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SSA RSM Tutorial - Using RSM


Views

Within RSM there are several different page styles, referred to as Views.

The initial page of RSM is the Adapter List page which displays all the SSA adapters in the SSA server. From the Adapter List page you can select the System View which displays all the SSA resources that are currently available to the Operating System on the current SSA server. The list is shown in resource number order.
Selecting an adapter serial number from the Adapter List page will show the Adapter View page, which displays an adapter's Vital Product Data (VPD) and allows you to perform adapter specific actions.
From the Adapter View page you can select the Logical View which displays all the SSA resources attached to the adapter you are viewing. Array resources are listed by category, i.e. RAID0, RAID1 etc. and the Non-RAID disk resources are listed by "state".
You can also select the Physical View which displays all the SSA resources attached to the adapter you are viewing in physical order, i.e. exactly as they are attached to the four adapter ports.
The Enclosure View displays all the SSA 7133 Model D40, T40 enclosures attached to the adapter you are viewing.
Finally the Explorer view shows all adapters and resources in an expandable tree format.

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Explorer View

Explorer View The Explorer View (frame) provides an easy navigation tool to view SSA resources as attached to specific adapters. The resources attached to an adapter are listed in a Logical View style, i.e. they are listed by RAID type (for arrays) and by "state" for Non-RAID Disks.
N.B. Only one adapter tree can be expanded at one time.

Click on any + (plus) symbol to expand the corresponding branch, and any - (minus) symbol to collapse it.

Click on the Server icon at the top of the tree to refresh the explorer view.

Clicking on any RAIDx link will display the Resource List in the main frame. Similarly, clicking on any resource uid, name will display the Resource View in the main frame.

If you wish to use RSM in a non-frames format, open RSM at the following URL:

http://<your tcpip address>:511/ssa?pageid=0

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Adapter Views

Adapter List

adaplist When you start RSM, you are presented with the Adapter List page. This shows all the adapters in the current SSA server. In two way configurations, the "remote" adapter will be listed beneath the "local" adapter.

From here, you can select an individual adapter serial number to view the Adapter View for an adapter. You can also access the SSA Event Logger running on this server.

In the Stand Alone Version you can also select the Security functions, if you are currently logged on with Admin permissions.

Adapter View

Adapter List The Adapter View page displays the Vital Product Data (VPD) of an adapter. It is from here that you can select "Check Code Level" to perform a remote microcode level check against the latest release version.

This page also provides access to the three main views: the Logical View, the Physical View, and the Enclosure View. A quick way to get to this page is to click on the adapter serial number in the Explorer View.

At the bottom of the page, you can select some Service Aid functions relating to the current adapter, i.e. dump the SSA configuration of this adapter (all resources), and run the Concurrent or Non-Concurrent Diagnostics functions.

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Logical View

Logical View The logical view displays all SSA resources attached to an adapter. The resources are either RAID arrays, or Non-RAID Disks.

Some adapters also support Fast Write resources. These resources will be shown as a normal icon, but will have a yellow and white lightening bolt across them. See the documentation supplied with your adapter(s) for more details on Fast Write.

The RAID types your adapter supports are all listed in the Logical View. If you have no resources of that type, "no resources" will appear below the RAID title. Otherwise all "usage" of RAID arrays will be listed under the RAID title.
Selecting the RAID title will display the
Resource List page for that RAID type.
N.B. The types of RAID array which are available are dependant upon the type of adapter (SSA RAID Adapter - (RAID0, RAID1, RAID5), SSA RAID Cluster Adapter (2-way RAID1), SerialRAID Adapter (2-way RAID5 + 1-way Fast Write).

NVRAM entries are also listed in the Logical View. For each RAID1 and RAID5 array attached to your system, there is a corresponding NVRAM entry. NVRAM data is used internally by the adapter.
When selected, a list of NVRAM entries will be displayed.
Under some circumstances, "dormant" entries are displayed. These are entries which are no longer required by the adapter. In this case, the entry can be selected, then deleted.

Non-RAID Disks are subdivided into their corresponding "usage". Clicking on a "usage" title will display the Resource List for that type of resource.

