What's New
| • | Full support for instance-to-device mapping in version 8.6.02 of BMC ProactiveNet Performance Management. The integration of the KM in BPPM now properly creates devices dynamically corresponding to the systems monitored remotely. |
| • | Add a Connection to an EMC SMI-S Provider: This KM Command initially only available from the main KM Commands menu, is now also available from the SMI-S Provider container instance. |
| • | Set EMC SMI-S Provider Refresh Rates: This KM Command enables administrator to modify the SMI-S Provider refresh rate for specific disk arrays. EMC Disk Arrays KM for PATROL default polling interval is set to 1 minute and cannot be customized. However the KM displays collected performance metrics and data according to the EMC SMI-S Provider refresh rate. |
| • | New Infobox item: SMI-S Provider version number |
| • | New parameters: The Disk Array Refresh Rate and the date of the last Disk Array Refresh of information has been added to the ManagedArrays parameters. |
| • | SEN_EMC_CONTROLLER_CONT: This new container class groups all the monitored controllers |
| • | SEN_EMC_DISKGROUP_CONT: This new application class acts as a container for Disk Groups and Storage Pools monitoring. Pause/Resume KM Commands enables the administrator to suspend and start again the monitoring of all the devices grouped in the container. Two traffic reports are also available: Disk Group Traffic Report and Storage Pool Traffic Report. |
| • | SEN_EMC_DISKGROUP: A new class showing the RAID Groups on Clariion and the Disk Groups on Symmetrix. Collected parameters are: ConsumedCapacity, ConsumedCapacityPercentage, ReadByteRate, WriteByteRate, SubscribedCapacity, SubscribedCapacityPercentage, Status, StatusInformation. |
| • | SEN_EMC_FCPORT: The product now monitors FC Port on Symmetrix Disk Arrays (TransferByteRate, list of Volumes whose traffic go through the port) and provides information about the ports (Speed, Type, etc.). |
| • | The Application Class infobox now provides additional information: Protocol, Role, IP Address. |
| • | New parameter: StatusInformation describing the status of the controller |
| • | SEN_EMC_STORAGEPOOL: ReadByteRate and WriteByteRate parameters have been added to the Storage Pool class |
| • | SEN_EMC_PHYSICALDISK: Two new items have been added to this class' infobox: The disk's Revolution Per Minute (RPM) and the list of associated Storage Pools. |
| • | New parameter: StatusInformation describing the status of the disk array. |
| • | New Infobox items: The Disk Array Family, total number of physical disks and the Chassis Serial Number |
| • | SEN_EMC_VOLUME: New parameters have been added to this application class: |
| • | Paths, showing the paths to the Ports the Volume is attached to |
| • | Hosts, listing the Hosts the Volume is attached to |
| • | TimeSinceLastActivity, reporting the number of days since the last read or write operation has been observed on the monitored LUN. |
| • | SEN_EMC_MAIN: Additional product information has been added to the list of infobox |
| • | Infoboxes: PATROL ID has been added to the infoboxes of every object. |
| • | Reporting: FC Port information has been added to the LUNs Mapping Table report. |
| • | With the implementation as a separate component of a collection hub shared by several modules, it is now possible to configure several aspects of this collection hub separately. Separate options for the debug mode, for example, are now available. |
| • | The KM now fully supports version 9.0.00 of the PATROL Agent. |
Changes and Enhancements
Thresholds Management
In order to optimize the discovery process and improve the scalability of the solution, several important changes have been implemented in the way alert thresholds are managed by the KM.
