storage essentials
TRANSCRIPT
Table of contents
Introduction 3StorageautomationwithHPStorageEssentials 3Automatingstorage—HPStorageEssentialsandHPOperationsOrchestration 5Storageincidentmanagement—HPStorageEssentialsandHPOperationsManager 6Storagechangemanagement—HPStorageEssentialsandtheHPUniversalCMDB 9Storagecompliancemanagement—HPStorageEssentialsandHPServerAutomation 9Conclusion 11
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IntroductionToday’sITexecutivesareconstantlychallengedtodomorewithless.Double-digitITbudgetincreases,oncesocommon,aregivingwaytoexecutivemandatesto“optimize,virtualize,andeconomize.”Meanwhile,CTOsandCIOsarefeelingthepinch.
Inthisenvironment,datacenterautomationhastransi-tionedfromaback-burnergoalintoatoppriority.ThenewsenseofurgencyisbeingspurredbythepromiseofstreamlinedITservicedeliveryandlowercosts,nottomentionnaggingconcernsaboutlosingadvantagetonimblecompetitorswhoareembracingthetechnology.
Automationsoftwareishighindemand.Automatedprocessflowsarereplacingrepetitive,manualtasksandblurringthelinesbetweenformerlyimpenetrableITmanagementsilos.Thismovementreflectsagrowingrealizationthatoptimalservicedeliverydependsonmasteringtheintricateinter-dependenciesbetweennetwork,server,client,application,andstorage.
Figure 1�HPStorageEssentialsandthestorage-automationecosystem
Storage Essentials Platform
Process automation
HP OperationsOrchestration
HP BSA ServerAutomation
HP UCMDB
HP OperationsManager
Incident and problemmanagement
Changemanagement
Compliancemanagement
HP Storage Automation
HP Storage Essentials automation ecosystem
Reluctancetoopenthestorage-areanetwork(SAN)toautomationhasrecededintheeraofvirtualization.Whileminimizinghardware,virtualizationhasproducedanexplosionofvirtualmachines(VMs)thatrequirestor-ageserviceandmanagementatatimewhenitisdifficulttogetresourcestomanagethegrowth.
ItisnowonderthatITmanagersareturningtoautoma-tion.Consideringourleadershipindatacenterautomation,itisnosurprisethatHPStorageEssentialsisfrontandcenterwhenitcomestoautomatingstorage.Inadditiontoprovidingindustry-leading,full-featured,heteroge-neousstorageresourcemanagement,HPStorageEssentialsoffersanintegratedsuiteofservicestodeliveronthepromiseofstorageautomation.
Storage automation with HP Storage EssentialsHPStorageEssentialsistightlyintegratedwithkeyprod-uctsfromtheHPbusinesstechnologyoptimization(BTO)suite,creatingaversatilestorage-automationecosystem.
AsdepictedinFigure1,HPStorageEssentialsisthehubthatdeliversstoragedatatoprovensolutionstodrivestoragechange,compliance,andincidentmanagement.HPOperationsOrchestrationprovidestherun-bookenginethattiesitalltogether.Theendresultisapowerful,com-prehensivestorage-automationplatformtocomplementandenhanceITILv3-basedinitiativesforbest-practiceITmanagement.
ThefollowingintegrationsmakeuptheHPStorageEssentialsstorage-automationecosystem:•HP Operations Orchestration softwareautomates
repetitive,time-consumingstoragetasksanddrivesprocessflows,combiningstoragechange,compliance,andincidentmanagement.
•HP Operations Manager softwareshowshowstorageincidentsimpacttheSANandcriticalbusinessservices.
•HP Universal Configuration Management Database (UCMDB) softwaresupportsstoragechange,compli-ance,impactanalysis,andreports.
•HP Server Automation softwareletsadministratorsvisualizeandreportonserversandstorageinasinglepaneofglass,includingstoragecomplianceaudits.
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Figure 2 HPOperationsOrchestrationstorage-automationworkflows
Figure 3 HPOperationsOrchestrationdrag-and-wireworkflowcreation
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Figure 4 Integratedautomationtasksacrossdomains
Automating storage—HP Storage Essentials and HP Operations OrchestrationTogether,HPStorageEssentialsandHPOperationsOrchestrationprovidethetoolsandservicestoautomaterepetitive,time-consumingstoragetasks.TheHPOperationsOrchestrationStudio,depictedinFigure2,providesaneasy-to-usedrag,drop,andwireinterfacetodesignandbuildstorageworkflows.
