Monitoring the IBM XIV Storage System Gen3 with …FILE/SCOM2012_XIVGen3.pdf · Monitoring the IBM...

© Copyright IBM Corporation, 2013

Monitoring the IBM XIV Storage System Gen3 with Microsoft System Center

Operations Manager 2012

Eric B. Johnson

IBM Systems and Technology Group ISV Enablement

November 2013

Monitoring the IBM XIV Storage System Gen3 with Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2012 © Copyright IBM Corporation, 2013

Table of contents

Abstract ..................................................................................................................................... 1

Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 1

IBM XIV Storage System Gen3 ................................................................................................ 2

IBM XIV Storage System Management Tools ......................................................................... 4

Microsoft System Center Operation Manager 2012 ............................................................... 4

IBM Storage Management Pack for Microsoft SCOM............................................................. 5

Test environment layout .......................................................................................................... 6

IBM Storage Management Pack for Microsoft System Center prerequisites ....................... 7

IBM Storage Management Pack for Microsoft System Center installation ........................... 8

IBM Storage Management Pack configuration ..................................................................... 11

Command-line configuration .................................................................................................................. 11

Microsoft SCOM console configuration ................................................................................................. 12

Microsoft SCOM monitoring of the IBM XIV Storage System .............................................. 17

Summary ................................................................................................................................. 23

Resources ............................................................................................................................... 24

Trademarks and special notices ........................................................................................... 25


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Abstract

This technical white paper demonstrates IBM-specific installation, configuration and combined use-case benefits of Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2012 (SCOM) with the IBM XIV Storage System Gen3. By coupling the two partner solutions, information technology departments can take advantage of a hybrid support model that consists of central and distributed monitoring. Instrumental to the central monitoring aspects of the solution, the IBM Storage Management Pack for Microsoft System Center Operations Manager allows administrators to collect health status data from IBM XIV. Also, to demonstrate the hybrid monitoring solution, an IBM XIV module failure is induced to illustrate the source and target behavior for hardware alerts while revealing the unique performance and innovative data integrity characteristics of IBM XIV Storage System Gen3.

This solution is intended for mid- to large-size businesses seeking comprehensive and proactive monitoring of their Microsoft application, compute, network, and storage infrastructures that include IBM XIV Storage System Gen3. The intended audience consists of information technology (IT) administrators evaluating dynamic, extensible, cost-effective monitoring strategies to help preserve critical application availability, reliable performance and healthy service level agreements. Intermediate experience with Microsoft System Center Operations Manager, Microsoft SQL Server, and IBM XIV Storage System Gen3 administration is suggested. Nevertheless, technical reviews and supplemental resources are provided throughout the paper.

Introduction

As businesses flourish in this modern digital age, data centers must expand to accommodate the

corresponding growth. This usually requires scaling up and scaling out diverse application, compute,

network and storage resources. Furthermore, this includes host virtualization since physical-to-virtual

machine migrations that consolidate business-critical applications often require new or more powerful

hardware. Understandably, the type and degree of scaling depends on the actual business growth, size,

budgets, and how efficiently the data centers are managed, not to mention numerous other factors.

Regardless of the independent growth and size differences, a common yet crucial customer requirement

exists – all businesses need to proactively monitor their expanding data center resources to prevent

business continuity from being negatively impacted. To address this requirement, a few general data

center resource monitoring strategies are routinely considered.

Quite often, the first strategy to consider requires the proprietary software that is traditionally provided with

a vendor product. This is an obvious approach because the resource vendor customizes its product

software to accommodate key data center monitoring and management requirements. However, this type

of product-focused, distributed monitoring or management model requires separate, proprietary software

for each unique data center resource with few exceptions. Also depending on the environment, the

number of data center resources can be quite enormous, not to mention complex with various security

restrictions, frequently commanding advanced solution skills or expertise. Consequently, proprietary

monitoring and management software is usually limited to smaller, technology-specific teams. This

limitation generally prevents resource visibility by all support personnel. Thus, distributed monitoring

strategies often present significant administrative challenges that prevent a more holistic view of the

enterprise, and can delay response time to issues that may have been caught sooner.


