dell emc powerstore: powerstore manager overview · 2020-06-14 · introduction 7 dell emc...

H18150

Technical White Paper

Dell EMC PowerStore: PowerStore Manager Overview

Abstract This white paper introduces and describes Dell EMC™ PowerStore™ Manager.

PowerStore Manager is a web-based solution that provides an easy-to-use

interface for management actions and monitoring operations which are crucial to

an organization’s needs.

April 2020

Revisions

2 Dell EMC PowerStore: PowerStore Manager Overview | H18150

Revisions

Date Description

April 2020 Initial release: PowerStoreOS 1.0

Acknowledgments

Author: Ji Hong

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 © 2020 Dell Inc. or its subsidiaries. All Rights Reserved. Dell Technologies, Dell, EMC, Dell EMC and other trademarks are trademarks of Dell

Inc. or its subsidiaries. Other trademarks may be trademarks of their respective owners. [4/21/2020] [Technical White Paper] [H18150]

Table of contents


Table of contents

Revisions............................................................................................................................................................................. 2

Acknowledgments ............................................................................................................................................................... 2

Table of contents ................................................................................................................................................................ 3

Executive summary ............................................................................................................................................................. 5

Audience ............................................................................................................................................................................. 5

1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................................... 6

1.1 PowerStore overview .......................................................................................................................................... 6

1.2 Terminology ........................................................................................................................................................ 6

2 Appliances discovery .................................................................................................................................................... 8

2.1 Discovery with a direct connection ..................................................................................................................... 8

2.2 Discovery with remote connection ...................................................................................................................... 8

2.3 Initial Configuration Wizard ............................................................................................................................... 10

2.4 Licensing ........................................................................................................................................................... 12

3 PowerStore Manager user interface .......................................................................................................................... 14

3.1 Dashboard ........................................................................................................................................................ 14

3.2 Monitoring ......................................................................................................................................................... 16

3.3 Compute: Hosts & Host Groups ....................................................................................................................... 18

3.4 Compute: Virtual Machines .............................................................................................................................. 19

3.5 Compute: vCenter Server Connection ............................................................................................................. 20

3.6 Storage: Volumes ............................................................................................................................................. 21

3.7 Storage: Volume Groups .................................................................................................................................. 21

3.8 Storage: Storage Containers ............................................................................................................................ 23

3.9 Storage: NAS Servers ...................................................................................................................................... 24

3.10 Storage: File Systems ...................................................................................................................................... 25

3.11 Protection: Replication ...................................................................................................................................... 26

3.12 Protection – Remote Systems .......................................................................................................................... 27

3.13 Protection: Protection Policies .......................................................................................................................... 27

3.14 Migration – Migration Actions ........................................................................................................................... 29

3.15 Migration – Internal Migrations ......................................................................................................................... 30

3.16 Migration: Import External Storage ................................................................................................................... 31

3.17 Migration: Imports ............................................................................................................................................. 32

3.18 Hardware .......................................................................................................................................................... 33

3.19 Other system status messages and settings .................................................................................................... 35

3.19.1 CloudIQ/vCenter connection ........................................................................................................................ 36

Table of contents


3.19.2 Running jobs ................................................................................................................................................ 36

3.19.3 Quick access alerts ...................................................................................................................................... 37

3.19.4 Logged in user options ................................................................................................................................. 37

3.19.5 Online help ................................................................................................................................................... 38

3.20 Settings menu ................................................................................................................................................... 39

3.20.1 SupportAssist ............................................................................................................................................... 40

4 PowerStore CLI .......................................................................................................................................................... 41

5 PowerStore REST API ............................................................................................................................................... 42

6 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................................................. 43

A Technical support and resources ............................................................................................................................... 44

Executive summary


Executive summary

This white paper provides an overview of the Dell EMC™ PowerStore™ platform user interface, PowerStore

Manager, which is used for management and monitoring of PowerStore clusters and associated appliances.

For hardware and high-level software details about PowerStore appliances, see the white paper Dell EMC

PowerStore: Introduction to the Platform on Dell.com/StorageResources.

Audience

This white paper is intended for IT administrators, storage architects, partners, and Dell Technologies™

employees. It is also intended for any other individuals that are involved in the evaluation, acquisition,

management, operation, or design of a Dell EMC networked storage environment using PowerStore.

http://www.dell.com/storageresources

Introduction


1 Introduction For most technology products available today, simplicity and ease of use are some of the top priorities. For

PowerStore appliances, PowerStore Manager addresses these priorities by providing an easy-to-use and

simplified management interface for IT generalists, while at the same time providing advanced features for

more adept storage administrators. PowerStore Manager allows administrators to easily configure storage

resources from their PowerStore appliances to meet the needs of their applications, hosts, and users.

