Security Technical Brief

Contents
Copyright Statement ............................................................................................................................... 1
Revision History ...................................................................................................................................... 2
About This Document ............................................................................................................................. 3
Live Optics Overview ............................................................................................................................... 3
Live Optics Security Overview ................................................................................................................. 4
What information does Live Optics collect? ....................................................................................... 4
Collection Types .................................................................................................................................. 4
Live Optics Collector Security.............................................................................................................. 4
Web Service API Communication ....................................................................................................... 4
Web Portal Security ............................................................................................................................ 4
Live Optics SIOKIT File Security ........................................................................................................... 5
Server and Cloud ..................................................................................................................................... 6
Optical Prime....................................................................................................................................... 6
Windows Collection ........................................................................................................................ 6
Linux Collection ............................................................................................................................... 6
VMware Collection.......................................................................................................................... 6
RAPID Discovery .................................................................................................................................. 7
Active Directory Scan ...................................................................................................................... 7
Network Scan .................................................................................................................................. 7
WMI ................................................................................................................................................ 7
SSH .................................................................................................................................................. 7
Amazon Web Services (AWS) .............................................................................................................. 8
Microsoft Azure .................................................................................................................................. 8
Nutanix ................................................................................................................................................ 9
File ......................................................................................................................................................... 10
Dossier .............................................................................................................................................. 10
Storage .................................................................................................................................................. 11
API Based Collection ......................................................................................................................... 11
IBM Storwize ................................................................................................................................. 11
Isilon/PowerScale .......................................................................................................................... 11
NetApp .......................................................................................................................................... 12
PowerStore ................................................................................................................................... 12
Pure ............................................................................................................................................... 13
SC .................................................................................................................................................. 13
Unity .............................................................................................................................................. 14
 XtremIO ......................................................................................................................................... 14
3PAR .............................................................................................................................................. 15
File Based Collection ......................................................................................................................... 15
CLARiiON/VNX ............................................................................................................................... 15
VMAX/PowerMax ......................................................................................................................... 15
Data Protection ..................................................................................................................................... 17
API Based Collection ......................................................................................................................... 17
NetWorker API .............................................................................................................................. 17
PowerProtect DM ......................................................................................................................... 17
File Based Collection ......................................................................................................................... 17
Avamar .......................................................................................................................................... 17
PowerProtect Data Domain .......................................................................................................... 18
Workloads ............................................................................................................................................. 19
Microsoft SQL Server ........................................................................................................................ 19
Remote WMI using Optical Prime................................................................................................. 19
Remote SQL Connection ............................................................................................................... 19
Dark Sites .............................................................................................................................................. 19
Copyright Statement
The information in this publication is provided as is. Dell Inc. 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 software described in this publication requires an applicable
software license.

Copyright © 2024 Dell Inc. or its subsidiaries. Published in the USA, March 2024.

Dell Inc. believes the information in this document is accurate as of its publication date. The
information is subject to change without notice.

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Revision History
Date Document Revision Description of Changes
March 2024 1.0 Initial version

2
About This Document
This document is intended to provide Live Optics users with information about security measures
employed during collections using the Live Optics collector. For more information see the Live Optics
Security FAQ or contact: [email protected].

Live Optics Overview

Live Optics is a free software tool that inventories and analyzes your current IT environment for the
purpose of infrastructure planning activities. It automatically collects real-time metrics on storage,
servers, and data protection. Using an intuitive dashboard and detailed graphs, it delivers a holistic
view of your IT environment. It helps to better understand your environment, optimize your IT
investments, and improve your overall system capacity and performance.

Live Optics collects information from all vendors, hardware types, operating systems, and platforms,
making it especially useful in multi-vendor and multi-cloud environments. It also provides pricing
comparisons for public cloud solutions, including Amazon AWS, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure.