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Conversely, a holistic, central monitoring strategy allows all administrators to use a single pane of glass to

monitor vast data center resources. By using secure, industry-standard communication protocols adapted

by vendors for various products, a non-exclusive application can provide universal monitoring for a broad

spectrum of proprietary and non-proprietary data center resources without compromising individual

component safeguards. This is especially important for technology-specific teams that support solutions

that span multiple layers such as database administrators (DBAs) who manage application data and log

files that reside on external storage connected to servers with various networking and infrastructure

components. Instead of just being able to monitor database applications, DBAs can help to ensure all of

the end-to-end solution components are healthy. Similarly, multiple teams can observe all database

application tiers to provide redundant monitoring that can contribute to faster proactive and reactive

support resolutions.

However, even with the extensive product visibility that is possible with central monitoring, specialized

support teams still require robust proprietary tools to accomplish numerous resource-specific tasks

impossible without them. Thus, most businesses end up implementing hybrid support strategies that

include both distributed and central monitoring. Their distributed monitoring processes address advanced

resource monitoring and diagnostic needs, while their central monitoring processes yield comprehensive

monitoring benefits for all essential support teams. Since this white paper focuses on the IBM® XIV®

Storage System Gen3 alert and monitoring behavior, it helps to first describe the array and its distinct,

inherent features including its native monitoring capabilities.

IBM XIV Storage System Gen3

It is not uncommon for information technology (IT) administrators to continuously scramble to simplify their

never-ending daily tasks including resource monitoring. In order to help their organizations stay on track,

they increasingly search for smarter solutions that often involve some form of automation - anything to

minimize the countless tasks at hand. By and large, one of the most difficult administrative challenges is to

manage business-critical data as efficiently and effortlessly as possible. This compels more and more IT

administrators to demand straightforward solutions with dependable performance from their data center

resource vendors including storage manufacturers.

Thankfully, the IBM XIV Storage System broke the conventional, complex storage tradition long ago that

plagued so many organizations and contributed to the painful administrative nightmares that still presently

haunt many. The latest IBM XIV Storage System Gen3 design further departs from unpleasant storage

traditions and as a result, has strengthened its global presence.

Upon examination of its distinct design, the highly scalable and distributed architecture of the XIV system

provides a combined total of up to 360 GB of cache and individual modules powered by quad-core Intel®

Xeon® processors. Up to six dedicated host interface modules ensure optimal, balanced data distribution

among all one-hundred and eighty 2 to 4 TB disks to eliminate hot spots. In addition to data integrity

benefits, as every logical unit number (LUN) is striped across all 180 disks, the chance of saturating

storage I/O is greatly reduced when compared to conventional architectural approaches using Redundant

Array of Independent Disks (RAID) sets.


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Fortunately, for IT departments that want uncomplicated solutions delivering high performance, the unique,

innovative architecture of IBM XIV Storage System Gen3 is built to deliver this expected performance with

exceptional user-friendly system administration and hassle-free monitoring. This combination addresses

the previously mentioned customer concerns and has substantially reduced many of the common burdens

of business-critical data management.

The IBM XIV Storage System Gen3 enhanced scripting capabilities and automation of many of its core

functions also greatly reduces data management burdens. At the heart of the IBM XIV distributed

architecture is that virtual storage that automatically self-tunes as necessary based on fluctuating

application workloads. Accordingly, businesses save considerable time and labor not having to plan for

and maintain traditional, complex RAID configurations. Furthermore, the IBM XIV system automates many

self-healing and data protection mechanisms to really boost its high availability.

Basically, IBM XIV data distribution algorithms help to ensure fast recovery from major and minor faults by

using pre-failure detection and proactive corrective healing. In the event of module or disk failures, global

spares striped across all disks quickly redistribute data back to a fully redundant state. During such events,

the performance impact is notably minimized and further enhanced by the IBM XIV physical data

protection attributes.

The IBM XIV physical data protection attributes span multiple levels that include active/active N+1

redundancy of all data modules, disks, interconnect switches, and battery backup uninterruptible power

supply (UPS) units. The IBM XIV Storage System also contains an automatic transfer switch (ATS) for

external power supply redundancy. A built-in UPS complex consisting of three UPS units protects all disks,

cache, and electronics with redundant power supplies and fans, which further promotes application data

integrity, availability, and reliability.

