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By the end of this course module, the participant will be able to Update SC Firmware,
Update host server HBA firmware, Identify, Beacon and remove alerts on a failed
drive and Identify system alerts and reports.

The information provided in this module provides a general understanding of basic

troubleshooting and maintenance of the Compellent Storage Center, and while you
may or may not be responsible for performing the tasks which are demonstrated in
this module, it is still extremely useful to know how the Storage Center software is
configured and operates while performing tethered troubleshooting procedures with
Dell Compellent Copilot services.

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In this section, the participant will identify and update firmware levels for the Storage
Center software and HBA’s.

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Firmware Upgrades are new versions of Compellent Storage Center software.
This software may include new features, patches or improvements to existing
Storage Center software and hardware. Once the firmware upgrade has been
installed new licenses may have to be issued (if not already provided).

The Compellent Business Partner or Salesperson can retrieve firmware

upgrades from:
• Phone Home Tool
• Compellent Copilot Services
• Partner Portal (licenses only)

Once retrieved, these upgrades and licenses can then be installed on the
Compellent Storage Center.
Another alternative is to have the Compellent Storage Center automatically
check for upgrades and download them automatically.

* NOTE: Installing new firmware is potentially service affecting and

should be done during Maintenance Windows. On-site technicians
should only perform these under guidance of Dell Compellent Copilot
Support.

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Firmware updates can be configured to automatically download or just notify
the administrator that an update is available.

To allow for automatic download of new Firmware to the Compellent Storage

Controller(s):
1. Navigate to Storage Management-System-Upgrade-Configure
Upgrades
2. Select the option from the pull down menu

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There are three firmware components that can be upgraded. Controller firmware,
Enclosure I/O firmware and Disk firmware.

Firmware updates are sent via Phone Home. If configured, the user is notified of the
update and then it is downloaded. Once downloaded the first screen shows current
and updated firmware versions.

Firmware upgrades are performed as follows:

1. Validate the components
2. Once the components have been validated, click Install Update

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A warning screen appears letting the user know if the update will be service affecting.
All I/O must be halted prior to performing the update.

Single controller systems will require an outage but Clustered Controller systems do
not.

A confirmation screen appears. Click Install Now to begin the firmware updates.

Once the process begins, the system will update the firmware and then restart the
controller.

This concludes the Compellent Firmware upgrade procedure.

For more detailed information on performing a Storage Center firmwareware

upgrade, see the Storage Center 5.0 Upgrade reference guide:
https://dtt.us.dell.com/training/Server/Dell_Compellent/Reference_Essentials/Docu
ments/Storage_Center/Storage%20Center_5_System_Upgrade.pdf

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There may be times when the HBA on the host server requires an update. This
procedure should be performed only under direct guidance from Dell Compellent
Copilot support, however knowing this procedure is useful to the onsite technician in
case this scenario ever arises.

To update a Qlogic HBA on a host server:

1. Highlight the HBA that needs the update and click Utilities. Then click Update
Flash.
2. Verify there is no I/O to the HBA and click Yes.
3. Navigate to the appropriate .BIN file and click Open.
4. Enter the password config and click OK.
5. Click OK. Repeat for any additional adapters. Reboot the server once all of the
HBAs are updated.

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There may be times when the HBA on the host server requires an update.
This procedure should be performed only under direct guidance from Dell
Compellent Copilot support, however knowing this procedure is useful to
the onsite technician in case this scenario ever arises.

To update a Emulex HBA on a host server:

1. Click the Firmware tab.
2. Click Browse.
3. Select the firmware file and click Open.
4. Click Download.
5. A Download complete message is displayed when the process is
complete.

NOTE: A reset of the adapter is necessary after a firmware download. This

can cause a disruption to connected LUNs.

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In this section, the participant will identify, beacon and clear alerts of Storage Center
disk drives.

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To Identify a Failed Drive

1. First Login to the Compellent Storage Center (GUI).

2. In the left-hand pane, open the tree and go to: Disks > Assigned <<CLICK>>
Note the status and health of all drives.

3. In the Explorer Tree open Enclosures > Disks, and select that drive. <<CLICK>>
The physical location of the failed drive can be viewed in the main
window.