Server and Cloud

View live bare-metal server and virtual machine inventory, configuration, and
performance telemetry.
File
Insight into unstructured data through rapid characterization of storage growth, file
types, and predictive potential for archive, compression, and reducibility.
Storage
View detailed vendor and model specific storage hardware, including inventory,
configuration, and performance history.
Data Protection
Insight into vendor specific backup software and appliances, data protection
configuration, cycles and policies, and the front-end capacity of protected systems.
Workloads
Generate summaries of supported databases, capacity reports, and performance
metrics.

There are two Live Optics collector download options available:

• Corporate Edition - This version requires registration with a corporate email address for
access to all Live Optics configuration and performance data collection options.
See Download the Live Optics collector or Download the Live Optics collector (Linux) to get
started.

• Personal Edition - This version does not require registration with an email address but offers
only a limited selection of data collection options. See Download the Live Optics Personal
Edition collector for more information.

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Live Optics Security Overview
What information does Live Optics collect?
Live Optics collects metadata information only. Metadata provides contextual information which is
used to classify, organize, and understand data, and helps to provide meaningful insights into user
environments. Live Optics does not read or collect personal information or read application data or
user files (see Dossier exception below).

For example, during a storage array collection, Live Optics gathers information including the number
of volumes, volume names, and volume properties including capacity, but never reads the actual
information stored on the volumes.

NOTE: Dossier reads application information (for example, file names and, optionally, file content)
in certain circumstances as part of its scanning operation. See Dossier for further information.

Collection Types
Live Optics collects information using two methods:

• API Based Collection - connects to a system (for example, a storage array or data protection
appliance) using a network protocol, such as REST API.
• File Based Collection - uses files manually retrieved from systems which are then uploaded
to the Live Optics collector.

It is recommended that API based collection is used where possible. APIs are the most secure
method of gathering information. Generally, only necessary information and metrics are gathered
when using APIs, and the overall user experience is more streamlined.

Live Optics Collector Security

The Live Optics collector is downloaded using a login-protected HTTPS (SSL) link. The collector and its
respective metadata are digitally signed by Dell to guarantee that it, and any user metadata
identifying the collector, has not been altered. The Live Optics collector application is developed
under strict Dell DevSecOps security guidelines and is continuously updated with the latest security
patches and best practices for secure SSL connections.

Web Service API Communication

The Live Optics collector communicates (optionally) with Live Optics analytics servers over the
internet using a secure HTTPS/SSL protocol.

Web Portal Security

The Live Optics web portal was designed following strict Dell security guidelines. It is accessed using
a secure and encrypted HTTPS framework. Live Optics servers are routinely updated with the latest
security patches.

The Live Optics datacenter consists of multiple layers of firewalled servers and communication
frameworks. Collections are securely stored behind firewalled networks and are encrypted at rest.
The Dell security team routinely scan both the site and source code for vulnerabilities.

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Live Optics SIOKIT File Security
An SIOKIT file is an encrypted file the Live Optics collector creates if you choose to store your
collection information on your local system. This option is typically used when an internet
connection is not available to automatically transmit collected information directly to the Live Optics
datacenter for processing. Instead, an SIOKIT file must be manually uploaded to the Live Optics
datacenter where it is converted into a project for viewing.

When you download the Live Optics collector it is linked to your account with an embedded RSA key.
This public key is used to encrypt and sign SIOKIT files, so that Live Optics can identify the source of
an SIOKIT file and associate it with a specific user account. Live Optics SIOKIT files are encrypted with
2048-bit RSA and 256-AES keys. The private key is securely stored in the Live Optics datacenter, so
the SIOKIT file cannot be decrypted outside of Live Optics. Key pairs are generated on a per-collector
basis for each download.

For information on uploading SIOKIT files after a Live Optics collection, see:

• Upload an SIOKIT file from the Live Optics collector

• Upload an SIOKIT file from the Live Optics web portal

Anonymizing Collections
Live Optics users own their information and can share it with trusted Live Optics technical
consultants to collaborate on IT infrastructure decision making processes or support cases. Typically,
collection information is sent in its raw format. However, if required, resource names (for example,
servers, disks, and LUNs) can be obfuscated prior to running a collection.