The PowerStore Manager provisioning workflows simplify management by using best practices and

recommended default values, which help to optimize system performance and minimize the overall costs of

using and maintaining the system. PowerStore Manager can easily identify failed and faulted components

through graphical representations of the system and offers a wide range of Dell Technologies support options

directly from the user interface, to assist troubleshooting.

1.1 PowerStore overview PowerStore achieves new levels of operational simplicity and agility. It uses a container-based microservices

architecture, advanced storage technologies, and integrated machine learning to unlock the power of your

data. PowerStore is a versatile platform with a performance-centric design that delivers multidimensional

scale, always-on data reduction, and support for next-generation media.

PowerStore brings the simplicity of public cloud to on-premises infrastructure, streamlining operations with an

integrated machine-learning engine and seamless automation. It also offers predictive analytics to easily

monitor, analyze, and troubleshoot the environment. PowerStore is highly adaptable, providing the flexibility to

host specialized workloads directly on the appliance and modernize infrastructure without disruption. It also

offers investment protection through flexible payment solutions and data-in-place upgrades.

1.2 Terminology Appliance: Term used for the solution containing the base enclosure and any attached expansion

enclosures.

Base enclosure: Used to reference the enclosure containing both nodes (node A and node B) with 25 x

NVMe drive slots in the front.

Cluster: One or more appliances in a single grouping and management interface. Clusters are expandable by

adding more appliances to the existing cluster, up to the allowed amount for a cluster.

Expansion enclosure: Enclosures that can be attached to the base enclosure to provide additional storage

in form of SAS drives.

Fibre Channel protocol: A protocol used to perform Internet Protocol (IP) and SCSI commands over a Fibre

Channel network.

File system: A storage resource that can be accessed through file-sharing protocols such as SMB or NFS.

Internet SCSI (iSCSI): Provides a mechanism for accessing block-level data storage over network

connections.

Network attached storage (NAS) server: A file-level storage server used to host file systems. A NAS server

is required in order to create file systems that use SMB or NFS shares.

Introduction


Network File System (NFS): An access protocol that allows data access from Linux®/UNIX® hosts on a

network.

Node: Component within an appliance that contains processors and memory. Each appliance consists of two

nodes.

REpresentational State Transfer (REST) API: Set of resources (objects), operations, and attributes that

provide interactive, scripted, and programmatic management control of the PowerStore cluster.

Server Message Block (SMB): A network file sharing protocol, sometimes referred to as CIFS, used by

Microsoft® Windows® environments. SMB provides access to files and folders from Windows hosts on a

network.

Snapshot: A point-in-time view of data stored on a storage resource. A user can recover files from a

snapshot or restore a storage resource from a snapshot.

Virtual Volumes (vVols): A VMware storage framework which allows VM data to be stored on individual

VMware® vSphere® Virtual Volumes™.

Appliances discovery


2 Appliances discovery Once the PowerStore system base enclosure and optional expansion enclosures are installed and powered

on for the first time, configure the system in one of the following ways:

• Direct connection: This is the recommended procedure and requires that you are physically present in

the data center or lab where the base enclosure is installed.

• Remote connection: Use this procedure if you do not have access to the base enclosure. Use the

PowerStore Discovery Utility tool for initial discovery and launching of the Initial Configuration Wizard.

For more information about network configuration, see the Dell EMC PowerStore Planning Guide and Dell

EMC PowerStore Installation and Service Guide on the PowerStore Info Hub.

2.1 Discovery with a direct connection This recommended procedure can be used when you have direct access to your PowerStore system. The

procedure involves connecting your workstation or laptop to the service port on node A of the base enclosure,

opening a browser window to the predefined node A IP address, and then running through the Initial

Configuration Wizard.

For instructions and pre-requisites on the direct connect method, see the Dell EMC PowerStore Quick Start

Guide on the PowerStore Info Hub.

2.2 Discovery with remote connection If not using the recommended direct-connect method, you can install the Discovery Utility application on a

supported Microsoft® Windows® or Linux® host for remote discovery and configuration. After the Discovery

Utility is installed, open the application as shown in Figure 1. Once the PowerStore system has been

discovered, step through the HTML5 based Initial Configuration Wizard to complete configuration.

For more information about PowerStore system and network setup before running the Discovery Utility, see

the white paper Dell EMC PowerStore: Introduction to the Platform.