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To Beacon a Disk Drive

1. Login to the Compellent Storage Center Graphic User Interface (GUI).

2. In System Explorer Tree go to Enclosures>Disks>Failed Drive

• Right Click on failed Drive <<CLICK>>

3. Select Indicator On
• Amber indicator light will appear next to Beaconed drive in GUI
<<CLICK>>

Go to the front of the Compellent Storage Center, drive bay that was beaconed will
have the amber fault light illuminated. <<CLICK>>

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To Bring a Drive Back Into Service

1. First Login to the Compellent Storage Center Graphic User Interface (GUI).

2. In the System Explorer Tree go to Disks > Unassigned > the new unassigned
Drive , Right-click this Drive
3. Select Manage Unassigned Disks <<CLICK>>

4. In the Manage Unassigned Disks pop-up Window, click on the

Radio Button to assign this Disk as a Hot Spare <<CLICK>>

5. Click Continue <<CLICK>>

6. Click Modify Now in the lower left hand corner <<CLICK>>

7. In the Delete Selected Disk pop-up Window, click on the Radio Button to remove
the previously failed Disk, Click Delete Selected Disks <<CLICK>>

8. The disk is no longer displayed.

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To Clear the Alerts on a Replaced Drive

1. First Login to the Compellent Storage Center (GUI).

2. In System Explorer Tree go to Enclosures>Disks> and locate the previously

replaced Drive and Right click on Drive

3. Select Swap Clear <<CLICK>> to turn off The ‘Swap detected’ indication

4. Right click on Drive again this time selecting Indicator Off <<CLICK>>
• The Yellow light on detected drive turns off
• The Amber fault light on Storage Center drive bay is also turned off

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Spare disk drives are utilized to support failed disk drives.
Hot Spares are spinning disk drives that are installed in active
Enclosures. These drives are automatically activated for the purpose
of data reconstruction by the Compellent Storage Center in the event
of a drive failure in a RAID 5, 6, or 10 configuration.

The Storage Administrator assigns disk drives as hot spares. The hot spare drives are
used to accommodate the failure of an active disk drive.

When an active disk drive fails, the spare drive will be activated and the data blocks
that previously resided on the failed drive will be rebuilt on to the spare drive.

It is Best Practice to have One hot spare per drive type in each enclosure

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In this section, the participant will identify alerts and system messages that are
usable when troubleshooting a Dell Compellent Storage Center array.

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The Compellent Storage Center offers a number of viewers to help manage and
monitor the system. A few of these will be reviewed in this section.

Viewers include:

•<<CLICK>> Topology Explorer which Graphically displays the volume-to-server

relationships
•<<CLICK>> Online Storage which Displays storage capacity, Data Progression
information, and Volume Distribution Reporting
•Charts which Displays a link to download the Charting Viewer application
•<<CLICK>> Alert Monitor which Displays system alerts generated by the Storage
Center
•Copy/Mirror/Migrate which Displays current volume CMM operations
•Replications which Displays all active Replications from the current Storage Center
•Scheduled Events which Displays any scheduled activities on the Storage Center
•<<CLICK>> Server Connectivity which Displays Storage Center I/O Adapter-to-Server
HBA relationships
•Enclosure Connectivity which Displays the back end cabling to the enclosures
•Background Processes which Displays any background processes running on the

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Storage Center
•<<CLICK>> and the System Log which Displays all log information from the Storage
Center

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Alerts can be viewed for a single storage center or all storage centers.

To view current alerts for a Storage Center:

1. Right-click on a Storage Center.
2. Then From the shortcut menu, select View > Current Alerts. The Current
Alerts window appears.

Use the viewer pane for current alerts for all Storage Centers:
In Viewers pane, click Current Alerts.
Current Alerts displays the following information such as :
• the Object Name which provides the Name of the component.
• yhe Date/Time provides the Date and time that the alert was
recorded.
• Message provides Detailed alert messages.
• Status: provides the Current status of the alert.
• and Definition: provides the Alert definition.

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The IO Usage report is a history report displaying performance rates. Use the
IO Usage Report to compare IO rates and monitor the Storage Center to
ensure there are no performance related problems.

To view IO Usage Reports:

1. Right-click on a Storage Center, and select View > IO Usage Report.

2. Select a time period to view, and click OK. The IO Usage Report appears:
Explorer Mode: Shows the components of a Storage Center—
volumes, servers, disks, and controllers— in a tree to the left of the
report.
Object Comparison Mode: Displays the Object Comparison view.

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The Storage Management summary is a blend of historical data and current
data. The summary compares storage use and consumption to make sure
storage is used appropriately.
1. In the Storage Centers frame, right-click on a Storage Center for which you
want a report.
2. From the short-cut menu, select View > Storage Management. Select a
time period, and click OK.
3. The Storage Center and components—volumes, servers, and disks—
appear in a tree to the left of the summary. Select the Storage Center or a
component to view.

