EMC Storage Viewer 2.1 now available!

The next version of the (as always) free EMC Storage Viewer is now generally available!   If you’re an EMC customer and not using this, you’re missing out on something that is totally gratis and helps a lot.

To get it, login to powerlink (http://powerlink.emc.com), and then navigate here: Home > Support > Software Downloads and Licensing > Downloads S > Storage Viewer

So – what’s new?

• Much easier to get up and running in mid-range configs (automated array discovery – no command line needed :-)
• Fixes the bug that made the Storage Viewer break with vSphere 4 update 1 (and yes, we’ve aligned the teams even more closely to try to avoid doing that again)
• Integrated multipathing views
• More details on replication state (in addition to what we’ve done around Recoverpoint, MirrorView, and Celerra Replicator – now more SRDF goodness!)

Also – EMC Storage Viewer 2.1 works with Solutions Enabler 7.1.

If you want to see more – either just download it and give it a whirl, or read on!

Ok – let’s look at this in more detail…

So – for those of you who don’t know what this tool is – it’s designed to help provide pertinent storage related info in the natural context of the the VMware admin (vCenter).  It works with all EMC platforms and all protocols (less on NFS – though more coming on that soon).  It maps the relationships between initiators and targets and shows you if the target is not configured properly (see screenshot below).   Note that it can help VMware admins make sure that their storage teams (if they are different people) from avoiding to making mistakes like the one that Duncan pointed out here.

It does a lot of other things too – one is really awesome – click on a VM, then on the EMC storage viewer and it shows you all the virtual disks for that VM, and where they really live (including the actual backend).  In the screenshot below, it’s a VM with a single VMDK sitting on a spanned VMFS composed of 8 spanned VMFS extents (see my post on spanned VMFS extents here).  You can see, with a single click, a single screen that end-to-end relationship (did I mention that it was free?)

What’s New #1)  “Much easier to get up and running in mid-range configs (automated array discovery – no command line needed :-)”

So – The EMC Storage Viewer was originally made by the Symmetrix team, and then got used by all the platforms, which meant it had some “Symm like” elements.   For example, it uses Solutions Enabler to talk to the array.   EVERY EMC customer has solutions enabler – you get the base license (all that is needed) with any EMC array you purchase.   Symmetrix arrays communicate with host in-band (literally over FC connections) which for many of our enterprise customers is very much a desired use case.  Solutions Enabler (which can run as a VM) is a library of tools, utilities, and includes the Symmetrix CLI and APIs which communicate over the in-band connection.  EMC midrange arrays (like most) are managed directly via IP management interfaces (or “manager of manager” tools).   One point of struggle for customers was that if you were not used to this idea of Solution Enabler (a CLARiiON/Celerra-only customer), getting array discovery to work was frustrating (you needed to “assist” the discovery by either editing a text file, or pointing out the mgmt IP addresses via a command line (which was natural for Symm folks, but obscure for mid-range platform folks).  

In EMC Storage Viewer 2.1 – this is much easier. 

If you go to vCenter, and select the EMC Storage button, it will automatically discover all the Symm arrays once you point it at the Solutions Enabler host (like it always did) – but there’s now a simple ability to add our mid-range platforms.   If you specify their management IP addresses and credentials and click “perform assisted discovery” they are added.  Simple, and easy.   When the Solutions Enabler vApp is released (yup, working on it), it will be even easier.

 

What’s New #2) “Integrated multipathing views”

Some early customer feedback was that people wanted an integrated view of vCenter, PowerPath/VE and their EMC Storage platforms.   In EMC Storage Viewer 2.1, if you click on any individual LUN or datastore and have EMC PowerPath/VE installed, you see more granular path state and multipathing information as shown in the screenshot below.

What’s New #3) “More details on replication state (in addition to what we’ve done around Recoverpoint, MirrorView, and Celerra Replicator – now more SRDF goodness!)”