| ▪ | Default thresholds are set in the agent’s configuration, only once, the first time the KM runs. In previous versions, the KM would set default alert thresholds during each discovery (every hour by default) according to its internal policy, thus overwriting any changes that were made manually by the administrators. Administrators can now customize the default thresholds using the Event Management KM or PCM (PATROL Configuration Manager) and do not need to use the KM’s interface to make sure these customization are overwritten by the discovery of the KM. |
| ▪ | Thresholds are set globally at the class level (or at least for a group of instances). In previous versions, the KM would set alert thresholds for each and every instance of each class, leading to extremely large configuration files (which could cause PCM to crash in some occasions). A limited set of parameters still require alert thresholds to be set at the instance level. This results in a much smaller agent configuration file and vastly improved performance. |
| ▪ | The “Modify Thresholds” KM Commands has been removed from most classes, as the thresholds can now be managed by PATROL administrators in a standard way through the Event Management KM and PCM (or any other method used in their environment). |
| ▪ | The “Alert After N Times” KM Command has been removed, as this setting can now be managed by PATROL administrators in a standard way through the Event Management KM and PCM. |
| ▪ | To reset the alert thresholds to their default values (as when the KM first runs), the administrator can either use the “Reinitialize KM” KM Command with the “Reset alert thresholds” option enabled or use the Event Management KM or PCM to delete the corresponding configuration variables. The KM resets the threshold configuration variables to their default values when such variables do not exist. |
| ▪ | The “Thresholds Mechanism Selection” KM Command configures the location of the default alert thresholds configuration variables that are set during the first initialization of the KM: either in the /AS or in the /___tuning___ configuration tree. It is recommended to leave this setting to “Automatic” to make sure the thresholds configuration variables are stored in the proper location and avoid instability in the threshold settings. |
 During the upgrade from an earlier version, the KM will remove all of the instance-specific thresholds configuration variables. These numerous identical instance-specific thresholds are replaced with global thresholds at the class level. Thresholds that had been manually customized through the KM interface remain in place.
Java Settings
| • | The product can now be installed with an optional embedded Java Runtime Environment, thus preventing failures of the KM when a compatible version of Java could not be found. |
| • | The KM now properly avoids Java Runtime Environment instances that predates version 1.5.00 |
| • | The automatic detection of a suitable JRE has been modified to optimize its utilization throughout the KM. |
| • | A username and a password can now be specified to execute java instead of using the PATROL default account. |
| • | Improved compatibility with BMC ProactiveNet Performance Management. |
| • | Symmetrix VMAX Parameters Collection: Parameters for which no value can be collected due to a lack of information from the SMI-S Provider are now automatically deactivated. |
| • | Search WWN/IQN KM Command: The KM Command has been renamed and now enables Administrators to search for both WWN and IQN addresses. |
| • | WBEM Queries: The WBEM query engine used to discover and collect the Disk Array information has been rewritten and greatly optimized. A migration of some configuration variables is required and automatically performed at the first time the new version is run. |
| ▪ | The Usage Report menu has been renamed Reporting. |
| ▪ | The Volume Traffic Report KM Command has been removed from the SEN_EMC_STORAGEPOOL class. |
| ▪ | The LUN Mapping Table now displays the LUNs' size. It can also be sorted by Array, Hostname, Host WWN, LUN or FC Port. |
| ▪ | Controllers and fiber ports traffic reports are available from the container's KM Command menu. |
| • | Debug Mode: The Debug KM Command has been renamed Debug Mode. |
| • | RAID Groups are now listed under the SEN_EMC_STORAGEPOOL application class. |
| • | Statistics Logging: A warning alert is now triggered on the SMI-S Provider instance if the statistics have not been enabled on the storage systems. |
| • | Debug Mode: There are now two separate components for which the debug mode can be enabled. The KM itself and the Sentry Collection Hub (which is common to all Sentry KMs). |
| • | Debug Output: A folder has to be specified instead of a file name for the output of the debug of both the KM and the Sentry Collection Hub. The debug files are named and timestamped automatically by the KM. The folder is specified in the /SENTRY/MATSYA/debugFolder configuration variable |
| • | Configuration variables: the list of available configuration variables has been updated. |
Fixed Issues
| • | The storage pool type was not properly displayed for thin storage pools. |
| • | When deleting a Storage Pool from the EMC Symmetrix VMAX interface, the storage pool was not actually deleted from the PATROL Console until the PATROL Agent was restarted or the KM reinitialized. |
| • | iSCSI initiators and iSCSI addresses were not properly displayed in the "LUNs Mapping Table" report and in the "Host" Infobox on volume objects. |
| • | Collection may fail during discovery generating an error message in the System Output Window. |
| • | Empty Units field in the annotates of the traffic report has been fixed. |
| • | Traffic Reports were not generated if at least one of the selected parameters was offline. |
| • | On version 9.0.00 of the PATROL Agent on Windows systems with the default account configured with a domain account, "Invalid username/password" error messages were displayed in the System Output Windows of the PATROL Console. |
Known Issues
| • | In some specific cases, the KM does not report the fact that the statistics have not been enabled on the monitored storage system. |
| • | The time set on the SMI-S Provider may differ from the time of the PATROL Agent. To ensure an accurate time information, it is recommended to synchronize them both. |
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