The following IBM XIV Storage System Gen3 key benefits are also available:

Substantial hardware upgrades compared to the previous XIV generation including an

InfiniBand® interconnect, larger cache (up to 360 GB of combined memory), faster SAS

disk controllers and increased processing power—plus, each XIV Gen3 interface module

delivers 8 Gb Fibre Channel (FC) and 1 Gb (or optional 10Gb) iSCSI connectivity

Optional solid-state drive (SSD) cache provides up to 4.5 times faster performance for

highly random application workloads

Enhanced performance for business intelligence, archiving, and other I/O-intensive

applications with up to four times the throughput (10 GBps) compared to the previous XIV

generation

Industry-leading automatic data redistribution and rebuild times for disk or module failures

New cloud and virtualization enhancements including Microsoft® Windows® Server 2012

support

Innovative snapshot functionality including snap-of-snap, restore-of-snap, and nearly

unlimited snapshot quantities

Non-disruptive maintenance and upgrades

Quality of service (QoS) control per host/cluster for workload prioritization based on

business application precedence

Decreased total cost of ownership (TCO) through greater energy efficiency and capacity

optimization including support for Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) UNMAP space

reclamation


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XIV family all-inclusive pricing model with no hidden costs for snapshot functionality, thin

provisioning, asynchronous and synchronous data replication, advanced management,

performance reporting, monitoring and alerting; not to mention full support of Microsoft

technologies including GeoClustering, Volume Shadow Copy Services and Multipath I/O

(MPIO)

Uncommonly simple, intuitive management tools that makes even the most complex

administrative tasks appear to be effortless

IBM XIV Storage System Management Tools

To accommodate standard interface preferences for all administrators, whether novice or advanced, the

IBM XIV Storage System Management Tools package consists of the following intuitive, user-friendly

graphical and command-line software utilities:

IBM XIV graphical user interface (XIVGUI)

IBM XIV online monitoring tool (XIVTop)

IBM XIV command-line interface (XCLI)

Not only do the IBM XIV Storage System Management Tools assist with a full variety of management

tasks as the product name implies, but IBM XIV users also have powerful and distinctive monitoring

capabilities. While the tools are essential to distributed monitoring, enterprise storage administrators also

have central monitoring capabilities by way of multisystem management. So, for data centers with

numerous IBM XIV Storage Systems, all of the arrays can be monitored and managed through a single

interface.

For Microsoft-centric data centers, many IT departments prefer to implement hybrid support models that

not only include the IBM XIV Storage System Management Tools but also Microsoft System Center

Operations Manager 2012. Combined, the two applications provide an impressive distributed and central

monitoring framework with the IBM XIV Storage System Management Tools primarily playing a distributed

monitoring role and Microsoft System Center Operations Manager playing a central monitoring role.

Microsoft System Center Operation Manager 2012

As a member of the Microsoft System Center family and key element of such hybrid support models,

Operations Manager 2012 is part of a robust management platform. Among its Microsoft System Center

siblings, Operations Manager 2012 offers central monitoring for a variety of data center resources

including mainstream enterprise applications, operating systems, hypervisors, and a diverse selection of

hardware all through a user-friendly central administrative interface. The Microsoft SCOM monitoring

objects, rules, various configuration and short-term performance data is collectively stored in Microsoft

SQL database repositories that are required by the Microsoft SCOM server and can be used to generate

reports. Additionally, Microsoft SCOM’s extensibility features also allow IT administrators to author custom

management packs that provide deep visibility for both proprietary software and hardware solutions such

as the IBM XIV Storage System Gen3.


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IBM Storage Management Pack for Microsoft SCOM

Taking advantage of the Microsoft SCOM extensibility features, IBM developed several software modules

in the IBM Storage Management Pack for Microsoft SCOM package for some of the most popular storage

portfolio products. For clarification, this software package contains several management packs comprised

of custom settings that enable agents to monitor the IBM storage arrays in the Microsoft SCOM console.

For the most part, the management pack settings allow Microsoft SCOM servers to automatically discover

or detect and monitor physical and logical storage objects for alert status changes.

The IBM Storage Management Pack for Microsoft SCOM contains the following specific components:

SCOM configuration and diagnostics command-line utilities

IBM System Storage® Common management pack (core prerequisite for others)

IBM Flex System™ V7000 management pack

IBM Storwize® V3500 management pack

IBM Storwize V3700 management pack

IBM Storwize V7000 management pack

IBM System Storage SAN Volume Controller management pack

IBM System Storage DS8000® series management pack

IBM XIV Storage System management pack

For convenience, Microsoft SCOM administrators can import just the specific management packs to be

monitored based on individual storage needs. In the testing environment, only the IBM System Storage

Common and IBM XIV Storage System management packs are imported. Additionally, the default

discovery interval for the IBM XIV system is every ten minutes using encrypted Secure Sockets Layer

(SSL) communication through the XIV command-line client (XCLI) as illustrated in Figure 1.