NOTE: The option to anonymize collection information is available for Optical Prime project
reports only.

Starting Live Optics from the command prompt using /anon (Windows) or -- anon (Linux/Unix)
provides source-side randomization of all server, disk, and LUNs identities, and any other
information that might be unique to internal naming conventions. Additionally, when a project is
shared, there is an option to anonymize the project information for the recipient.

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Server and Cloud
Optical Prime
Optical Prime gathers inventory, configuration, and performance metrics for physical and virtual
servers, desktops, and hypervisors. The Live Optics collector connects to local and remote hosts
running operating systems including Windows, Linux, and hypervisors including VMware vCenter,
Microsoft Hyper-V, KVM, and Xen.

Information types collected include hostnames, operating systems, CPU and memory configurations,
storage and disk configurations, hypervisor information such as guest virtual machines, network
configurations, IP addresses, and lists of installed applications.

Optical Prime collections can be run from 10 minutes to 7 days and gather information from host
systems. The application runs in system memory only and does not make any modifications to your
system or the system from which information is collected.

NOTE: As Optical Prime runs in system memory only, its collections are session sensitive. Logging
out or rebooting your host system will terminate an Optical Prime collection in progress.

Optical Prime scan results can be:

• Uploaded to the Live Optics datacenter - a secure HTTPS/SSL connection is established over
TCP port 443 with Dell servers and information is transmitted when the collection is
complete.
• Saved to an SIOKIT file – collection details are saved to a local SIOKIT file which must be
manually uploaded to the Live Optics portal before collection results can be viewed. No
outbound connection is made by the Live Optics collector.
• Written to a local Microsoft Excel spreadsheet – Inventory Mode creates a summary of
hardware, operating systems, and virtual machines hosted by hypervisors. No performance
information is collected.

Windows Collection
Optical Prime uses the Microsoft WMI (Windows Management Instrumentation) protocol to collect
information from Windows systems. This protocol uses TCP port 135 for the initial connection,
before switching to a randomly selected TCP port between 49152 and 65535 for collection. Some
environments with more recent Windows Server operating system versions can be configured to use
a fixed TCP port. WMI is encrypted and secure.

Linux Collection
Optical Prime uses the SSH (Secure Shell) protocol to remotely connect to Linux systems. By default,
SSH uses TCP port 22. Once the shell is established, Optical Prime runs several commands to collect
information. SSH is encrypted and secure.

VMware Collection
Optical Prime can scan entire VMware deployments by connecting to a VMware vCenter system. It
uses the vSphere SOAP API which runs over the encrypted and secure HTTPS/SSL protocol and is

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typically configured over TCP port 443. However, in cases where the deployment is using a custom
override port, you may specify a custom port number instead.

Optical Prime establishes a connection to the vCenter system only and does not directly
communicate with any ESXi hosts.

NOTE: Optical Prime supports VMware collections by connecting to vCenter only. VMware
deployments without vCenter are not supported.

RAPID Discovery
RAPID Discovery scans host environments to identify network objects including servers, laptops,
switches, printers, and storage arrays. It is designed to easily generate a holistic view of an
environment to reveal insights that may be difficult to identify particularly in large deployments.

RAPID Discovery performs scans using Active Directory and network port scanning techniques. WMI
and SSH protocols are used to obtain additional detail about the discovered network objects.

NOTE: The Live Optics collector does not transmit information during or after a RAPID Discovery
session.

Active Directory Scan

A query is completed for the Secure LDAP (SLDAP) addresses provided. Currently, only Windows
Servers and Linux entries are selected. For each result, a DNS lookup is performed to retrieve its IP
address. SLDAP is encrypted and secure.

