/Collecting/Stream-Collector/emc-vnx/./conf/output/vnxalerts-blockdeviceid-1-laststarttime.xml files are deleted.
SEVERE [2015-11-02 10:30:02 EST]
AbstractStreamHandlerJob::prepareNextStep(): Error executing handler
FileReaderRetriever containing 1 sub handlers
com.watch4net.apg.ubertext.parsing.StreamHandlerException: Error
while creating the stream for file /opt/APG/Collecting/StreamCollector/emc-vnx/./conf/output/vnxalerts-block-deviceid-1laststarttime.xml
at
com.watch4net.apg.ubertext.parsing.retriever.FileReaderRetriever.newFi
leToRead(FileReaderRetriever.java:340)
at
com.watch4net.apg.ubertext.parsing.retriever.FileReaderRetriever.execu
te(FileReaderRetriever.java:189)
at
com.watch4net.apg.ubertext.parsing.retriever.FileReaderRetriever.execu
te(FileReaderRetriever.java:46)
at
com.watch4net.apg.ubertext.parsing.AbstractForkingStreamHandler.handle
Execution(AbstractForkingStreamHandler.java:122)
at
com.watch4net.apg.ubertext.parsing.concurrent.AbstractStreamHandlerJob
.prepareNextStep(AbstractStreamHandlerJob.java:180)
at
com.watch4net.apg.ubertext.parsing.concurrent.ForkingStreamHandlerJob.
step(ForkingStreamHandlerJob.java:46)
at com.watch4net.apg.concurrent.executor.DefaultScheduledJobExecutor
$ScheduledJob.step(DefaultScheduledJobExecutor.java:249)
at
com.watch4net.apg.concurrent.executor.AbstractJobExecutor.executeJobRu
nner(AbstractJobExecutor.java:122)
at com.watch4net.apg.concurrent.executor.AbstractJobExecutor.access
$500(AbstractJobExecutor.java:22)
at com.watch4net.apg.concurrent.executor.AbstractJobExecutor
$JobRunnerImpl.run(AbstractJobExecutor.java:274)
at
java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.j
ava:1142)
at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor
$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:617)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:745)
Caused by: java.io.FileNotFoundException: /opt/APG/Collecting/Stream-

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SolutionPack for EMC VNX

Collector/emc-vnx/./conf/output/vnxalerts-block-deviceid-1laststarttime.xml (No such file or directory)

at java.io.FileInputStream.open0(Native Method)
at java.io.FileInputStream.open(FileInputStream.java:195)
at java.io.FileInputStream.<init>(FileInputStream.java:138)
at
com.watch4net.apg.ubertext.parsing.retriever.FileReaderRetriever.newFi
leToRead(FileReaderRetriever.java:336)
... 12 more

To resolve this issue, follow the steps below.

Procedure
1. From Centralized Management, click SolutionPacks > Storage > EMC VNX.
2. Click the pencil icon for the Data collection component to reconfigure the
SolutionPack.
The missing files are recreated.

Limitations
l

VNX Free Raw Disk Capacity values are not the same as EMC Unisphere Free Raw
Capacity values. Unisphere Free Raw Capacity counts both internal operation space
(vault drives) and the space available for user LUNs. Free Raw Disk Capacity only
counts the space available for user LUNs.

Hot Spare values are incorrect for VNX arrays running Operating Environment for
Block / FLARE 05.33.x. In that version, the VNX series supports a new hot spare policy
where any unbound disk is available for use as a hot spare. Therefore, disks are not
specifically marked as hot spares, but rather as unbound disks. As a result, hot spare
disks are incorrectly counted as unconfigured capacity.

VNX Statistics Logging will stop when VNX Performance Logging stops if Performance
Logging was enabled before Statistics Logging was enabled. To prevent this from
happening, manually enable Statistics Logging via Unisphere or NaviCLI (using the
setstats -on command) before enabling Performance Logging (which is
optional). In this way, even if the optional Performance Logging stops, performance
metrics will continue to be collected.

The following error message appears in the logs during the first couple polling cycles
when an array is discovered; after that the message will stop:
SEVERE
-- [2016-01-28 10:44:39 EST] -FileDownloadingTask::run():
com.watch4net.apg.ssh.api.exception.SSHException: Remote directory
'./emc-srm/server_2/3600' does not exist.
com.watch4net.apg.file.retriever.ClientException:
com.watch4net.apg.ssh.api.exception.SSHException: Remote directory
'./emc-srm/server_2/3600' does not exist.

The discovery of VNX/Unity/VNXe arrays using an IPv6 address in Discovery Center is

not supported. Use the hostname which resolves to the respective IPv6 address when
entering the details for SPA, SPB and Control Station (for VNX) or for Management
Host (for Unity/VNXe2).

Limitations

25

SolutionPack for EMC VNX

The following message appears in the logs when the SolutionPack for VNX collectormanager is first started. This problem is resolved when a device is added for
discovery and the collector-manager is restarted.
WARNING [2016-04-10 11:26:24 EDT] SocketConnector::init():
Can't connect socket to localhost:52001
java.net.ConnectException: Connection refused

If the "Current Owner" of a LUN on a Unity or VNXe2 array changes, the 'memberof'
property will display multiple values for a while until the collection has time to
normalize things. For Unity, that means that for approximately one hour (by default,
or up to four hours if 60 mins topology polling period is selected), the reports will
show multiple values for the 'memberof' property. For VNXe2, that means that until
the LUN metrics are marked inactive (approximately 24 hours), the reports will show
multiple values for the 'memberof' property.