Figure 1: Microsoft SCOM communication with IBM XIV Storage System


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The Microsoft SCOM polling process establishes temporary communication with one of the three IBM XIV

management ports using Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) port 7778. More or less, the Microsoft

SCOM server connects to the IBM XIV system and extracts the pertinent monitoring information and then

disconnects. The following Microsoft SCOM server command-line output shows the IBM XIV connection

during the polling process:

C:\Documents and Settings\ericj>netstat -an

Active Connections

Proto Local Address Foreign Address State

TCP 192.168.101.114:52492 192.168.101.252:7778 ESTABLISHED

In order to properly establish Microsoft SCOM communication with IBM XIV Storage System Gen3, the

ensuing test configuration can be used for general guidance as it highlights the minimum required software

and hardware components.

Test environment layout

The subsequent solution components were used for Microsoft System Center Operations Manager

storage testing with the overall test configuration being illustrated in Figure 2.

Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2012 SP1

Microsoft SQL Server 2012 SP1

− Hosts the OperationsManager database

− Hosts the OperationsManagerDW database

Microsoft Windows Server 2012 Standard Edition

− Failover clustering

Hyper-V highly available virtual machines

IBM System x®3550 M2 servers

Brocade 825 host bus adapters (HBAs)

− Brocade Adapter Software v3.2.0

IBM XIV Host Attachment Kit for Windows v2.1.0.1

IBM Storage Management Pack for Microsoft System Center Operations Manager v2.1.0

IBM SAN24B-4 FC switches

IBM XIV Storage System Gen3 11.2.0.a


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Figure 2: Microsoft System Center Operations Manager virtual machine implementation with IBM XIV storage

For detailed product planning and deployment guidance, refer to the “Resources” section at the end of the

white paper.

IBM Storage Management Pack for Microsoft System

Center prerequisites

Before proceeding to the IBM Storage Management Pack installation and configuration, obtain the

required user privileges for accessing the IBM XIV Storage System to be monitored. In order for the

Microsoft SCOM server to establish a connection with the storage array, an IBM XIV storage user account

that belongs to the Read Only category must be created. Default user accounts such as the IBM XIV

admin account can be used at the user’s discretion.

Note: Only IBM solution-specific installation and configuration guidelines are detailed in the following

sections as Microsoft SCOM expertise is presumed.

For further information about the IBM Storage Management Pack for Microsoft System Center Operations

Manager, visit the following website:

http://pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/strhosts/ic/index.jsp?topic=%2Fcom.ibm.help.strghosts.doc%2Fscom-homepage.html


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IBM Storage Management Pack for Microsoft System

Center installation

In order to begin monitoring the IBM XIV Storage System, administrators must first install the IBM Storage

Management Pack for SCOM software on the SCOM servers and any SCOM agent site servers. The latter

allows each SCOM agent service to collect monitoring data to forward to the SCOM management servers.

The IBM software installation package contains a SCOM command-line configuration utility and extracts

the necessary management packs for several IBM storage arrays including the IBM XIV Storage System.

Perform the following steps on the Microsoft SCOM servers and SCOM agent site servers:

1. Download and start the IBM XIV Storage Management Pack for Microsoft SCOM installation

wizard by double-clicking IBM_Storage_MP_for_SCOM_2.1.0-61_Windows-x64.exe.

2. Select the preferred installation language and click OK (refer to Figure 3).

Figure 3: IBM Storage Management Pack for Microsoft SCOM InstallShield Wizard language selection

3. In the InstallShield Wizard that appears, click Next (refer to Figure 4).

Figure 4: IBM Storage Management Pack for Microsoft SCOM InstallShield Wizard


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4. Accept the terms of the software license agreement and click Next (refer to Figure 5).

Figure 5: IBM Storage Management Pack for Microsoft SCOM InstallShield Wizard software license agreement

5. Retain the setup type as Complete and click Next (refer to Figure 6).

Figure 6: IBM Storage Management Pack for Microsoft SCOM InstallShield Wizard setup type


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6. Click Install to begin the installation (refer to Figure 7).

