SANtricity 11.8 Solutions
Array management overview
Use the Add/Discover feature to find and add the storage systems you want to manage in the Storage plugin for vCenter. From the Manage page, you can also rename, remove, and provide new passwords for these discovered storage systems.
Considerations for discovering arrays
For the plugin to display and manage storage resources, you must discover the storage systems you want to manage in your organization’s network. You can discover and then add a single storage system or multiple storage systems.
Multiple storage systems
If you choose to discover multiple storage systems, you enter a network IP address range and then the system attempts individual connections to each IP address in that range. Any storage system successfully reached appears in the plugin and you can then add them to your management domain.
Single storage system
If you choose to discover a single storage system, you enter the single IP address for one of the controllers in the storage system and then add that storage system to your management domain.
| The plugin discovers and displays only the single IP address or IP address within a range assigned to a controller. If there are alternate controllers or IP addresses assigned to these controllers that fall outside of this single IP address or IP address range, then the plugin will not discover or display them. However, once you add the storage system, all associated IP addresses will be discovered and displayed in the Manage view. |
User credentials
You must supply the administrator password for each storage system you want to add.
Certificates
As part of the discovery process, the system verifies that the discovered storage systems are using certificates by a trusted source. The system uses two types of certificate-based authentication for all connections that it establishes with the with the browser:
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Trusted certificates — You might need to install additional trusted certificates supplied by the Certificate Authority if one or both controller certificates are expired, revoked, or missing a certificate in its chain.
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Self-signed certificates — storage systems can also use self-signed certificates. If you attempt to discover storage systems without importing signed certificates, the plugin provides an additional step that allows you to accept the self-signed certificate. The storage system’s self-signed certificate will be marked as trusted and the storage system will be added to the plugin. If you do not trust the connections to the storage system, select Cancel and validate the storage system’s security certificate strategy before adding the storage system to the plugin.
Storage system status
When you open the Storage Plugin for vCenter, communication with each storage system is established and the status for each storage system is displayed.
From the Manage - All page, you can view the status of the storage system and the status of the storage system connection.
| Status | Indicates |
|---|---|
Optimal |
The storage system is in an optimal state. There are no certificate issues and the password is valid. |
Invalid Password |
An invalid storage system password was provided. |
Untrusted Certificate |
One or more connections with the storage system is untrusted because the HTTPS certificate is either self-signed and has not been imported, or the certificate is CA-signed and the root and intermediate CA certificates have not been imported. |
Needs Attention |
There is a problem with the storage system that requires your intervention to correct it. |
Lockdown |
The storage system is in a locked-down state. |
Unknown |
The storage system has never been contacted. This can happen when the plugin is starting up and has not yet made contact with the storage system, or the storage system is offline and has never been contacted since the plugin was started. |
Offline |
The plugin had previously contacted the storage system, but now has lost all connection to it. |
Plugin interface compared to SANtricity System Manager
You can use Storage Plugin for vCenter for basic operating tasks on your storage system; however, there might be times when you need to launch SANtricity System Manager to perform tasks not available in the plugin.
System Manager is an embedded application on the storage system’s controller, which is connected to the network through an Ethernet management port. SANtricity System Manager includes all storage system-based functions.
The following table helps you decide whether you can use the plugin interface or the SANtricity System Manager interface for a particular storage system task.
| Function | Plugin interface | System Manager interface |
|---|---|---|
Batch operations on groups of multiple storage systems |
Yes |
No. Operations are performed on a single storage system. |
Upgrades for the SANtricity OS firmware |
Yes. One or more storage systems in a batch operation. |
Yes. Single storage system only. |
Import settings from one storage system to multiple storage systems |
Yes |
No |
Host and host cluster management (create, assign volumes, update, and delete) |
Yes |
Yes |
Pools and volume group management (create, update, enable security, and delete) |
Yes |
Yes |
Volume management (create, resize, update, and delete) |
Yes |
Yes |
SSD Cache management (create, update, and delete) |
Yes |
Yes |
Mirroring and snapshot management |
No |
Yes |
Hardware management (view controller status, configure port connections, take controller offline, enable hot spares, erase drives, etc.) |
No |
Yes |
Manage alerts (email, SNMP, and syslog) |
No |
Yes |
Security key management |
No |
Yes |
Certificate management for controllers |
No |
Yes |
Access management for controllers (LDAP, SAML, etc.) |
No |
Yes |
AutoSupport management |
No |
Yes |