Network Scan
The Live Optics collector pings each IP address from a user-specified IP range. A DNS lookup is
performed to retrieve hostnames and MAC addresses. The NIC vendor is obtained from a lookup
table.

WMI
WMI scans use credentials specified in credential groups and retrieves management information.
Using the IP address and selected credential groups, an authentication attempt is made for each
selected device with each credential pair until authentication is successful. A set of WMI commands
are executed and the results are displayed in a downloadable Microsoft Excel file containing
information and states collected for all discovered devices.

WMI uses TCP port 135 for the initial connection, before switching to a randomly selected TCP port
between 49152 and 65535 for collection. Some environments with more recent Windows Server
operating system versions can be configured to use a fixed TCP port. WMI is encrypted and secure.

SSH
SSH scans leverage the Secure Shell protocol over TCP port 22 using credentials specified in
credential groups. Using the IP address and selected credential groups, an authentication attempt is
made for each selected device with each credential pair until authentication is successful. A set of
SSH commands are executed and the results are displayed in a downloadable Microsoft Excel file (for

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the host on which the scan was performed) containing information and states collected for all
discovered devices.

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

AWS scans gather inventory details for EC2, S3, Glacier, EFS, RDS, ECS, and EKS services.

To begin an AWS scan, enter your Access Key ID and Secret Access Key credentials. Secret Access Keys
are used with the Access Key ID to cryptographically sign AWS requests. This process identifies the
sender and prevents a request from being altered. You can generate Secret Access Keys for your
AWS account, individual IAM users, and temporary sessions.

For information on creating a temporary user account with relevant permissions for a Live Optics
collection, see Create a temporary AWS IAM user for Live Optics collection.

Once your credentials are authenticated, a HTTPS connection to AWS is established and information
is collected.

AWS scan results can be:

• Uploaded to the Live Optics datacenter - a secure HTTPS/SSL connection is established over
port 443 with Dell servers and information is transmitted when the collection is complete.
• Saved to an SIOKIT file – collection details are saved to a local SIOKIT file which must be
manually uploaded to the Live Optics portal before collection results can be viewed. No
outbound connection is made by the Live Optics collector.
• Written to a local Microsoft Excel file – Inventory Mode collects configuration and status
information for all EC2 instances, S3 buckets, EFS, and RDS instances across multiple regions.
No performance information is collected.

Microsoft Azure
Microsoft Azure scans gather inventory details for Azure VMs, Scale Sets, Storage Accounts, and
Azure SQL Database services.

To begin an Azure scan, enter your Client ID, Client Secret, Tenant ID, and Subscription ID credentials.
Once your credentials are authenticated, a HTTPS connection to Azure is established and
information is collected.

Azure scan results can be:

• Uploaded to the Live Optics datacenter - a secure HTTPS/SSL connection is established over
port 443 with Dell servers and information is transmitted when the collection is complete.
• Saved to an SIOKIT file – collection details are saved to a local SIOKIT file which must be
manually uploaded to the Live Optics portal before collection results can be viewed. No
outbound connection is made by the Live Optics collector.
• Written to a local Microsoft Excel spreadsheet – Inventory Mode collects configuration and
status information. No performance information is collected.

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Nutanix
Nutanix collections provide inventory and performance information for clusters, hosts, VMs, and
vDisks. Collection details represents the past 7 days of use.

NOTE: Only one Nutanix cluster can be scanned at a time. Nutanix Prism Central is not currently
supported.

To begin a Nutanix scan, enter your Prism Element IP address and credentials. Authentication against
Nutanix REST APIs uses HTTP Basic Authentication. Requests on HTTP TCP port 80 are automatically
redirected to HTTPS on TCP port 9440.

Nutanix scan results can be:

• Uploaded to the Live Optics datacenter - a secure HTTPS/SSL connection is established over
TCP port 443 with Dell servers and information is transmitted when the collection is
complete.
• Saved to an SIOKIT file – collection details are saved to a local SIOKIT file which must be
manually uploaded to the Live Optics portal before collection results can be viewed. No
outbound connection is made by the Live Optics collector.