Figure 7: IBM Storage Management Pack for Microsoft SCOM InstallShield Wizard installation settings

7. Confirm the successful installation of IBM Storage Management Pack for Microsoft SCOM and

click Finish (refer to Figure 8).

Figure 8: IBM Storage Management Pack for Microsoft SCOM InstallShield Wizard successful completion


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http://pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/strhosts/ic/index.jsp?topic=%2Fcom.ibm.help.strghosts.doc%2Fscom-

homepage.html

IBM Storage Management Pack configuration

After the successful software installation, the IBM Storage Management Pack for SCOM must be

configured. There are two configuration phases required to accomplish this task. First, the IBM Storage

SCOM-control application, a CLI utility, must be used to establish a secure connection to the storage

array. Second, administrators need to import the necessary storage management packs using the

Microsoft SCOM console.

Command-line configuration

Using the IBM Storage SCOM-control application, perform the following steps to connect to the IBM XIV

Storage System:

1. Double-click the IBM Storage SCOM-control Utility Command Prompt shortcut on the Windows

desktop to start the first phase of the configuration.

Note: The utility runs from the following default location:

C:\Program Files\IBM\Storage\Host\IBMStorageSCOM\bin\scomu.cmd.

2. Next, set the management server connection using the following syntax.

>scomu.cmd --sc-set --servername localhost

3. Re-confirm the management server connection using the following syntax.

>scomu.cmd --sc-check

4. Finally, establish the management server connection to the IBM XIV Storage System using the

following syntax (refer to Figure 9):

>scomu.cmd --add –t xiv --ip xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx --username xxxxx

--password xxxxxxxxxx

Reminder: At a minimum and in order for the Microsoft SCOM server to establish a connection

with the IBM XIV Storage System, an XIV storage user account that belongs to the Read Only

category must be used. For the sake of simplicity in the test environment, the default XIV admin

account was used.


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Figure 9: IBM Storage SCOM-control Utility Command Prompt syntax examples

Microsoft SCOM console configuration

Using the Microsoft Operations Console, perform the following steps to import the IBM Storage

Management Packs.

1. Launch the Microsoft SCOM console from the Windows Start menu by clicking Start

Operations Console.

Tip: To reveal Windows Server 2012 or Windows 8 Start menu applications, enter the first letter

of the application to list all of the applications that begin with that letter. As more letters or

characters are entered, the list of applications decreases. After the required application is

located, select it to start the application.

2. In the Operations Manager left pane navigation tree, expand Administration and click

Managements Packs.


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3. At the right side of the Operations Manager window, in the Tasks pane, under Actions, click

Import Management Packs (refer to Figure 10).

Figure 10: Microsoft Operations Manager import management packs

4. On the Operations Manager Import Management Packs page, click Add Add from disk…

(refer to Figure 11).

Figure 11: Microsoft Operations Manager Import Management Packs page


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5. In the Operations Manager Online Catalog Connection message box, click No as the IBM XIV

Storage System management pack dependency is included in the previous software installation

(refer to Figure 12).

Figure 12: Online Catalog Connection prompt

6. In the Select Management Packs to import dialog box, select the dependency

IBM.Storage.Common.mp and array-specific IBM.Storage.XIV.mp files and click Open (refer

to Figure 13).

Figure 13: Select Management Packs to import dialog box


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7. On the Operations Manager Import Management Packs page, confirm that the two management

packs are ready to be imported and click Install (refer to Figure 14).

Figure 14: Microsoft Operations Import Management Packs import list and status details

8. On the Operations Manager Import Management Packs page, confirm the two management

packs status changed to Imported and click Close (refer to Figure 15).

Figure 15: Microsoft Operations Import Management Packs import confirmation


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9. In the Operations Manager console, confirm the addition of the two management packs (refer to

Figure 16).

Figure 16: Microsoft Operations console management packs list

10. Finally, in the Operations Manager console, confirm the IBM XIV management packs storage

logical and physical objects that can be monitored (refer to Figure 17).

