Administrator Guide
Table Of Contents
- Dell EMC PowerVault ME4 Series Storage System Administrator’s Guide
- Contents
- Getting started
- New user setup
- Configure and provision a new storage system
- Using the PowerVault Manager interface
- System concepts
- About virtual and linear storage
- About disk groups
- About RAID levels
- About ADAPT
- About SSDs
- About SSD read cache
- About spares
- About pools
- About volumes and volume groups
- About volume cache options
- About thin provisioning
- About automated tiered storage
- About initiators, hosts, and host groups
- About volume mapping
- About operating with a single controller
- About snapshots
- About copying volumes
- About reconstruction
- About quick rebuild
- About performance statistics
- About firmware updates
- About managed logs
- About SupportAssist
- About CloudIQ
- About configuring DNS settings
- About replicating virtual volumes
- About the Full Disk Encryption feature
- About data protection with a single controller
- Working in the Home topic
- Guided setup
- Provisioning disk groups and pools
- Attaching hosts and volumes in the Host Setup wizard
- Overall system status
- Configuring system settings
- Managing scheduled tasks
- Working in the System topic
- Viewing system components
- Systems Settings panel
- Resetting host ports
- Rescanning disk channels
- Clearing disk metadata
- Updating firmware
- Changing FDE settings
- Configuring advanced settings
- Changing disk settings
- Changing system cache settings
- Configuring partner firmware update
- Configuring system utilities
- Using maintenance mode
- Restarting or shutting down controllers
- Working in the Hosts topic
- Working in the Pools topic
- Working in the Volumes topic
- Viewing volumes
- Creating a virtual volume
- Creating a linear volume
- Modifying a volume
- Copying a volume or snapshot
- Abort a volume copy
- Adding volumes to a volume group
- Removing volumes from a volume group
- Renaming a volume group
- Remove volume groups
- Rolling back a virtual volume
- Deleting volumes and snapshots
- Creating snapshots
- Resetting a snapshot
- Creating a replication set from the Volumes topic
- Initiating or scheduling a replication from the Volumes topic
- Manage replication schedules from the Volumes topic
- Working in the Mappings topic
- Working in the Replications topic
- About replicating virtual volumes in the Replications topic
- Replication prerequisites
- Replication process
- Creating a virtual pool for replication
- Setting up snapshot space management in the context of replication
- Replication and empty allocated pages
- Disaster recovery
- Accessing the data while keeping the replication set intact
- Accessing the data from the backup system as if it were the primary system
- Disaster recovery procedures
- Viewing replications
- Querying a peer connection
- Creating a peer connection
- Modifying a peer connection
- Deleting a peer connection
- Creating a replication set from the Replications topic
- Modifying a replication set
- Deleting a replication set
- Initiating or scheduling a replication from the Replications topic
- Stopping a replication
- Suspending a replication
- Resuming a replication
- Manage replication schedules from the Replications topic
- About replicating virtual volumes in the Replications topic
- Working in the Performance topic
- Working in the banner and footer
- Banner and footer overview
- Viewing system information
- Viewing certificate information
- Viewing connection information
- Viewing system date and time information
- Viewing user information
- Viewing health information
- Viewing event information
- Viewing capacity information
- Viewing host information
- Viewing tier information
- Viewing recent system activity
- Other management interfaces
- SNMP reference
- Using FTP and SFTP
- Using SMI-S
- Using SLP
- Administering a log-collection system
- Best practices
- System configuration limits
- Glossary of terms
About CloudIQ
CloudIQ provides storage monitoring and proactive service, giving you information tailored to your needs, access to near
real-time analytics, and the ability to monitor storage systems from anywhere at any time. CloudIQ simplifies storage monitoring
and service by providing:
● Proactive serviceability that informs you about issues before they impact your environment.
● Centralized monitoring across your environment, using a dashboard that aggregates key information such as system health
scores, performance metrics, and current capacity and trends.
CloudIQ requires the following:
●
ME4 Series storage systems must be running firmware version G280 or later.
● SupportAssist must be enabled on ME4 Series storage systems.
● The Enable CloudIQ check box in the SupportAssist - CloudIQ Settings tab must be selected.
NOTE: For more information about CloudIQ, contact technical support or visit the CloudIQ product page.
About configuring DNS settings
You can set a domain host name for each controller module to identify it for management purposes by configuring settings
in the Domain Name Service (DNS) tab. The DNS name server supports IPv4 and IPv6 formats, and the system supports a
maximum of three DNS servers per controller. Configuring the storage system to communicate with a DNS server within your
network will allow network changes, such as frequent IP address changes in a DHCP environment, to occur without interrupting
notifications sent by the system to users.
The controller will advertise the domain host name to DNS servers, and the DNS servers will in turn create and advertise a fully
qualified domain name (FQDN) for the controller by appending the domain host name to the DNS domain string that identifies
the controller.
A host name must differ for each controller, is not case sensitive, and can have from 1 to 63 bytes. The name must start with a
letter and end with a letter or digit, and can include letters, numbers, or hyphens, but no periods.
After a reachable DNS server is configured on the system, you can configure an SMTP server using a name such
as mysmtpserver.example.com. Further, you could configure search domain example.com and SMTP server
mysmtpserver and reach the same destination.
You must use this feature to configure DNS parameters before you configure email parameters in any environments where DNS i
be required to resolve server names. The system does not support auto-configuration of DNS parameters if network parameters
are set to DHCP mode, so DNS must be manually configured regardless of the DHCP setting. For more information about
configuring DNS settings, see Configure DNS settings on page 46.
If DNS server functionality is operational and reachable by the controller's nslookup service, the FQDN for each controller is also
shown. If nslookup output is not available, the domain name will show '-'.
NOTE: DNS settings are limited to SMTP server configuration for email notification only.
About replicating virtual volumes
Replication for virtual storage provides a remote copy of a volume, volume group, or snapshot on a remote system by
periodically updating the remote copy to contain a point-in-time consistent image of a source volume.
For information about replication for virtual storage, see Working in the Replications topic.
About the Full Disk Encryption feature
Full Disk Encryption (FDE) is a method by which you can secure the data residing on the disks. It uses self-encrypting drives
(SED), which are also referred to as FDE-capable disks. When secured and removed from a secured system, FDE-capable disks
cannot be read by other systems.
The ability to secure a disk and system relies on passphrases and lock keys. A passphrase is a user-created password that allows
users to manage lock keys. A lock key is generated by the system and manages the encryption and decryption of data on the
disks. A lock key is persisted on the storage system and is not available outside the storage system.
32
Getting started