Supported Windows and Linux hosts:

• Windows

o Windows 7, 8, and 10

• Linux

o Linux Mint 18 or later

o Ubuntu 18.04 or later

o SUSE® Linux Enterprise Desktop 15 or later

http://www.dell.com/powerstoredocs




PowerStore Discovery Utility

Once the PowerStore system is connected properly to the network and the network is configured correctly,

you can click Scan appliances in the PowerStore Discovery Utility. Doing this action automatically scans the

network for available PowerStore systems, both unconfigured and configured. If the appliance does not get

discovered successfully, try the steps that are listed in Figure 1 such as temporarily disabling wireless

networks, security applications, and firewalls. An example of discovered unconfigured appliances is shown in

Figure 2.

PowerStore Discovery Utility (Unconfigured appliances)



After one or more appliances are selected, a Create Cluster button will appear in the bottom right of the tool

(as shown in Figure 3). This action starts the process of creating a new cluster or adding to an existing cluster

using the selected appliances.

PowerStore Discovery Utility (create cluster)

2.3 Initial Configuration Wizard Once the Initial Configuration Wizard is launched either through direct connect or remote connect options, a

browser window tab automatically appears in the default Internet program asking the user to log in to

PowerStore. Enter in the default credentials when logging in for the first time which is admin for the

Username and Password123# for the Password (see Figure 4 as an example of the login screen).

PowerStore Manager (login screen)



After logging in, the Initial Configuration Wizard is shown which only appears during first login. At first login,

you must change the default password to a new password, as shown in Figure 5.

The new password must meet the following requirements:

• Contain 8 to 40 characters

• Contain at least one uppercase letter

• Contain at least one lowercase letter

• Contain at least one numeric character

• Contain at least one special character (! , @ # $ % ^ - ? _)

• Password cannot include single quote (‘), ampersand (&), or space characters

• Cannot reuse the previous five passwords (Only applies to future password changes)

The service password is set to match the admin password by default, but you can optionally change it to a

different password. The service password is used for the service user account which allows users to perform

service operations and other troubleshooting-related functions. The service user is utilized when accessing

the console of the PowerStore system through the service port or through SSH access.

PowerStore Manager (change default password)

The rest of the Initial Configuration Wizard brings you through multiple pages to successfully configure the

PowerStore appliances for the first time including:

• End User License Agreement: To continue in the Initial Configuration Wizard and to be able to use

PowerStore Manager, a user must accept the end user license agreement.

• Cluster Details: Configure the friendly name of the cluster that shows in the upper left of PowerStore

Manager and choose the configuration mode if configuring a PowerStore T appliance. For

PowerStore T appliances, you have the option between Unified (SAN and NAS) or Block Optimized

(SAN only) deployment modes.

• Networks: Entering in IP addresses and network information for related networks (Management,

Storage, and vMotion)

• Infrastructure Services: Configure DNS and NTP servers and optionally configure physical top of

rack or out of band management switch credentials for network validation.



• Cluster Configuration: Use this step to review the chosen configuration information, validate the

configuration, and initiate the cluster creation. Can also export the configuration details in this page.

The validation process is automatically done as part of the cluster creation process as well. If there

are any issues, the wizard will notify you of the errors and provide guidance on next steps to resolve

them.

• NAS Installation Status (for PowerStore T appliances in Unified mode): This step monitors the

installation of NAS services for the appliance.

• SupportAssist™: This step configures SupportAssist for system connection back to Dell Support

services. This step can be configured at a later point within PowerStore Manager.

For more information about the initial discovery process and Initial Configuration Wizard, see the PowerStore

Quick Start Guide and PowerStore Initial Configuration Worksheet.

2.4 Licensing Before the software features on PowerStore appliances can be used, a proper license must be installed.

PowerStore provides two options for licensing: Automatic Licensing and Manual Licensing.

The default option is Automatic Licensing which requires port 443 to be open. If you have the network port

443 open for the system management ports, then the system automatically reaches out to Dell Technologies,

acquires the appropriate license that is based on the system service tag, and installs it without any user

intervention.

The other option is Manual Licensing. To obtain a license manually, you can go to the Settings menu to the

Licensing page. On the page, the Install License button opens a window which provides instructions on how

to retrieve and upload a license file as can be seen in Figure 6.

If a license is not installed, then the system uses a 30-day free Trial License while the administrator works on

getting a license. If the 30-day trial period ends before a license is installed, then you will not be able to

perform management operations. For example, creating a volume, taking snapshots, upgrading software, or

modifying NAS Servers. Although, users still have access to storage data in the event of an expired license.

Here are some considerations for licensing:

• The license file is all-inclusive whereby all features are enabled automatically.

• To license the whole cluster, only one license file is required.

• If an appliance is reimaged or removed from the cluster, a license must be reapplied for that

appliance upon initial configuration.