• Active Space displays the Amount of space used by a volume if the volume
has no Replays attached to it. This number does not include RAID overhead.
• Replay Space displays the Amount of space not actively being used by a
volume and is contained in its Replays. This number does not include RAID
overhead.
• Actual Space displays the Active space plus Replay space. This number
does not include RAID overhead.
• Total Storage Space displays the Actual amount of disk space the volume
uses. This number includes RAID overhead.

<<CLICK>> Warning and error alert thresholds can be modified from the

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storage panel properties.

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Threshold Alerts is a utility that lets you set a predefined limit of usage for
Storage Center objects. When the limit is reached, Enterprise manager notifies
the user. Using Threshold Alerts consists of defining the threshold and
applying it to all Storage Center systems or system components. Threshold
alerting sets a value limit for objects that are monitored by the Data Collector.
If the value limit for that object is reached the Data Collector notifies the user
(depending on how the threshold is configured) by email or by displaying it in
the Current Threshold Alerts Tab table.

Threshold alerts consist of Threshold Definitions and Threshold Queries

A threshold definition sets a usage limit on one or more Storage Center
objects. It can be run on the CSC during set times for monitoring system and
sending Alerts. Once a threshold is found, the threshold is stored. Threshold
Manager send emails out to all users configured.
You can Run a Threshold Query on either IO Usage or Storage Usage. This
can be run on demand and the query and query results can be saved.

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The Threshold Alerts Viewer displays alerts generated by Threshold Queries and
Definitions.

In the Viewers frame, click <<CLICK>> Threshold Alerts. Alerts in the Current alert
table are for Storage Center objects that currently exceed their assigned threshold
definition the last time Threshold Alerts were run.
*Storage Usage runs once a day; IO Usage runs every 15 minutes

If a component is currently above a threshold definition, the component is displayed

in the Current Alerts folder. If a component was above a threshold but no longer is, it
is moved to the historical state and can be viewed in the Historical Threshold Alerts
Tab
.
<<CLICK>> Current Threshold Alerts and/or Historical Threshold Alerts can be saved
to output type: CSV, text, Excel, HTML, or XML.

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The Enterprise Manager collects and stores information about the Storage
Centers connected to it. This information can be viewed by generating
Reports from the Enterprise Manager Client.

Reports can be generated manually or automatically Daily, Weekly or

Monthly

Reports can show historical trends and averages Through tables, bar
charts and or graphs

Reports can show: Storage usage and savings, Replication

information, I/O usage, and Alert information

Reports can be exported in multiple formats

This concludes the Compellent Management Module

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The Reports Viewer uses technology from Business Object’s Crystal Reports
to display reports created automatically in the Data Collector in order to view
automated reports for all systems.

Reports that are available to be automated include:

System Summary which Displays Storage Summary for the system
Disk Class which Displays the amount of space available for each
disk class in the system, as well as the overall disk space available.
Alerts which Displays current alerts for the system
Volumes which Displays a summary of the storage usage for each
volume in the system
Replications which Displays a summary of each volume that is
being Replicated, including the progress.
Chargeback which (If licensed) Saves all Chargeback data or just
Chargeback Savings data

The Reports Viewer displays two panes:

Report viewer pane displays an opened report
The Saved Reports pane displays saved reports in a table

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To open the Report viewer:
• In the Viewers pane, click the Reports icon. The Reports Viewer displays two
panes:
• The Report viewer pane displays an opened report.
• The Saved Reports pane lists saved reports in a table.
To update a report, click Refresh <<CLICK>>

To save a Report to a file, click Save. <<CLICK>> The Name window appears. Reports
are available to be saved as Adobe Acrobat (PDF), Crystal Reports, Rich Text Format
(RTF).
• To print the report, click Print.
• To update the report, click Refresh Data.
For complete procedures on viewing reports refer to Enterprise Manager User Guide

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If Compellent hardware or the Compellent simulator are available to the participants,
perform the following activities:

• Update SC Firmware
• Update host server HBA firmware
• Identify, Beacon and remove alerts on a failed drive
• Identify system alerts and reports

Note: If hardware or the simulator are not available, the slides in this deck can be
used to review the required steps for performing these tasks.

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Summary:
• Update SC Firmware
• Update host server HBA firmware
• Identify, Beacon and remove alerts on a failed drive
• Identify system alerts and reports

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