So when it comes to VMware-integrated DR – most vendors have SRM support, we’ve been trying to add value above and beyond SRM support.   EMC integrated Recoverpoint with vCenter APIs (free!), delivered a really cool (free!) MirrorView tool to be used with VMware Site Recovery Manager called Mirrorview Insight and also a simple VMware Site Recovery Manager tool for Celerra Replicator.   SRDF customers were wondering “where’s the love?”.   Over time, we’ve refined all of the SRAs with many new capabilities.   In the SRDF case, now supporting SRDF Async and Sync, and Timefinder Clones and Snaps for the failover test process.   In the EMC Storage Viewer, if you are using SRDF with VMware Site Recovery Manager, there’s now an EMC SRDF SRA tab.  It shows you the pairings between the R1 and R2, and give you more detailed status and configuration info.   You can also define the pairings – long and short – using SRDF with VMware SRM should no longer require any configuration of the SRA by hand.

 

This is always a journey – and we’re committed to continuing to enhance the EMC Storage Viewer.  Version 2.1 is an incremental version, and version 3 is pretty baked at this point, but I would LOVE to hear what you think, and what you would like to see!!!

Comments

[Johnny M.]

Chad, if Solutions Enabler talks to a symm via an inline connection, how do you get an Solutions Enabler as VM to talk? Also, does Storage Viewer require an installation of navicli somewhere so that you can talk to clariions?

[Johnny M.]

"how do you get an Solutions Enabler as VM to talk"

Oooof. That should have read:

"how do you get Solutions Enabler as a VM to talk"

I need more coffee...

[Itzik Reich]

Hi Johhny
in order to let SE running in a VM to talk to the array, you will have to attach DMX/VMAX disks to it as RDM in Physical compatability mode

[Will L.]

Johnny M., add a physical-mode RDM device (can be very small, like 1 GB) to a VM. This will give the VM inline connection access to the underlying array.

Storage Viewer does not require navicli even when working with Clariion arrays. It only requires Solutions Enabler.

[Brian]

Is anyone running both the Solutions Enabler and Storage Viewer on the same Windows host that vCenter is running on?

[Dan C]

I still get "Index was out of range" errors. And then nothing in the tab. (Clariion/SE7.1/SV2.1/Win2K8x64/VC4U1)

[Chad Sakac]

@Brian - many folks are, though I personally wouldn't recommend it.

I would leave the vCenter host alone, run SE as a VM, and install storage viewer on whatever host you use for your vSphere client.

@Dan C - one can never win :-) I just got an email "hey, I got it up and running in less than 5 minutes!" :-) Ok - please open a case, and then ping my work email (see my "about" page) with the case number - will get it immediately to the right folks.

[Dan C]

Thanks Chad, i worked it out, had to uninstall the 2.0 version, then re-install the 2.1. Works now!

[Johnny M.]

Thanks for the advice on using an RDM!

[Kent]

First awesome tool... I got it installed in a hour with a remote solutions enabler new installations. It almost eliminated the need for ECC for what we were using ECC for especially since no one @ EMC support can apparently get our 6.0 working with vSphere. The ability to know the LUN via the GUI should help my SAN administrators immensely.

One question - is remote solutions enabler that slow (45-60) seconds delay when clicking on a specific RDM or virtual disk or is it my environment? Would a local solution enabler install dramatically speed it up?

[Kent]

I was just thinking that might be a good topic for a future post - the benefits of ECC in vSphere 4 environment.

[Itzik Reich]

Kent, 60 seconds delay sounds too long..how many gatekeepers do you have attached to your array

[Kent]

I am not an EMC SAN guy, so I am depending on the answer coming from him:
"We have one remote support gatekeeper server attached to the Clariion."

I actually turned on debug logging on the Storage Viewer plugin, and it was exactly 50 seconds from time the request for information to the retrieval of that information from the array. I after posting the original message try the SV on the solution enabler server (as opposed to remotely), and the same delay was present.

[VMadmin]

I have collated the information I have found on this from EMC direct and also a guide of how I set it up. Hope its of use.
http://www.vmadmin.co.uk/vmware/36-virtualcenter/197-vsphereemcstorageviewer