• The ESXi host license is separate from the PowerStore license .

o For more information, see the white paper Dell EMC PowerStore: Virtualization Integration on

Dell.com/StorageResources.





Settings page > PowerStore licensing

PowerStore Manager user interface


3 PowerStore Manager user interface PowerStore Manager provides a positive user experience by using a web interface that is based on HTML5

and manages and monitors the cluster and all associated appliances. This modern interface has been

designed with simplicity and ease of use in mind for all storage management needs. The top menu includes

all the different pages that you can go to and most pages include cards that can be selected for additional

breakdown of information. The top navigation menu includes the resources and system settings that are used

on a frequent basis by administrators. The different pages available through the main menu are described in

Table 1.

Navigation menu options

3.1 Dashboard The Dashboard page is the first page that is displayed when logging into PowerStore Manager. The page is a

status view of various system details, including system capacity, system health, storage health, and overall

system performance. Different system details and information are shown appropriately in separate tabs titled

Overview, Capacity (as shown in Figure 7), and Performance.

Categories Subcategories Description

Dashboard None View a comprehensive summary of cluster status, overall capacity, and system performance

Monitoring None Consolidated view of system alerts, events, and jobs

Compute Hosts & Host Groups, Virtual Machines, vCenter Server Connection

View and configure hosts, virtual machines, and cluster vCenter Server Connection

Storage Volumes, Volume Groups, Storage Containers, NAS Servers, File Systems

View and configure available storage resources for the cluster

Protection Replication, Remote Systems, Protection Policies

View and configure replication, remote clusters, and protection policies including snapshot and replication rules

Migration Migration Actions, Internal Migrations, Import External Storage, Imports

View and configure internal cluster migrations between appliances and imports to PowerStore from supported systems

Hardware None View and monitor hardware related to the cluster including drives and attached expansion enclosures



PowerStore Manager dashboard > Capacity tab

The Overview tab includes high-level cluster system information including alerts, number of configured

storage and host resources, as well as a user-selected, resource watchlist. This high-level information

provides quick insight into the overall usage of the systems in the cluster and it highlights important issues

that require the immediate attention of the administrator.

The Capacity tab, as shown in Figure 7, includes information about the overall capacity of the systems in the

cluster and a historical graph of usage which helps determine a capacity forecast over time. It might take

several days for the capacity forecast to be displayed with a new system. Other information that is in the

Capacity tab is data savings and top storage consumers that are related to configured storage resources.

The Performance tab includes an overall cluster performance chart which shows top-level performance

metrics including latency, IOPS, I/O size, and bandwidth. Also included on the performance chart are graphed

system alerts at the time they were identified, which is useful when trying to troubleshoot performance

anomalies. The performance chart itself can be exported in different formats including jpeg, pdf, png, and csv

formats.



Below are the performance metric retention periods and associated sampling intervals as shown in Table 2:

Sampling intervals and retention periods

Time range setting Sampling interval

Last 1 Hour 20 Seconds

Last 1 Day 5 Minutes

Last 30 Days 1 Hour

Last 2 years 24 Hours

3.2 Monitoring The Monitoring page is the consolidated area of all appliance alerts, events, and jobs for the cluster. Events

provide information about changes to the system, but do not rise to the level of an alert which indicate there is

a problem with the system. Alerts, as shown on Figure 8, are categorized by severity which indicates the

urgency of the alert. On the Jobs tab, you can monitor the status of user and system created jobs. You can

view jobs that were created during the last 24 hours, the last week, the last month, or a specified date and

time period.

Monitoring page > Alerts tab



Here are the supported alert severities and their descriptions:

Table 1 - Alert severity levels

Icon Label Indicates

Information An event has occurred that does not impact system functions. No action is required.

Minor An error has occurred that you should be aware of, but it does not have a significant impact on the system. For example, a component is working, but its performance may not be optimal.

Major An error has occurred that has a major impact on the system and should be remedied, but may not have to be fixed immediately. For example, a component is failing and some or all of its functions may be degraded or not working.

Critical An error has occurred that has a significant impact on the system, and it should be remedied immediately. For example, a component is missing or has failed, and recovery may not be possible.

In the details of each alert, additional information can be found including the System Impact, Repair Flow,

Notifications, as well as Associated Events as can be seen in Figure 9. This information is useful in

troubleshooting scenarios and allows users to remediate issues seen on the system.

