Agents Administration - Tests
 

Configuration of EMCPvMeDiskTest

Processing bottlenecks in disks can significantly delay reading from and/or writing to the disks, affecting user experience with the storage system as a whole. If this is to be prevented, administrators need to keep a close watch on the I/O activity on each disk of the storage system, detect a slowdown well before users notice it, and take pre-emptive action. The EMCPvMeDiskTest can help administrators achieve this. This test monitors the level of I/O activity on each physical disk mounted on a EMC PowerVault ME storage system, helps isolate overload conditions or processing latencies in the disks.

The default parameters associated with this test are:

  • The TEST PERIOD list box helps the user to decide how often this test needs to be executed.

  • In the HOST text box, specify the HOST for which this test is to be configured. Since the storage device is managed using the IP address of its storage controller, the same will be displayed as host. In case of a dual-controller configuration, the IP address of the primary controller will be displayed here.

  • Specify the port number at which the specified host listens in the PORT text box. By default, this is NULL.

  • By default, this test always connects to the Host to collect metrics. If the Host is unavailable, then the test will not be able to execute. This is because, the Additional Controller IP is set to none by default.

    If the monitored storage device has two controllers, then you can configure the test to connect to an alternate controller, if the host is unreachable. For this purpose, specify the IP address of the alternate controller in the Additional Controller IP text box.

  • In order to monitor a EMC PowerVault ME storage system, the eG agent has to be configured with the credentials of a user who has been assigned the Monitor role. Specify the login credentials of such a user in the USER and PASSWORD text boxes. To know how to create such a user, refer to Pre-requisites-for-monitoring-the-EMC PowerVault-ME-storage-system. Confirm the password by retyping it in CONFIRM PASSWORD text box.

  • The Management Controller of the EMC PowerVault ME storage system provides access for monitoring and management via the HTTP and HTTPS protocols for XML API request/response semantics. To enable the eG agent to access the management controller, invoke the XML API commands, and collect the required metrics, you need to specify the SERVICE PORT on the controller that listens for HTTP/HTTPS requests for XML API semantics. By default, this is port 80.

  • Specify the time duration for which this test should wait for a response from the storage system in the TIMEOUT text box. By default, this is 60 seconds.

  • By default, EMC PowerVault ME system is not SSL-enabled. This is why, SSL flag is set to False by default. If it is SSL-enabled, then change this flag to True.

  • If multiple components of the same component type are awaiting configuration, then an APPLY TO OTHER COMPONENTS button will appear in this page. Clicking on this button will allow you to apply the configuration to all/selected components of that type.

  • Once the necessary values have been provided, clicking on the UPDATE button will register the changes made.

When changing the configuration for specific servers, a “*” beside the text box corresponding to the parameter signifies that these values have to be manually configured by the user. The parameter values that require to be configured will typically be prefixed with a “$” or contain a series of “*”. A value of “none” in the parameter value indicates that the corresponding parameter value can be changed if required.