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File
Dossier
Dossier scans unstructured file system information using file characterization techniques and
provides useful insights into capacity utilization and compression of your file systems and
directories.

NOTE: Dossier always reads file names during a scan regardless of which scan options are selected.

A .dossier file is downloaded to your computer when a scan is completed. This file contains summary
information which is used to generate the final Dossier PowerPoint report. This information includes
the names of the file systems (or file shares) scanned, file extensions observed most frequently,
number of files by category, and other summary metrics.

NOTE: Dossier only reads file information if the Test for Compressibility option is selected before
a scan. Sections of some files are read to determine how the data can be compressed, and only a
selection of larger files are tested for a more accurate compressibility estimation. If
compressibility testing is not selected before a scan, no file information, apart from files names, is
read.

The .dossier file must be manually uploaded to the Live Optics dashboard to view the results. For
information on completing a Dossier scan and uploading a .dossier file, see:

• Complete a Windows Dossier scan

• Complete a Linux Dossier scan

Dossier collections are completed on the host machine running the Live Optics collector. No
information is transmitted during a Dossier session.

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Storage
API Based Collection

IBM Storwize
The Live Optics collector gathers configuration and performance information for IBM Storwize
storage arrays. You can choose to collect configuration information only, or configuration and
performance information together. For configuration and performance collections, select the
duration from 10 minutes to 3 days for which the Live Optics collector will run and gather real-time
performance details.

NOTE: Only one IBM Storwize storage array can be scanned at a time.

To begin an IBM Storwize storage array scan, enter a DNS Name or IP Address, Username, and
Password. A secure SSH connection is established between the Live Optics collector and the IBM
Storwize array over TCP port 22.

IBM Storwize scan results can be:

• Uploaded to the Live Optics datacenter - a secure HTTPS/SSL connection is established over
TCP port 443 with Dell servers and information is transmitted when the collection is
complete.
• Saved to an SIOKIT file – collection details are saved to a local SIOKIT file which must be
manually uploaded to the Live Optics portal before collection results can be viewed. No
outbound connection is made by the Live Optics collector.

Isilon/PowerScale
The Live Optics collector gathers configuration and performance information for Isilon/PowerScale
storage arrays. You can choose to collect configuration information only, or configuration and
performance information together. For configuration and performance collections, select the
duration from 10 minutes to 24 hours for which the Live Optics collector will run and gather real-
time performance details.

NOTE: Only one Isilon/PowerScale array can be scanned at a time.

To begin an Isilon/PowerScale scan, enter a DNS Name or IP Address, Username, and Password. A
HTTPS connection is established between the Live Optics collector and the Isilon/PowerScale array
over TCP port 8080.

Isilon/PowerScale scan results can be:

• Uploaded to the Live Optics datacenter - a secure HTTPS/SSL connection is established over
TCP port 443 with Dell servers and information is transmitted when the collection is
complete.
• Saved to an SIOKIT file – collection details are saved to a local SIOKIT file which must be
manually uploaded to the Live Optics portal before collection results can be viewed. No
outbound connection is made by the Live Optics collector.

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NetApp
The Live Optics collector gathers configuration and performance information for NetApp storage
arrays. You can choose to collect configuration information only, or configuration and performance
information together. For configuration and performance collections, select the duration from 10
minutes to 3 days for which the Live Optics collector will run and gather real-time performance
details.

NOTE: Only one NetApp storage array can be scanned at a time.

To begin a NetApp storage array scan, enter a DNS Name or IP Address, Username, and Password. A
secure SSH connection is established between the Live Optics collector and the NetApp array over
TCP port 22. For custom SSH ports, use the format address:port.