Monitoring Page > Alert details

When alerts are no longer relevant or are resolved, the system automatically clears the alerts with no user

intervention. This action ensures that cleared alerts are hidden from the default view so that only relevant



issues are displayed to administrators. Cleared alerts can be optionally displayed through table filtering

options. Alerts can also be acknowledged which removes the alert from default view. Acknowledging an alert

does not indicate that the issue is resolved. Acknowledged alerts can be viewed as well through table filtering

options. You can also configure PowerStore Manager to send alert notifications to a specified email or SMTP

server through the Settings menu.

3.3 Compute: Hosts & Host Groups The Compute button in the top navigation bar has multiple pages that are listed underneath it. One of the

pages is the Hosts & Host Groups page, as shown on Figure 10. The Hosts & Hosts Groups page allows

you to create and manage host configurations which are logical connections through which hosts or

applications can access storage resources. You also can pool individual hosts together into a host group. A

host group is a collection of hosts that enables you to perform volume-related operations across all the hosts

in the group. For example, when you provision volumes for a host group, the volumes become available to all

member hosts.

Compute > Hosts & Host Groups page



3.4 Compute: Virtual Machines PowerStore Manager provides detailed monitoring capabilities for virtual machines (VMs). To access vCenter,

you can launch the vSphere Web Client directly from PowerStore Manager. In the Virtual Machines page

under Compute (as shown in Figure 11), you can view performance details, alerts, and connections for the

VMs that are configured from the PowerStore cluster. You can also view and manage data protection policies.

The main view shows essential details for each VM and the table can be filtered, sorted, refreshed, and

exported to a spreadsheet if needed. VMs that are provisioned from the PowerStore cluster and on an

associated ESXi host are added to the table automatically. Only VMs that are deployed on vVols can be

managed with PowerStore Manager.

Compute > Virtual Machines page



3.5 Compute: vCenter Server Connection For PowerStore T models, the vCenter Server connection must be manually registered. For PowerStore X

models, the vCenter Server connection is done as part of the initial configuration process. Registering or

managing the vCenter Server connection can be accomplished from the Compute > vCenter Server

Connection page as shown in Figure 12. You can click Launch vSphere to start the vSphere Web Client

and connect to the associated vCenter Server. You can also use this page to update the connection or

disconnect as needed. To manage VMs with PowerStore T model appliances, you must manually register the

VASA provider and then connect to the vCenter from PowerStore Manager.

For more information about vSphere integration and registering the VASA provider, see the white paper Dell

EMC PowerStore: Virtualiztion Integration.

Compute > vCenter Server connection



3.6 Storage: Volumes Within the Volumes page of PowerStore Manager underneath Storage in the top navigation bar (as shown in

Figure 13), you can create, view, manage, and delete volumes for the PowerStore appliances in the cluster.

You can monitor detailed information about capacity, performance, alerts, protection status, and connectivity

within the detailed view of a volume. Thin clones are also created and managed from this page.

Storage > Volumes page

3.7 Storage: Volume Groups A volume group is a logical container for a group of volumes and provides a single point of management for

multiple storage resources that work together as a unit. For example, you can use volume groups to monitor

metrics and manage data protection for development applications, user applications, and user storage

resources. You can also use volume groups to separate the management of test environments from

development environments.



To configure a volume group in PowerStore Manager, use the Storage > Volume Groups page, as shown in

Figure 14. Within this page you can create, view, manage, and delete volume groups. Thin clones from

volume groups can also be created and managed within this page. To monitor the capacity, performance,

protection status, and view members of a volume group, click the name of the group you want to view in the

page table.

Storage > Volume Groups page



3.8 Storage: Storage Containers A storage container is used to present vVol storage from PowerStore to vSphere. vSphere mounts the

storage container as a vVol datastore and makes it available for VM storage. A storage container spans all

appliances in the cluster and uses storage from each. The specific appliance that a given vVol resides on is

visible in PowerStore Manager, and a vVol can be migrated between appliances in the same cluster. Use the

Storage > Storage Containers page, as shown in Figure 15, to create and manage storage containers within

PowerStore Manager.

Storage > Storage Containers page



3.9 Storage: NAS Servers Before file systems on PowerStore appliances (only available for PowerStore T Unified models) are

configured, a NAS Server must first be created. A NAS server is a virtualized network-attached storage server

that uses the SMB, NFS, or FTP or SFTP protocols to catalog, organize, and transfer files within file system

shares and exports. A NAS server, the basis for multi-tenancy, must be created before you can create file-

level storage resources. NAS servers are responsible for the configuration parameters on the set of file

systems that it serves. To create, view, manage, or delete NAS Servers, use the Storage > NAS Servers

page in PowerStore Manager, as shown in Figure 16.