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Resource List

Rsrc List RAID types, NVRAM, and resource "uses", have corresponding Resource Lists, i.e. a list of all resources of that type. Selecting any of the links in the Logical View will display the Resource List for that resource type. From here you can "Create an Array" if you are viewing an array resource list. Otherwise, you can select an individual Resource View, which displays all of the attributes associated with a particular resource type.

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Resource View

RAID Arrays

Resource View1 An Array View displays the resource attributes currently associated with the selected array.
The components (member resources) of the array are displayed beneath. Selecting a component displays its Resource View.

From this page you can perform any of the actions shown as buttons in the "actions area". NB Depending upon the use of the resource, certain Service Aid / Configuration "actions" may not be available.

 

Non-RAID Disks

Resource View2 A Non-RAID Disk Resource View displays the Vital Product Data (VPD) of the disk, including the current microcode level running on the resource. From this page you can perform any of the actions shown as buttons in the "actions area". NB Depending upon the use of the resource, certain Service Aid "actions" may not be available.

 

Hot-Spare Pools

Resource View3 An Hot-Spare Pool Resource View displays the attributes of the pool, the hot-spare disks that are members of this pool, and the array members that are protected by this pool. From this page you can perform any of the actions shown as buttons in the "actions area".


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Physical View

The Physical View shows all the resources currently attached to an adapter and the manner in which they are connected to one another. This may include other adapters in 2-way configurations.
This view is useful to find particular resources, and select their Resource View by clicking on the Serial Number (Resource Unique Identifier (UID)). This view can also be useful when creating arrays that have specific performance requirements, and for other Service Aid utilities.

Physical View The table columns contain:

Any "link breaks" or "non-functioning resources" will result in a table row being red and the text "break" being displayed. Investigation should be made to find the cause of the problem. Sometime this may simply be a loose cable, although it could indicate a defective drive.

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Enclosure List and View

The Enclosure View can be used to configure SCSI-Enclosure Services (SES) aware models (D40 and T40) of the IBM 7133 enclosure.

Enclosure List From this view you can instantly diagnose the state of your enclosure. If any of the constituent parts are defective, the table cell behind the information will be red. To find out more details about a particular enclosure and its resources, select the Enclosure Name.

 
Enclosure View After selecting an enclosure, you are presented with a physical view of the enclosure, including all power supplies, fans, bypass cards and the enclosure's controller. Disk resources within the enclosure use the same indication colours as the Logical View.

Some resources may appear grey. This means they are in the enclosure, but are not configurable by your adapter, as they are attached to another system.

From this view, you can select to "Modify" the enclosure. This allows you to modify the enclosure name and the mode in which the bypass cards are operating. You can also set the enclosure warning temperature thresholds (within a predefined range).

 
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System View

System View This view lists all SSA resources that are currently in the System (PC) "usage". The table is listed in descending order which corresponds to the order in which they are presented to the operating system. This order depends upon the "resource number" which was given to the resource when it was made into a System (PC) resource. BUT, if you have more than one SSA adapter in your server, the resources will be listed by "resource number" but also by adapter priority, i.e. priority on your PCI bus. (See your server documentation for your PCI bus priorities).

As an example, consider a configuration with two adapters. The first adapter is in the highest priority PCI slot and contains two RAID5 arrays. The second adapter is in a lower priority PCI slot, and contains a single non-RAID disk with System (PC) "usage".
In this situation, the two RAID5 arrays will be presented first (ordered by their resource number), followed by the non-RAID disk.

This is a particularly useful view if you are booting off of an SSA resource when it should be the first drive that the operating system can see. See the documentation supplied with your adapter for more details.

This view also shows which drive letters have been assigned to partitions created on each of the resources.

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Security (Stand Alone Only)

Security The stand alone version of RSM provides its own security protection. This can be accessed from the Adapter List page.

There are three security classes within RSM :

When RSM is installed, a single account with Admin access is initially created. The account user name and password are both "SSA" (case sensitive).
You should immediately add another Admin account and remove the SSA account as this could be a security hole if left.

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Event Logger

Event Logger RSM provides access to the SSA Event Logger, via the Adapter List page. From the Event Logger page, you can simply view the Event Log (raw text format), analyse it, or stop the Event Logger altogether.
When you analyse the log, RSM first looks at your event control file, evnctrlf.txt, in your \issa directory. This file tells the Event Logger which types of event to analyse. You can modify the event control file by selecting the "Ctrl File" action.




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