TheHPStorageEssentialsAcceleratorPackforHPOperationsOrchestrationincludeshundredsoftoolkitoperationsandout-of-the-boxflowsforstoragediscovery,storagesystem,fabricandzonemanagement,backupandrestore,capacityreclamation,storageconfigurationmanagement,andmore.Oncecreated,storageflowscanbeaddedtoservicecatalogsforrepeateduse.Thissavestime,money,andresourcesandprovidesthefoun-dationfordeliveringstorageasaservice.
HPOperationsOrchestrationisnotjustforstorage.Itprovidesasharedenginetocreatestreamlined,cross-domainprocessflows.HPOperationsOrchestrationsupportsover3,000flowsandtoolkitoperationsforthemostcommonoperatingsystems,applicationservers,networkingsolutions,databases,virtualizationplatforms,andmore.
Anexampleofacross-domainworkflowisthecommis-sioningandprovisioningofavirtualmachine(VM).Thisprocessincludesmanyrepetitive,time-consumingsub-tasksthatcrosstheserver,storage,andnetworkdomains,forexample,creatingtheVMandprovisioningitwithanoperatingsystem(OS),application,andstorage.
AllofthesetaskscanbecompletelyautomatedinaprocessflowbycombiningoperationsfromtheHPOperationsOrchestrationAcceleratorPacksforHPStorageEssentials,HPServerAutomation,andthedesiredOS,application,andservice-deskintegrations.Thecompletedflowcanthenbeaddedtoanon-demandservicecatalogandaccessedwheneveranewVMwiththesameconfigurationprofileisrequired,resultinginsignificantsavingsintimeandresources.
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Figure 5 BusinessimpactofstorageeventsasseenintheHPOperationsManagerconsole
Storage incident management—HP Storage Essentials and HP Operations ManagerTheHPOperationsManagerSmartPlug-in(SPI)forHPStorageEssentialshelpsSANadministratorsmonitorthehealthandavailabilityofHPStorageEssentialsCentralManagementServer(CMS)nodes,theircorrespondingagentnodes,andrelatedSANinfrastructure.ItalsohelpsITadministratorsunderstandtheimpactofstorageeventsonkeybusinessservicesanddeterminetherootcausesofstorageincidentsquickly.
HPOperationsManagerusestheSPItomodelservicemapsofHPStorageEssentialsasanapplicationandoftheSANtopology.WhenHPOperationsManagerreceivesHPStorageEssentialsalertsfromtheSPI,icons
forimpactedHPStorageEssentialsCMS,agentnodes,andSANelementslightupintheHPOperationsManagerconsole.HPOperationsManagerleveragestheservicemapstopropagatetheimpactofstorageeventsonrelatedbusinessservices.Inaddition,theSPIallowsoperatorstouseHPOperationsManagertostart,stop,andcheckthestatusofHPStorageEssentialsservices.
TheHPStorageEssentialsSPIandHPStorageEssentials/HPUCMDBintegrationscanalsoenableHPStorageEssentials-managedstorageforHPBusinessAvailabilityCenter(BAC)anditsapplicationslikeHPOperationsManager.Inthiscase,HPBAChaspre-exist-ingconnectionswiththeHPUCMDBandHPOperationsManagertopullthestoragetopologyandeventsfromHPStorageEssentialsandprocessthemintheHPBACconsole.
Figure5showstheeventsviewoftheHPOperationsManagerconsole.TheHPOperationsManagerNodeBankisvisibleintheleft-handpane.
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Figure 6 HPOperationsManagermapview
•TheHPOperationsManagerSPIforHPStorageEssentialshasloadedHPStorageEssentialstopologyincludingSANhosts,switches,andarraysintotheHPOperationsManagerNodeBankunder“StorageEssentialsInfra.”
•TheSPIalsosendsHPStorageEssentialsSMI-SandPolicyManageralertstoHPOperationsManagerthatlightupimpactedSANelementsinthenodebank.HereweseeaminoralerttoswitchTianaindicatedbytheyellowiconontheleft.
•SelectingFCswitchTianalaunchestheHPOperationsManagereventbrowser.ThisHPStorageEssentialsPolicyManagereventwasgeneratedwhentheswitchbreachedthe“percentageused”policy,indicatingaswitchportoverloadcondition.
•ThenodebankalsoshowsServices,includinganemailservicerunningonahostconnectedtotheSAN.TheHPStorageEssentialsSPIhascreatedaSANser-vicemapthathaspropagatedtheSANswitchalertuptotheemailservice,whichisalsohighlightedintheHPOperationsManagerconsole.
Figure6showstheservicemaps.HereweseeamajorimpacttoServicesasindicatedbytheredbubble.WealsoseethatSANswitchTianaistherootcauseoftheminoralerttotheemailservice.Thealertisminorbecausethehostfortheemailservicehasanalternatepathtostorage.Buttheeventisworthnotingbecauseitindicatespotentiallossofredundancyfortheemailservice.