Storage > NAS Servers



3.10 Storage: File Systems A file system represents a storage resource that provides network file storage. The types of file systems that

you can create are determined by the file sharing protocols (SMB, NFS, or multiprotocol) enabled for NAS

Servers on the PowerStore appliances in your cluster. You can create, view, manage, and delete file systems,

SMB shares, and NFS exports from the Storage > File Systems page, as shown in Figure 17.

Storage > File Systems page



3.11 Protection: Replication Data replication is a process in which storage data is duplicated to a remote cluster, which provides an

enhanced level of redundancy in case the main storage backup system fails. Replication minimizes the

downtime-associated costs of a system failure and simplifies the recovery process from a natural disaster or

human error. PowerStore supports asynchronous remote replication for volumes and volume groups.

PowerStore native replication is not supported on file systems or vVols. Once a protection policy with a

replication rule is applied to a volume or volume group, the related replication session that is created is shown

on the Protection > Replication page within PowerStore Manager, as shown in Figure 18. You can use this

page to monitor, pause, or failover replication sessions as needed.

Protection > Replication page



3.12 Protection: Remote Systems You can use the Protection > Remote Systems page, as shown in Figure 19, to configure remote system

connections between source and destination PowerStore clusters to enable remote replication. For

PowerStore, the remote system connection is associated with a replication rule which is then applied to a

supported storage resource. You can create remote system connections ahead of time in the Remote

Systems page, or while creating a new replication rule.

Protection > Remote Systems page

3.13 Protection: Protection Policies A protection policy consists of snapshot rules, replication rules, or both, that you create to establish consistent

data protection across storage resources. After you configure a protection policy, you can associate new or

existing storage resources with the protection policy.

Protection policies automatically manage snapshots or replication operations that are based on the included

rules. You can create policies with various rules to meet your local and remote protection needs, and assign a

policy to resources to provide identical protection to those resources.



Each protection policy can only include one replication rule, and up to four snapshot rules. To create and

manage protection policies, you can use the Protection > Protection Policies page in PowerStore Manager,

as shown in Figure 20.

Protection > Protection Policies



3.14 Migration: Migration Actions There are two ways to migrate storage resources in PowerStore Manager: Manual migration and assisted

migration. Once a volume or volume group is provisioned on a specific appliance, you can choose to

manually migrate the storage resource to another appliance in the cluster later. Assisted migrations are

recommendations that are based on regular monitoring of storage resources across the appliances in the

cluster. These recommendations are generated based on many factors including drive wear, appliance

capacity, host connectivity, and health. Recommendations can be found on the Migration > Migration

Actions page as shown in Figure 21. Before removing or shutting down an appliance for service, use this

feature to migrate storage resources to another appliance and prevent disruption. When you migrate a

volume or volume group, all associated snapshots and thin clones also migrate with the storage resource. To

start a migration, select the associated migration action and click Start Migration.

Migration > Migration Actions page



3.15 Migration: Internal Migrations Once a migration is initiated, all migration sessions are displayed on the Migration > Internal Migrations

page as shown in Figure 22. This page allows you to easily monitor migrations in the cluster and determine

the status of each migration along with an estimation of completion time.

Migration > Internal Migration page



3.16 Migration: Import External Storage PowerStore supports importing external storage from supported storage platforms. PowerStore import allows

the following block storage resources from other arrays: LUNs and Volumes, Consistency Groups and

Volume Groups, and Thick and Thin Clones, depending on the source system. PowerStore manages the

import process with a host orchestrator called a host agent which is installed on all hosts accessing the

source data. In PowerStore Manager, the Migration > Import External Storage page, as shown in Figure

23, allows the user to connect to supported storage platforms and enable non-disruptive import. Connecting

to a remote system from PowerStore requires the management IP address, iSCSI IP Addresses, and

credentials.

For more information about imports and the import process, see the white paper Dell EMC PowerStore:

Migration Technologies on Dell.com/StorageResources.

Migration > Import External Storage page




3.17 Migration: Imports After an import is successfully initiated, the import session will be displayed on the Migration > Imports page

as shown in Figure 24. This page allows you to manage the import sessions as needed including the following

supported operations: Cancel, Cutover, Pause, Resume, and Cleanup. During an ongoing import, a cancel

operation allows you to change the active path to the source storage resource. Once a cutover operation is

performed, the import session can no longer be canceled.

Table 3 shows the actions available for import sessions along with associated descriptions. An action

depends on the import job current state.