NetApp scan results can be:

• Uploaded to the Live Optics datacenter - a secure HTTPS/SSL connection is established over
TCP port 443 with Dell servers and information is transmitted when the collection is
complete.
• Saved to an SIOKIT file – collection details are saved to a local SIOKIT file which must be
manually uploaded to the Live Optics portal before collection results can be viewed. No
outbound connection is made by the Live Optics collector.

PowerStore
The Live Optics collector gathers configuration and performance information for PowerStore storage
arrays. You can choose to collect configuration information only, or configuration and performance
information together. For configuration and performance collections, select the duration for which
the Live Optics collector will run and gather real-time performance details (the default selection is 48
hours).

NOTE: Only one PowerStore array can be scanned at a time.

To begin a PowerStore scan, enter a DNS Name or IP Address, Username, and Password. A HTTPS
connection is established between the Live Optics collector and the Isilon/PowerScale array over TCP
port 443.

PowerStore scan results can be:

• Uploaded to the Live Optics datacenter - a secure HTTPS/SSL connection is established over
TCP port 443 with Dell servers and information is transmitted when the collection is
complete.
• Saved to an SIOKIT file – collection details are saved to a local SIOKIT file which must be
manually uploaded to the Live Optics portal before collection results can be viewed. No
outbound connection is made by the Live Optics collector.

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Pure
The Live Optics collector gathers configuration and performance information for Pure storage arrays.
You can choose to collect configuration information only, or configuration and performance
information together. For configuration and performance collections, select the duration from 1
hour to 7 days for which the Live Optics collector will run and gather real-time performance details.

NOTE: Only one Pure storage array can be scanned at a time.

To begin a Pure scan, chose a collection method from:

• FlashArray (REST API 2.x) for Purity firmware 5.3 and above. This option uses RSA SSL key
based authentication.

Enter a DNS Name or IP Address, Issuer, Client ID, and Key ID. A secure HTTPS/SSL
connection is established between the Live Optics collector and the Pure array over TCP port
443 by default. For custom TCP ports, use the format address:port.

• FlashArray (REST API 1.x) for Purity firmware 5.2.6 and older. This option uses
username/password-based authentication.

Enter a DNS Name or IP Address, Username, and Password. A secure HTTPS/SSL connection
is established between the Live Optics collector and the Pure array over TCP port 443 by
default. For custom TCP ports, use the format address:port.

Pure scan results can be:

• Uploaded to the Live Optics datacenter - a secure HTTPS/SSL connection is established over
TCP port 443 with Dell servers and information is transmitted when the collection is
complete.
• Saved to an SIOKIT file – collection details are saved to a local SIOKIT file which must be
manually uploaded to the Live Optics portal before collection results can be viewed. No
outbound connection is made by the Live Optics collector.

SC
The Live Optics collector gathers configuration and performance information for SC storage arrays.
You can choose to collect configuration information only, or configuration and performance
information together. For configuration and performance collections, select the duration for which
the Live Optics collector will run and gather real-time performance details.

To begin an SC scan, enter a DNS Name or IP Address, Username, and Password. A HTTPS connection
is established between the Live Optics collector and the SC array over TCP port 3033.

SC scan results can be:

• Uploaded to the Live Optics datacenter - a secure HTTPS/SSL connection is established over
TCP port 443 with Dell servers and information is transmitted when the collection is
complete.

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 • Saved to an SIOKIT file – collection details are saved to a local SIOKIT file which must be
manually uploaded to the Live Optics portal before collection results can be viewed. No
outbound connection is made by the Live Optics collector.

Unity
The Live Optics collector gathers configuration and performance information for Unity storage
arrays. You can choose to collect configuration information only, or configuration and performance
information together. For configuration and performance collections, select the duration for which
the Live Optics collector will run and gather real-time performance details.

To begin a Unity scan, enter a DNS Name or IP Address, Username, and Password. A secure
HTTPS/SSL connection is established between the Live Optics collector and the Unity array over TCP
port 443 by default. Users can also specify a custom port.