It is possible for existing VNX array LUNs to appear in the Inactive Devices &
Components report. This occurs because the memberof property is part of the LUN
variable id. If a LUN trespasses between storage processors, the old instance of the
metric will be tagged with an inactive vstatus property.

The following warning might appear in the logs when the Primary control station of a
VNX Unified or NAS Gateway is not reachable or does not respond to XML API
requests:
WARNING -- [2016-06-06 09:08:38 EDT] -HttpRequestGroup::executeRequest(): Error running command https://
@{cssecondary}/Login?user
java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Host name may not be null....

This can occur when the VNX Unified or NAS Gateway has only one control station,
and the Secondary control station IP field is blank.

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CHAPTER 5
SolutionPack for EMC VPLEX

This chapter includes the following topics:

l
l
l
l

Overview............................................................................................................... 28
Adding and configuring devices in Discovery Center.............................................. 28
Configure VPLEX SNMP..........................................................................................29
Limitations............................................................................................................ 29

SolutionPack for EMC VPLEX

27

SolutionPack for EMC VPLEX

Overview
The SolutionPack for EMC VPLEX allows you to visualize and report on performance and
capacity data from your VPLEX systems.
With this SolutionPack, you can unify your view of multiple VPLEX systems, including
physical storage to virtual storage relationships. Capacity reports, such as Thick, Thin,
Allocated and Not Allocated, help you to improve the availability of business critical
applications and services by ensuring that those applications have the storage resources
they need to operate effectively.

Adding and configuring devices in Discovery Center

Before you begin
l

While adding a new device, ensure that cluster 1 IP and serial number are not
interchanged with the cluster 2 IP and Serial Number.

Procedure
1. Click Discovery Center > Devices Management.
2. Click VPLEX.
3. Click Add new device.
4. In the VPLEX section, provide the cluster host and authentication details for your
VPLEX system.
The default username for the VPLEX is service and the default password is
Mi@Dim7T.
It is important to enter the cluster information correctly, clusters are mapped to their
correct number. Interchanging cluster IPs and SN results in a failure to collect
performance data.
Be sure to select the correct VPLEX type while adding the device. If you are adding a
VPLEX Metro or VPLEX Geo, select the Geo/Metro VPLEX type from the drop-down and
enter both VPLEX cluster details. If you are adding a VPLEX Local, select the Local
VPLEX type from the drop-down and enter the VPLEX cluster details. Do not add a Geo
or Metro VPLEX System as two separate Local VPLEX Systems.
5. Click Validate and Add to validate the credentials.
6. Click Ok.
7. Click Save.
It will take approximately take three hours for data to start appearing on reports.
After you finish
Note

Threshold based alerts are disabled by default. To manually enable threshold based
alerts, go to Administration > Modules > Alerting > Alert Definitions > EMC VPLEX Alert
Definitions. (SNMP based alerts are enabled by default.)

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SolutionPack for EMC VPLEX

Troubleshooting performance data collection issues

Ensure that on each VPLEX cluster, VPLEX Perpetual monitors are not stopped and are
logging director and virtual volume performance data. To do this, login to VPLEX and look
for the Perpetual Monitor log files located at /var/log/VPlex/cli/
director*PERPETUAL*.log. There are separate perpetual monitor log files for VPLEX
Directors and VPLEX virtual volumes. And for each type, there is one log file per director.
These log files are used to collect performance data. Ensure that the last modified time
stamp for all such log files is not older than a few minutes.
In case the perpetual monitor log files are old, it means that the perpetual monitors have
stopped and you may not this data be collected. VPLEX KB articles have more information
on how to resolve this issue.

Configure VPLEX SNMP

Configure your VPLEX server to send SNMP traps to Storage Monitoring and Reporting on
port 2041.
For more information about configuring SNMP on VPLEX, refer to the EMC VPLEX
Administration Guide.
Procedure
1. Log into the VPLEX CLI.
2. From the VPlexcli:/> prompt, enter: cd notifications/call-home/snmptraps/

3. Create a trap using the command: create <trap-name>

Where <trap-name> is any string that you want to use.
4. cd to <trap-name>.
5. Configure the trap to send notifications to Storage Monitoring and Reporting using the
command: set remote-host <IP address>
Where <IP address> is the IP address of the server receiving the traps. For example, on
a four VM deployment, this is the IP address of the Primary Backend.
6. Configure the trap to send data to port 2041 using the command: set remote-port
2041

7. Start sending notifications by using the command: set started true

Limitations
Only encapsulated virtual volumes are supported. LVM virtual volumes are not
supported.

Troubleshooting performance data collection issues

29

SolutionPack for EMC VPLEX

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CHAPTER 6
Logging into the User Interface

This chapter includes the following topics:

l

Logging in to the user interface..............................................................................32

Logging into the User Interface

31

Logging into the User Interface

Logging in to the user interface

Log in to the user interface to view, schedule, and export reports.
Procedure
1. Open a browser and type the following URL:
http://<Frontend-hostname>:58080/APG
2. Type the login credentials that you provided during the License Upload step of the
installation.
3. Click Sign In.
Note

You are automatically logged off after four hours.

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EMC Storage Monitoring and Reporting 4.0 Installation and Configuration Guide