Migration > Imports page

Import actions

Action Overview

Cancel • Cancels import session and goes back to source

• Terminates a session that has not been cutover

• Disables access to the destination volume

• Deletes the destination volume or volume group associated with the import session

Cutover • Cuts over the resource in the PowerStore

• Stops background copy and removes host mappings from source

• This action cannot be canceled once run

• There is no way to go back to the source resource once this action is run

Pause • Pause suspends a Copy In Progress import session



Action Overview

• It only pauses the background copy, the host I/O is still mirrored

Resume • Resumes a Paused session

• Starts the background copy again from where it was paused and continues the host I/O mirroring

Cleanup • Removes an import session in Clean up required state

• Removes an import session that had a failure

3.18 Hardware For PowerStore, an appliance consists of a base enclosure and any optional expansion enclosures. A base

enclosure includes two nodes and slots for up to 25 drives while expansion enclosures provide the ability to

add more drives and increase the storage capacity of the overall appliance. To view the overall health of the

physical hardware of appliances, go to the Hardware > Appliances page as shown in Figure 25. This page

lists all appliances that are associated with the cluster, and clicking an appliance in the table displays the

appliance details page where you can review additional information.

Hardware page

In the appliance details page, you can review the metrics, alerts, and health information for the selected

appliance and its associated components as shown in Figure 26. Notice that the information is similar to the

Dashboard view, but is filtered for the selected appliance which is useful in daily administration tasks. In terms

of physical hardware component health and status, click the Hardware card to the right of the page. In the



hardware view, you can see different views of the base enclosure including Drives (as shown on Figure 27),

Rear View, and Top View. Each view has different components that can be selected for additional

information including part number, health status, and other component-specific details. When a component

has an issue or is faulted, the graphical figure indicates an alert depending on the type of issue to visually

notify the user of an error.

On the Drives tab, there is an option to Blink LED. When the base enclosure is selected, clicking the button

blinks all LEDs for the drives, base-enclosure LED, and rear-fault LED simultaneously which is useful when

trying to identify a particular system in a rack of multiple appliances. Clicking the button again stops the LEDs

from blinking. When a specific drive is selected, clicking Blink LED blinks the LED of only that drive. This

action is useful when an individual drive must be located in the data center.

Hardware > appliance details page



Hardware > appliance Hardware page (Drives view)

3.19 Other system status messages and settings There are additional status messages and settings in the upper right of the PowerStore interface, as shown in

Figure 28. Each of these icons provides different information to the administrator of the system and are

always available. The following sections provide more information about each icon.

Other system statuses and settings



3.19.1 CloudIQ/vCenter connection The first icon in the top blue banner of PowerStore Manager provides quick links to CloudIQ and VMware

vSphere respectively, as shown in Figure 29. SupportAssist must be configured and the Connect to CloudIQ

checkbox must be checked to see PowerStore appliances in CloudIQ. Also, if a vCenter connection had not

been configured in the Compute > vCenter Server Connection page, the quick link for VMware vSphere is

not available.

CloudIQ and VMware vSphere quick links

3.19.2 Running jobs To see active or recently completed jobs, you may click on the Jobs icon in the upper right as shown in

Figure 30. For active jobs, the percentage that is completed is also shown. Included within the window is a tab

for Required Actions which shows any assisted migration recommendations on the system from the

Migration > Migration Actions page. Lastly, there is a button to bring you directly to the Monitoring > Jobs

page for a full list of all jobs.

Jobs icon



3.19.3 Quick access alerts PowerStore Manager provides users a way to quickly see relevant alerts on the system through the Alerts

icon in the top menu bar, as shown in Figure 31. A link in the dialog leads to the Alerts page, which lists all

alerts that are associated with the cluster. Here, users can get additional details about the alerts and

information about how to remedy the associated issues. Selecting an alert brings users to the Monitoring

page with the alert automatically selected, providing more information about the alert along with any

suggested repair flow.

Quick access alerts

3.19.4 Logged in user options The user icon in the top blue banner, as shown in Figure 32, includes various options, including resetting user

preferences, changing the password of the logged in user, and a Log out option.

Logged in user options



3.19.5 Online help The next icon available in the top menu bar is the context-sensitive help menu, as shown in Figure 33. The

options for the corresponding dialog dynamically change based on the current page or wizard in PowerStore

Manager. For example, if the user is on the Volumes page, the online help icon displays an option to go

directly to online help for Volumes, as shown in Figure 34. This feature helps users find the exact information

that they need when trying to learn more about the system, instead of having to search through the various

pages in the online help. Also in the Help icon is a quick link to the Settings > Support > General Support

page, an About menu which includes the current software version, a Check for software update button, and

a Configuration Recommendations menu.