Unity scan results can be:

• Uploaded to the Live Optics datacenter - a secure HTTPS/SSL connection is established over
TCP port 443 with Dell servers and information is transmitted when the collection is
complete.
• Saved to an SIOKIT file – collection details are saved to a local SIOKIT file which must be
manually uploaded to the Live Optics portal before collection results can be viewed. No
outbound connection is made by the Live Optics collector.

XtremIO
The Live Optics collector gathers configuration and performance information for XtremIO storage
arrays. You can choose to collect configuration information only, or configuration and performance
information together. For configuration and performance collections, select the duration for which
the Live Optics collector will run and gather real-time performance details.

To begin an XtremIO scan, enter a DNS Name or IP Address, Username, and Password. A secure
HTTPS/SSL connection is established between the Live Optics collector and the XtremIO array over
TCP port 443 by default. Users can also specify a custom port.

XtremIO scan results can be:

• Uploaded to the Live Optics datacenter - a secure HTTPS/SSL connection is established over
TCP port 443 with Dell servers and information is transmitted when the collection is
complete.
• Saved to an SIOKIT file – collection details are saved to a local SIOKIT file which must be
manually uploaded to the Live Optics portal before collection results can be viewed. No
outbound connection is made by the Live Optics collector.

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3PAR
The Live Optics collector gathers configuration and performance information for 3PAR storage
arrays. You can choose to collect configuration information only, or configuration and performance
information together. For configuration and performance collections, select the duration between 3
and 7 days for which the Live Optics collector will run and gather real-time performance details.

NOTE: Only one 3PAR storage array can be scanned at a time.

To begin a 3PAR storage array scan, enter a DNS Name or IP Address, Username, and Password. A
secure SSH connection is established between the Live Optics collector and the 3PAR array over TCP
port 22.

3PAR scan results can be:

• Uploaded to the Live Optics datacenter - a secure HTTPS/SSL connection is established over
TCP port 443 with Dell servers and information is transmitted when the collection is
complete.
• Saved to an SIOKIT file – collection details are saved to a local SIOKIT file which must be
manually uploaded to the Live Optics portal before collection results can be viewed. No
outbound connection is made by the Live Optics collector.

File Based Collection

CLARiiON/VNX
The Live Optics collector gathers configuration and performance information for up to 7 days for
CLARiiON/VNX storage arrays. You can choose to collect configuration information only, or
configuration and performance information together.

To begin a CLARiiON/VNX scan, select a .NAR or .NAZ file for performance information, and an
SPCollect.zip file for additional configuration information.

CLARiiON/VNX scan results can be:

• Uploaded to the Live Optics datacenter - a secure HTTPS/SSL connection is established over
TCP port 443 with Dell servers and information is transmitted when the collection is
complete.
• Saved to an SIOKIT file - collection details are saved to a local SIOKIT file which must be
manually uploaded to the Live Optics portal before collection results can be viewed. No
outbound connection is made by the Live Optics collector.

VMAX/PowerMax
The Live Optics collector gathers configuration and performance information for up to 7 days for
VMAX/PowerMax storage arrays. You can choose to collect configuration information only, or
configuration and performance information together.

15
To begin a VMAX/PowerMax scan, select a .symapi_db.bin file for configuration information, and
a .BPT or .TTP file (for legacy VMAX arrays) or a .DCF file (for PowerMax version 3 and 4 arrays) for
performance information.

VMAX/PowerMax scan results can be:

• Uploaded to the Live Optics datacenter - a secure HTTPS/SSL connection is established over
TCP port 443 with Dell servers and information is transmitted when the collection is
complete.
• Saved to an SIOKIT file – collection details are saved to a local SIOKIT file which must be
manually uploaded to the Live Optics portal before collection results can be viewed. No
outbound connection is made by the Live Optics collector.