Figure 17: Microsoft Operations console management packs storage logical and physical objects



http://pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/strhosts/ic/index.jsp?topic=%2Fcom.ibm.help.strghosts.doc%2Fscom-

homepage.html


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Microsoft SCOM monitoring of the IBM XIV Storage

System

After configuring Microsoft SCOM to communicate with the IBM XIV Storage System and importing the

appropriate management packs, system administrators can begin monitoring the storage array using the

Microsoft SCOM console. By default, both logical and physical IBM XIV storage objects are monitored

using sealed or protected SCOM management packs. Even though the management pack principal

configuration settings that define the IBM XIV storage objects cannot be modified, users can customize

additional Microsoft SCOM settings such as rules, monitors, tasks, and overrides that supersede the

default management pack values. This helps define the scope of the information that is returned.

Moreover, this provides all administrators flexible central storage monitoring capabilities using Microsoft

SCOM that can be used in tandem with existing, popular IBM XIV management utilities primarily used by

storage support teams. Thus reiterating how extra monitoring safety measures are available to help meet

business-critical service requirements by allowing wide-ranging storage visibility for various data center

support groups.

To help demonstrate and compare the referenced storage monitoring capabilities, the following test

examples include hardware-induced IBM XIV storage failures, as depicted by the IBM XIV management

utilities, specifically the IBM XIV GUI, and the Microsoft SCOM console. The examples not only

demonstrate and compare storage monitoring capabilities, but also showcase some of the IBM XIV

Storage System Gen3 systems high availability or resiliency features. Likewise, the examples identify two

fundamental IBM XIV sources responsible for triggering Microsoft SCOM storage alerts:

IBM XIV storage object health status changes (for example, a module, disk, Fibre Channel

port, and so on)

IBM XIV logged events through xcli event_list output

To clearly demonstrate the alert behavior, the alert source and target or final destination are examined.

Thus, the alerts are analyzed from a storage array and Microsoft SCOM perspective. Since the IBM XIV

Storage System generates the Microsoft SCOM storage alerts, the XIV GUI can be used to verify any

physical or logical object failures as indicated by the alert source.

From the source perspective, both IBM XIV GUI graphic and textual alerts notify the storage administrators

of a problem. Figure 18 depicts a hardware failure represented by the red highlighted IBM XIV data

module. By moving the mouse over the red icon at the lower-right side of the window, administrators can

view a pop-up alert that reveals additional information about the failure. To demonstrate the intuitive nature

of the XIV GUI, administrators can click one of the hardware pop-up alerts to view the failed hardware

component, or module in this case, as seen in Figure 19.


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Figure 18: IBM XIV GUI hardware alerts for failed data module

Figure 19: IBM XIV GUI failed module

To view more status information, storage administrators can also move the mouse over the XIV GUI

Monitor menu and click Alerts as shown in Figure 20. There, users can determine when an alert was

approximately triggered, its severity, and the nature of the alert in the form of a descriptive summary as

illustrated in Figure 20.


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Figure 20: IBM XIV GUI monitor alerts menu

Figure 21: IBM XIV GUI monitor alerts details

From a target perspective in the Microsoft SCOM console, the IBM XIV Storage System Gen3 system

alerts can be viewed in a few different locations. For a current list of outstanding system alerts involving all

computers, storage arrays including the IBM XIV system, networking components, and so on,

administrators can view the general monitoring active alerts as illustrated in Figure 22. This provides

Microsoft SCOM users the ability to monitor the entire data center without having to examine countless

individual components or management pack objects. Thus, there is no need to expand or search the

navigation tree for alerts.


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Figure 22: Microsoft SCOM console monitor active alerts highlighting the IBM XIV module failure

For more detailed alert source information, the IBM XIV GUI events can be viewed by using the same

menu as shown previously in Figure 20 by clicking Events instead. Figure 23 and Figure 24 highlight the

completion of an IBM XIV data redistribution event which automatically takes place when a module or disk

fails. Data and performance integrity is maintained by copying only actual data that existed on the failed

module drives and evenly distributing it across all of the remaining disk drives. This IBM XIV high

availability feature places the storage system data back into a fully redundant state until the failed

hardware is replaced as triggered by IBM call-home support (if enabled) or prompted by a customer

service request.

Note: Both Microsoft SCOM and the IBM XIV Storage System can be configured for Short Message

Service (SMS) and Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) email alerts. It is up to the administrators to

determine if one or both sources should be configured for such alerts. This provides additional, flexible

safety measures for data center administrators in conjunction with old-fashioned visual system and

application-monitoring practices commonly employed by first-level support teams for high-priority,

business-critical solutions. However, configuring such alerts is beyond the scope of this paper.