Online help icon

Online Help > Volumes page



3.20 Settings menu The Settings icon with a gear symbol near the top menu bar leads to the Settings menu when clicked. The

Settings menu, as shown in Figure 35, allows administrators to set or configure many settings that are

important to the cluster, but are less frequently used. The menu includes the ability to upgrade system

software, configure SupportAssist, configure infrastructure services, and enable SSH to name a few. Table 4

shows all available settings in the Settings menu.

Settings page

Settings menu options

Categories Settings General description

Cluster Properties, Upgrades, Licensing, Power Down

Update cluster-friendly name, manage system upgrades, manage system licensing, and power down option

Security Certificates, Encryption, Audit Logs, CHAP, SSH Management

Manage system settings related to Security topics including encryption and managing SSH access

Networking Cluster MTU, Network IPs, Infrastructure Services, SMTP Server

Configure various system settings related to Networking including system IPs and MTU size

Support SupportAssist, Service Account, Support Materials, General Support, Disable Support Notifications

Configure SupportAssist, support contact information, and generate support materials for troubleshooting



Categories Settings General description

Users Users, Email Notifications Configure email addresses to send system alerts to, and add or manage users to access PowerStore Manager

3.20.1 SupportAssist The Support category within the Settings menu allows users to configure and manage SupportAssist. The

SupportAssist feature provides an IP-based connection that enables Dell Support to receive error files and

alerts from your appliance, and to perform remote troubleshooting resulting in a fast and efficient time to

resolution. It is recommended that you enable the SupportAssist feature to accelerate problem diagnosis,

perform troubleshooting, and help speed time to resolution. If you do not enable the SupportAssist feature,

you may need to collect appliance information manually to assist Dell Support with troubleshooting and

resolving problems with your appliance.

For more information about SupportAssist and options for remote troubleshooting, see the Dell EMC

PowerStore Security Configuration Guide on the PowerStore Info Hub.


PowerStore CLI


4 PowerStore CLI For IT generalists, managing PowerStore systems through the PowerStore Manager interface is

comprehensive enough to accomplish all daily administrative tasks. For advanced use cases, users can

create scripts to automate routine tasks, using the PowerStore CLI (PSTCLI) interface. The PSTCLI can be

used to perform the same tasks that can be done in PowerStore Manager, such as configuring and managing

storage resources, protecting data, managing users, viewing performance metrics, and other similar tasks.

For more information about using the PSTCLI, see the Dell EMC PowerStore Command Line Interface User

Guide on the PowerStore Info Hub.


PowerStore REST API


5 PowerStore REST API The REST API is an application programming interface that uses familiar HTTP operations like GET, PATCH,

POST, and DELETE. The REST architecture includes certain constraints that ensure that different

implementations of REST conform to the same guiding principles, allowing developers the ease of application

development when working with different REST API deployments. REST APIs have become more popular

and more widely used in data centers where administrators are looking to standardize their management

needs across all their appliances, regardless of vendor.

The PowerStore platform includes REST API support, which provides another way to manage PowerStore

appliances and automate various tasks. Generally, the PowerStore REST API has the same capabilities that

is provided by PowerStore Manager. The PowerStore REST API formats all communications in JSON

notation. Users can send REST API requests using their favorite scripting languages such as, Perl and PHP

to manage PowerStore systems in their environment. This ability provides flexible in management and

enables more complex scripted operation possibilities.

Once a system is up and running, users can go to the following web addresses to gain access to the REST

API reference commands (<Management_IP> is the management IP of your PowerStore cluster):

https://<Management_IP>/swaggerui

This online REST API command reference location allows users to test REST API commands on their live

system which can then be incorporated into other scripts.

For more information about using REST API for PowerStore appliances, see the Dell EMC PowerStore REST

API Developers Guide on the PowerStore Info Hub.



6 Conclusion PowerStore Manager realizes an important core design goal of PowerStore—to simplify storage

management. Using modern HTML5 architecture and an easy-to-navigate user interface, PowerStore

Manager ensures a quality experience for storage administrators, while leveraging best practices for storage

management needs. PowerStore Manager provides an intuitive interface that does not require extensive or

specialized knowledge. From simple tasks like provisioning a block volume, to using advanced features like

local and remote replication, PowerStore Manager is a powerful and easy-to-use tool that enables users to

fully realize the potential of their PowerStore systems. For users that prefer command-line tools, PowerStore

also supports a fully functional CLI and REST API which is useful for scripting use cases and enables more

complex operation possibilities.

Technical support and resources


A Technical support and resources

Dell.com/support is focused on meeting customer needs with proven services and support.

Storage technical documents and videos provide expertise that helps to ensure customer success on Dell

EMC storage platforms.

The PowerStore Info Hub provides detailed documentation on how to install, configure, and manage Dell

EMC PowerStore systems.

Dell.com/support



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