16
Data Protection
API Based Collection

NetWorker API
The Live Optics collector gathers configuration and performance information for NetWorker (v19.1
and above).

To begin a NetWorker scan, enter an IP Address, Username, and Password. A HTTPS/SSL connection
is established between the Live Optics collector and NetWorker over TCP port 9090.

NetWorker scan results can be:

• Uploaded to the Live Optics datacenter - a secure HTTPS/SSL connection is established over
TCP port 443 with Dell servers and information is transmitted when the collection is
complete.
• Saved to an SIOKIT file – collection details are saved to a local SIOKIT file which must be
manually uploaded to the Live Optics portal before collection results can be viewed. No
outbound connection is made by the Live Optics collector.

PowerProtect DM
The Live Optics collector gathers configuration and performance information for PowerProtect DM.

To begin a PowerProtect scan, enter an IP Address, Username, and Password. A HTTPS/SSL

connection is established between the Live Optics collector and PowerProtect DM over TCP port
8443.

PowerProtect DM scan results can be:

• Uploaded to the Live Optics datacenter - a secure HTTPS/SSL connection is established over
TCP port 443 with Dell servers and information is transmitted when the collection is
complete.
• Saved to an SIOKIT file – collection details are saved to a local SIOKIT file which must be
manually uploaded to the Live Optics portal before collection results can be viewed. No
outbound connection is made by the Live Optics collector.

File Based Collection

Avamar
The Live Optics collector gathers configuration and performance information for Avamar.

To begin an Avamar scan, select an sql.gz file to upload to the Live Optics collector. This file contains
a backup of your selected database. A small subsection is scanned to produce a viewable Live Optics
project. No database information is read or transmitted to Live Optics servers during or after the
collection is complete.

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Avamar scan results can be:

• Uploaded to the Live Optics datacenter - a secure HTTPS/SSL connection is established over
TCP port 443 with Dell servers and information is transmitted when the collection is
complete.
• Saved to an SIOKIT file – collection details are saved to a local SIOKIT file which must be
manually uploaded to the Live Optics portal before collection results can be viewed. No
outbound connection is made by the Live Optics collector.

PowerProtect Data Domain

The Live Optics collector gathers configuration and performance information for PowerProtect Data
Domain.

To begin a PowerProtect Data Domain scan, either:

• Browse for an Auto-support (ASUP) file to upload to Live Optics from an existing folder.

• Scan for an ASUP file by entering a PowerProtect Data Domain system IP Address, and your
Username and Password. The ASUP file is automatically retrieved from PowerProtect Data
Domain using a secure SSH connection over TCP port 22.

No database information is read or transmitted to Live Optics servers during or after the collection is
complete.

PowerProtect Data Domain scan results can be:

• Uploaded to the Live Optics datacenter - a secure HTTPS/SSL connection is established over
TCP port 443 with Dell servers and information is transmitted when the collection is
complete.
• Saved to an SIOKIT file – collection details are saved to a local SIOKIT file which must be
manually uploaded to the Live Optics portal before collection results can be viewed. No
outbound connection is made by the Live Optics collector.

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Workloads
Microsoft SQL Server
Live Optics supports two information collection methods for Microsoft SQL Server:

• Remote WMI (Windows Management Instrumentation) using Optical Prime

• Remote SQL Connection

Remote WMI using Optical Prime

When targeting Microsoft Windows servers with Optical Prime, the Live Optics collector
automatically detects Microsoft SQL Server installations and issues a series of SQL specific WMI
queries. These calls use the same WMI protocol as described in the Optical Prime section. For more
information see Windows Collection.

Remote SQL Connection

This method establishes an SQL database connection over a secure and encrypted channel. By
default, TCP port 1433 is used, however, custom ports can be specified.

Dark Sites
For environments where Internet usage may pose a security risk, offline and inventory collections
are recommended. For configuration information, Optical Prime and RAPID Discovery offer inventory
mode collections which are saved locally only.

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