Administrator Guide

For information about the procedures to update firmware in controller modules, expansion modules, and disk drives, see Updating
firmware on page 59. That topic also describes how to use the activity progress interface to view detailed information about the
progress of a firmware-update operation.
About managed logs
As the storage system operates, it records diagnostic data in several types of log files. The size of any log file is limited, so over time and
during periods of high activity, these logs can fill up and begin overwriting their oldest data. The managed logs feature allows log data to
be transferred to a log-collection system, and store it for later retrieval before any data is lost. The log-collection system is a host
computer that is designated to receive the log data transferred from the storage system. The transfer does not remove any data from the
logs in the storage system. This feature is disabled by default.
The managed logs feature can be configured to operate in push mode or pull mode:
• In push mode, when log data has accumulated to a significant size, the storage system sends notifications with attached log files via
email to the log-collection system. The notification will specify the storage-system name, location, contact, and IP address, and will
contain a single log segment in a compressed zip file. The log segment will be uniquely named to indicate the log-file type, the date and
time of creation, and the storage system. This information will also be in the email subject line. The file name format is
logtype_yyyy_mm_dd__hh_mm_ss.zip.
• In pull mode, when log data has accumulated to a significant size, the system sends notifications via email, SMI-S, or SNMP to the log-
collection system, which can then use FTP or SFTP to transfer the appropriate logs from the storage system. The notification will
specify the storage-system name, location, contact, and IP address and the log-file type or region that needs to be transferred.
The managed logs feature monitors the following controller-specific log files:
• Expander Controller (EC) log, which includes EC debug data, EC revisions, and PHY statistics
• Storage Controller (SC) debug log and controller event log
• SC crash logs, which include the SC boot log
• Management Controller (MC) log
Each log-file type also contains system-configuration information. The capacity status of each log file is maintained, as well as the status
of what data has already been transferred. Three capacity-status levels are defined for each log file:
• Need to transfer—The log file has filled to the threshold at which content needs to be transferred. This threshold varies for different
log files. When this level is reached:
○ In push mode, informational event 400 and all untransferred data is sent to the log-collection system.
○ In pull mode, informational event 400 is sent to the log-collection system, which can then request the untransferred log data. The
log-collection system can pull log files individually, by controller.
• Warning—The log file is nearly full of untransferred data. When this level is reached, warning event 401 is sent to the log-collection
system.
• Wrapped—The log file has filled with untransferred data and has started to overwrite its oldest data. When this level is reached,
informational event 402 is sent to the log-collection system.
Following the transfer of a log's data in push or pull mode, the log's capacity status is reset to zero to indicate that there is no
untransferred data.
NOTE: In push mode, if one controller is offline its partner will send the logs from both controllers.
Alternative methods for obtaining log data are to use the Save Logs action in the PowerVault Manager or the get logs command in the
FTP or SFTP interface. These methods will transfer the entire contents of a log file without changing its capacity-status level. Use of Save
Logs or get logs is expected as part of providing information for a technical support request. For information about using the Save
Logs action, see Saving log data to a file. For information about using the FTP or SFTP interface, see Using FTP and SFTP.
About SupportAssist
SupportAssist provides an enhanced support experience for ME4 Series storage systems by sending configuration and diagnostic
information to technical support at regular intervals.
Technical support analyzes this data and automatically performs health checks. If issues are detected that require attention, support cases
are opened automatically, immediately starting the process to troubleshoot and resolve the issue. This process often occurs before
storage administrators even notice that a problem exists.
If you need help with an issue and need to call technical support, they can access information about your storage system that was sent by
SupportAssist. This feature enables technical support to help you right way, without having to wait for configuration and diagnostic data
to be collected and sent to technical support.
Getting started
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