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Figure 23: IBM XIV GUI monitor events

Note: Double-clicking an event displays its properties as shown in Figure 24.

Figure 24: IBM XIV GUI event properties

For more alert target information, the Microsoft SCOM console lists the details in the monitoring

navigational tree events for the actual management pack objects. These are essentially the same alert

details as the XIV GUI events noted previously but in a slightly different format. The Microsoft SCOM

console image in Figure 25 shows the IBM XIV informational event for the exact data redistribution

occurrence that resulted from the preceding failed module example.

Note: The source and target alert timestamp discrepancies are due to the Microsoft SCOM server and

IBM XIV Storage System clocks being slightly out of sync with each other. To avoid this problem in

production environments, use a common Network Time Protocol (NTP) server.


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Figure 25: Microsoft SCOM monitor equivalent data redistribution event

For further IBM XIV Storage System Gen3 configuration and data protection design details, visit the

following website:

http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/abstracts/sg247659.html


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Summary

By combining Microsoft SCOM 2012 with the IBM XIV Storage System Gen3 management tools, data

centers can enjoy the hybrid support benefits of central and distributed monitoring. Most importantly, the

ability to share proactive and reactive data between applications and systems makes it possible to couple

the strengths of individual tracking, management and monitoring tools, while providing a single user

interface for viewing and collecting crucial resource health status information. Technology-specific support

teams are no longer inhibited by exclusive resource visibility but have the ability to monitor the entire end-

to-end solutions. Not only does this expand individual support team capabilities but it also provides

redundant monitoring support that can result in faster problem resolutions. Last but not least, high

availability is not only improved by implementing this type of hybrid monitoring approach but the unique

performance and data integrity design of IBM XIV Storage System Gen3 can help administrators manage

their business-critical data as efficiently and effortlessly as possible.

Refer to the “Resources” section for supplementary in-depth information about each of the solution

products.


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Resources

For further information about the tested solutions products, visit the following websites:

Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2012 technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh205987.aspx

What’s New in System Center 2012 for Operations Manager

technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh551139.aspx

What’s New in SQL Server 2012 technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb500435.aspx

Microsoft Windows Server 2012 Virtualization microsoft.com/en-us/server-cloud/windows-server/server-virtualization.aspx

What’s New in Failover Clustering in Windows Server 2012? technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh831414.aspx

IBM Storage Management Pack for Microsoft System Center Operations Manager pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/strhosts/ic/index.jsp?topic=%2Fcom.ibm.help.strghosts.doc%2Fscom-homepage.html

IBM XIV Storage System ibm.com/systems/storage/disk/xiv/index.html

IBM XIV Storage System Gen3 Architecture, Implementation, and Usage www.redbooks.ibm.com/redbooks/pdfs/sg247659.pdf

IBM XIV Host Attachment Kit – Version 2.1.0.1 pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/strhosts/ic/index.jsp?topic=%2Fcom.ibm.help.strghosts.doc%2Fhsg_hak_2.1.0.1.html

IBM disk storage systems ibm.com/systems/storage/disk/?lnk=mprST-dsys-usen

IBM solutions from independent software vendors, partners and solution providers ibm.com/systems/storage/solutions/isv/


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Trademarks and special notices

© Copyright IBM Corporation 2013.

References in this document to IBM products or services do not imply that IBM intends to make them

available in every country.

IBM, the IBM logo, and ibm.com are trademarks or registered trademarks of International Business

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other countries, or both.

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Information is provided "AS IS" without warranty of any kind.

All customer examples described are presented as illustrations of how those customers have used IBM

products and the results they may have achieved. Actual environmental costs and performance

characteristics may vary by customer.

Information concerning non-IBM products was obtained from a supplier of these products, published

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such products by IBM. Sources for non-IBM list prices and performance numbers are taken from publicly

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Performance is based on measurements and projections using standard IBM benchmarks in a controlled

environment. The actual throughput or performance that any user will experience will vary depending upon

considerations such as the amount of multiprogramming in the user's job stream, the I/O configuration, the

storage configuration, and the workload processed. Therefore, no assurance can be given that an

individual user will achieve throughput or performance improvements equivalent to the ratios stated here.

Photographs shown are of engineering prototypes. Changes may be incorporated in production models.

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