View the total storage in the environment

Using ViPR SRM, you can easily analyze how much raw storage is in the enterprise, how much of the total raw storage is configured for use, how much still remains unconfigured, and how much unconfigured storage is available on specific arrays.

As a storage administrator, you are asked to analyze the storage capacity in the data center. You are setting up a new department that requires 25 TB of RAID1 storage (50 TB raw storage) and you need to find an array that can accommodate this storage requirement.

To analyze overall storage capacity in your enterprise and determine immediately whether the required storage space is available, you use the Raw Capacity Usage dashboard.

To determine which array has enough unconfigured storage to provision the 50 TB of storage to the new department, you use the Enterprise Capacity report. This detailed report includes many columns of capacity and usage information for each array and helps you choose the best one for the current request.

1. Log in to the Console.
2. To obtain a quick overview of enterprise-wide available capacity:
   1. Navigate to Dashboards > Storage > Enterprise Capacity Dashboard > Raw Capacity Usage.
      The dashboard results appear on the Console.

      
      

      

      
      

   2. To see the actual capacity values that the percentages represent, place the cursor over the bars in the report.

      By placing the cursor over the Unconfigured bar, you see that about 318 TB of unconfigured storage are available. You report back that the request for 50 TB can be accommodated without a problem.

      
      

      

      
      

3. To find the arrays comprising the unconfigured storage, navigate to Explore > Storage > More Reports > Enterprise Capacity.
   The report that appears contains many columns with details about each available array. A horizontal scroll bar lets you explore the data.
4. Click the Unconfigured column header to sort the report in ascending order by values in that column.
5. Click the header a second time to sort in descending order.
   The report now looks similar to the following:

   
   

   

   
   

   
   

   

   
   

   In the Unconfigured column, you see that either of the first two arrays in the list could easily satisfy the requested 50 TB.

From the dashboard report, you quickly determined that your current environment could handle a new request for storage without a problem. Using the more detailed Enterprise Capacity report, you identified the arrays that could accommodate the request.

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View usable storage

With ViPR SRM, you can quickly determine which arrays in the environment have enough free storage to meet current requests for more storage space. You can compare characteristics of arrays and view all details of specific arrays.

You are setting up a new department that requires 15.5 TB of storage. You received a request to configure and provide 15 TB of RAID1 storage that is unconfigured and the remaining 500 GB from any configured storage that is not being used.

The detailed Enterprise Capacity report provides the necessary statistics to find specific arrays with enough free storage to meet the 15 TB demand and enough free pool storage to meet the 500 GB demand.

1. Log in to the Console and navigate to Explore > Storage > More Reports > Enterprise Capacity.
   The report that appears contains many columns with details about each available storage array.
2. Use the horizontal scroll bar at the bottom to locate the Free column.
3. Click on the Free column header to sort the report in ascending order by values in that column.
4. Click the column header a second time to sort the report in descending order.
   The report is now sorted so that the first row has the most free space.

   
   

   

   
   

5. To determine the free space in each array, review the Free column.
   You see that array 000195701185 has approximately 30 TB of free storage. This array can handle the 15 TB of storage needed for the new department.
6. To determine the pool free storage available, review the Pool Free column.
   You see that the same array has 2,971.73 GB of pool free storage available to meet the 500 GB request. You see that several other arrays could also meet the 500 GB request.
7. To explore more storage-related details about any array, click Explore > Storage > Storage Systems and select the array name from the displayed list.
   The following image shows some of the details available for array 000195701185.

   

You quickly determined which arrays could accommodate a request for new storage space. You selected a candidate and drilled down to details about the device, including hardware attributes, capacity, and connectivity information.

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Analyze characteristics of used storage

Using ViPR SRM, you can obtain characteristics about currently used storage, including the purpose behind storage usages and how much storage is used on each configured array.

You receive a request from your manager for detailed information about currently used storage. You are asked to supply the following information:

• Names of arrays that supply the most primary storage (that is, storage directly used by applications).
• How much of used storage is used for primary storage, how much is used for local and remote replica, and how much for system overhead.

The Enterprise Capacity report provides all of the requested information. It provides usage details by purpose for each discovered array, and column totals provide the requested summary information. Another quick way to find the summary information is through the Used Capacity by Purpose dashboard.

1. Log in to the Console and navigate to Explore > Storage > More Reports > Enterprise Capacity.
   The report that appears contains many columns with details about each available storage array. A horizontal scroll bar lets you explore the data.
2. To find the arrays that support the majority of primary used storage:
   1. Click the Primary Used column header to sort the report in ascending order by values in this column.
   2. Click the header a second time to sort the report in descending order.
   The report now looks like this:

   
   

   

   
   

   You see that array 000195700985 holds the most Primary Used storage with approximately 60 TB.

3. To find the total amount of storage used for each purpose (Primary, Local Replica, Remote Replica, and System), scroll to the bottom of the report and obtain the column totals.
4. To quickly obtain usage purpose by percentages, navigate to Dashboards > Storage > Enterprise Capacity Dashboard > Used Capacity by Purpose.
   The results appear on the Console.

   
   

   

   
   

   This dashboard summarizes how capacity is used across all discovered arrays. You see the used storage breakdown in percentages.

5. To display definitions of terms used in the report, click the sentence above the graph.
   The report changes to include the following definitions:

   
   

   

   
   

6. To discover the number of bytes of storage that the percentages represent, place the cursor over a bar in the chart.
   A pop-up message appears showing the storage in GB represented by that bar.

You obtained most of the requested information from the detailed Enterprise Capacity report. You discovered that the dashboard report provides a quick summary of usage by purpose in percentages and absolute GB values.

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Monitor NAS pools for capacity issues

ViPR SRM makes it easy to monitor and manage NAS pools before they run out of space.

As a systems administrator in your organization, you are asked to monitor NAS pools and try to prevent issues caused by pools running out of space. You need a way to know when a pool is close to capacity and which pools have potential available space to remedy an identified problem.

The NAS Pools report displays details about all NAS pools and their free and used capacity. The report conveniently marks pools close to capacity with red X marks in the Utilization % column.

To ensure constant monitoring, you decide to schedule this report for an automatic daily run and have the results emailed to yourself and an alternate administrator.

1. Log in to the Console and navigate to Explore > Storage > More Reports > NAS Pools.
   The results appear on the Console.

   

   Looking at the Utilization (%) column, you notice immediately that two NAS pools are in trouble regarding capacity.

2. Examine the Free (GB) column to locate potential sources of free space that you can reassign to address these immediate problems.
3. To establish a continuous monitoring program, click Tools at the top of the page, and then click Schedule This Report.
   The New Scheduled Report dialog opens to the Scheduling tab.

   

4. To schedule the report to run daily at 8:30 AM, configure the following items in the Schedule line:
   1. For frequency, choose Every day.
      The day of the week field disappears.
   2. For hour, clear the 00 hour and select the 08 hour.
   3. For minutes, clear the 00 minutes and select the 30 minutes.
   4. Make sure that Active is selected.
5. Click the Email tab.
6. Configure the email as follows:
   1. For Formats, select the format for the report results to attach to the email.
   2. For Recipients, type one or more email addresses, using a comma as a delimiter and no spaces.
   3. For Subject, type an email subject line.
   4. For Message, type an email message.
   The following image shows a configured Email tab:

   

7. Click Save.
   

   To change the scheduled report configuration after clicking Save, click Save modified report.

   
   

You identified two NAS pools that need more space immediately and found potential sources for reassigning space to remedy the shortage. You also implemented a monitoring program by scheduling a daily run of the report that identifies NAS pool shortages and making sure that someone receives the report as email.

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