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Unisphere Server Software: The Next-Generation User Interface for Dell Unified Storage Systems



Unisphere is web-enabled software for remote management of storage environment. It has all the extras, like widgets and sortable tables, wizards etc. Unisphere Management Server runs on the Storage Processor (SP) and the Control Station.




Unisphere Server Software




Administration of VNX is performed with the Unisphere graphical user interface (GUI). Administration of the VNX system can also be performed with a command line interface (CLI). File enabled VNX systems use a command line interface to the Control Station for file administrative tasks. Block enabled systems have a host-based Secure CLI software option available for block administrative tasks. The CLI can be used to automate management functions through shell scripts and batch files.


This guide steps you through configuring your environment to work with a Dell EMC storage platform in preparation for installing Peer Software solutions. The last section of this guide provides troubleshooting information. During the configuration process, you will be installing and configuring software on the server that will host Peer Software solutions. This server is hereafter referred to as the CEE server. The software you will be installing and configuring includes:


Note: If the host is not powered on ,we will not see it in our hosts available. Most scenario host would be probably first connected and either auto-registered with Host Agent or Unisphere Server Utility (or similar software), or we would have to manually register the host.


Unisphere Service Manager(USM) Utility :- The Unisphere Service Manager (USM) is a collection of tools that help you update, install, and maintain your system hardware and software as well as provide contact and system information to your service provider


Unisphere Central is a virtual appliance that enables administrators to remotelymonitor the status, activity, and resources of the storage system available on yournetwork. The Unisphere Central server runs within a VMware virtual environment thatincludes at least one ESX or ESXi host. The Unisphere Central server obtainsaggregated status, alert, capacity, and performance information from all the systemsUnisphere Central is monitoring.


The Unisphere Central environment consists of a Unisphere Central server running on an ESX/ESXi server (standalone or through vCenter), VNXe, VNX, CX4, vVNX, Unity and UnityVSA storage systems, and a remote system to access the Unisphere Central server.


Unisphere Service Manager, or USM, is a collection of tools that can optionally be used to manage a Dell EMC VNX storage system. USM helps with updating, installing, and maintaining VNX storage system hardware and software. Further, USM can be used to provide information on the VNX storage system to the maintainer of the storage system.


SAN, as the term relates to Dell EMC VNX storage systems, means storage area network. SAN is a network of storage systems that, in contrast to NAS (network-attached storage, provides block-level data storage to servers.


NAS refers to network-attached storage. In contrast to SAN (storage area network), NAS provides file-level data storage for servers and other systems on a network. Unlike SAN, NAS is commonly connected to local area networks (LANs). Dell EMC VNX storage systems support unified storage, meaning both NAS and SAN can be provided by a single VNX storage system.


EMC storage systems are discovered via the EMC Solutions Enabler management software. As part of routine discovery, when the EMC Solutions Enabler management software is encountered, an EMC CIM Object Manager software instance is created. The management software is interrogated to discover any storage entities that it is managing. Once discovered, the storage entities are modeled in BMC Discovery.


Practice safe data protection and repurposing with the Local Protection. This software gives customers any point-in-time recovery with DVR-like roll-back capabilities for business continuity on block-based storage, allowing recovery of production applications with minimal data exposure. Application owners can tune recovery point objectives based on the criticality of data, and perform faster recovery through self-service capabilities.


A robust unified hybrid flash storage platform for consolidation of block storage, file servers, and direct-attached application storage, the VNX family enables organizations to dynamically grow, share, and costeffectively manage multi-protocol file systems and multi-protocol block storage access. As a unified array, the VNX enables Microsoft Windows and Linux/UNIX clients to share files in multi-protocol (NFS and CIFS) environments. At the same time, it supports iSCSI, Fibre Channel, and FCoE access for high-bandwidth and latency-sensitive block applications.


VNX also supports Fully Automated Storage Tiering (FAST) software, delivering consistent performance of Flash with the cost-effectiveness of capacity-based spinning disks. This powerful combination of hardware and policy-based software recognizes that not all data is created equal and therefore constantly auto-tuning, tiering, and caching data between flash and disk to simultaneously meet ITs performance and cost ($/GB and $/IOPS) goals. So, for cost-sensitive environments that need a balance of performance and capacity, hybrid flash is a good alternative to an all flash configuration.


IT organizations are increasingly looking to software-defined infrastructure solutions to provide agility and flexibility to their operational and development environments. EMC provides customers with the ability to easily create shared storage consisting of a virtual instance of the VNX unified storage protocol and management stack, without the requirement for dedicated storage platforms. vVNX provides this initial flexibility to test and development as well as other non-production environments. With the flexibility of software-defined storage, you can:


Storage management is a key element for success with today's dataintensive and virtualized application environments. EMC VNX software simplifies storage management and enables you to increase efficiency and application performance with advanced features like FAST, deduplication, snapshots, replication, thin, and compression that also drive down costs (opex/capex).


EMC VNX Software Essentials The VNX family of unified hybrid flash arrays offers the most comprehensive software functionality to ensure customers have all the necessary capabilities to protect and manage their information. The VNX Software Essentials Pack includes the most requested and essential software features in one cost-effective package. The pack includes capabilities that dynamically improve storage performance, efficiency, availability, data protection, and costs. Complete details about VNX software features can be found in the EMC Software Data Sheet.


EMC Storage Analytics The EMC Storage Analytics (ESA) solution delivers a single, end-to-end view of virtualized infrastructures (servers to storage) powered by VMware vRealize Operations analytics engine. ESA delivers actionable performance analysis and proactively facilitates increased insight into storage resource pools to help detect capacity and performance issues so they can be corrected before they cause a major impact on business operations. Complete details about VNX analytics capabilities can be found in the EMC Storage Analytics data sheet.


The drivers perform volume operations by communicating with the back-endPowerMax storage management software. They use the Requests HTTP library tocommunicate with a Unisphere for PowerMax instance, using a RESTAPI interfacein the backend to perform PowerMax and VMAX storage operations.


The array operating system software, Solutions Enabler 9.2.1 series, andUnisphere for PowerMax 9.2.1 series are required to run Dell EMC PowerMaxCinder driver for the Wallaby release. Please refer to support-matrix-tablefor the support matrix of previous OpenStack versions.


At the time each OpenStack release, support-matrix-table was therecommended PowerMax management software and OS combinations. Pleasereach out your local PowerMax representative to see if these versionsare still valid.


You can install Solutions Enabler on a non-OpenStack host. Supportedplatforms include different flavors of Windows, Red Hat, and SUSE Linux.Solutions Enabler can be installed on a physical server, or as a VirtualAppliance (a VMware ESX server VM). Additionally, starting with HYPERMAXOS Q3 2015, you can manage VMAX3 arrays using the Embedded Management(eManagement) container application. See the Dell EMC Solutions Enabler9.2.1 Installation and Configuration Guide on Dell EMC Support formore details.


Unisphere can be installed in local, remote, or embedded configurations- i.e., on the same server running Solutions Enabler; on a serverconnected to the Solutions Enabler server; or using the eManagementcontainer application (containing Solutions Enabler and Unisphere forPowerMax). See Dell EMC Solutions Enabler 9.2.1 Installation andConfiguration Guide at Dell EMC Support. 2ff7e9595c


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