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Storage change management—HP Storage Essentials and the HP Universal CMDBTheHPStorageEssentialsIntegrationPackageforUCMDBallowsstorageadministratorsto:•Generatereportsshowingthechangehistoryof
storageconfigurationitems(CIs)•Monitorcomplianceofmandatedstorageconfigura-
tionsusingGoldStandard,CIcomparison,andViewSnapshotfeatures
•ModelSANchangestoseetheimpactonSANandbusinessservicesbeforemakingachange
HowtheUCMDBworksCIspopulatedfromHPStorageEssentialsintotheHPUCMDBincludestoragefabric,zone,array,host,FibreChannel(FC)switch,HBA,FCadapter,andlogicalvolume.TheHPUCMDBdiscoverstherelationshipsbetweendis-coveredCIs.Thefrequencyofthedatatransferistotallyconfigurabletomeetvaryingbusinessneeds.
TheHPUCMDBusestheconceptof“packageasawrapper”fordiscoverypatterns,views,reports,andpre-builtimpactanalysisrules.Thepackagesaredeploy-ablesoftwareelementsthatcanbeaddedtotheHPUCMDBinstallation.
TheHPStorageIntegrationPackagefortheHPUCMDBincludes:•DiscoveryPatternsthatreplicateCIsandtheirrelation-
shipsforHPStorageEssentialsintheHPUCMDB•Graphicalviewsofthestorageenvironmentwithinthe
HPUCMDB•Pre-builtimpactanalysisrulesformodelingandview-
ingtheimpactofproposedchangestothestorageenvironment
•Pre-definedreportsthatgeneratechangeandcompli-ancetrackingsummariesquicklyandeasily
Figure7showshowtheHPUCMDBcanbeusedtosupportFCswitchcompliance.AnystorageCIcanbedesignatedaGoldMaster.OtherCIsarethenselectedandcomparedagainsttheGoldMaster,revealinganyvariancesthatexist.
Figure8showshowtheHPUCMDBsnapshotfeatureprovidesaviewofaselectedSANconfigurationoracollectionofCIs.Twosnapshotsofthesameviewtakenatdifferenttimescanbecomparedatscheduledintervals,suchasaftereveryrunofadiscoveryjob.
Sampleusecasesinclude:•Whathaschangedinmystorageswitchesoverthe
last24hours?•HowdidmyXParrayconfigurationchangeoverthe
lastyear?•DoallEVAstoragearraysinthedatacenterhavethe
samefirmwarerevisionas“this”switch?•Whichbusinessservicesgetimpactedifthisstorage
ISL(inter-switchlink)goesdown?•WhichapplicationsareimpactedifthisHBAfails,
factoringinapplicationclustering/failover?
Storage compliance management—HP Storage Essentials and HP Server AutomationStorageVisibilityandAutomationisafeatureinHPServerAutomationthatleveragesHPStorageEssentialstoprovideserveradministratorswiththestoragedatatheyneedtoeffectivelydotheirjobs.
StorageVisibilityandAutomationrequiresaHPStorageEssentialsConnectorforHPServerAutomationthatprovidesastoragescannertocollectSANtopology,relationships,andperformancedatafromtheHPStorageEssentialsdatabaseandloaditintotheHPServerAutomationmodelrepository.OnceitresidesintheHPServerAutomationmodelrepository,SANandserverdatacanbevisualized,monitored,andreportedinasinglepaneofglass.
Withthisfeature,serveradministratorscanvisualizetheend-to-endpath—fromapplicationtostoragearray—includingdependencies.TheycanalsomonitorandreportonSANcapacity,utilizationtrends,andconfigu-rationcomplianceusingbuilt-inrulestotestforsinglepointsoffailure,replicationstatus,andthelevelofRAIDprotectionforapplicationhosts.
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Figure 9 Storagevisibilityforserveradministrators
Figure 1�0 Storagereportingforserveradministrators
ConclusionToday’seconomicrealitiesdemandthatbusinessesdeliverITservicesinthemostefficientmannerpossible.WiththeHPStorageEssentialsstorage-automationecosystem,youcanstartdeployingautomatedstorageservicestoday.
Together,HPStorageEssentials,HPOperationsOrchestration,HPOperationsManager,HPUCMDB,andHPServerAutomationprovidetheend-to-endcapabilitytoautomatestorageprocessesandtobettermanagestoragechange,compliance,andincidentsforyourorganization.
Tolearnmore,visitwww.hp.com/go/storageessentials.
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Figure 1�1� Storagecomplianceauditsforserveradministrators
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4AA1-8073ENW,CreatedFebruary2010,UpdatedJuly2011,Rev.1
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