What's new for IBM Spectrum Control 5.4.12

Learn about the latest features and changes that are available in IBM Spectrum® Control 5.4.12.

Introducing policy based replication-high availability (PBR-HA) for IBM Storage Virtualize systems

Policy-based Replication (PBR) for High Availability (HA) is now supported for IBM Storage Virtualize systems, which are added to IBM Spectrum Control. You can now view the High Availability replication policies as 2-site-ha that are associated with the volume groups. The IBM Spectrum Control GUI is enhanced to display the views that are relevant for both High Availability and Asynchronous replication policies that are assigned to the volume groups.

The following changes are made in the Volume Groups section of the device details page:

Table 1. GUI changes in the Volume Groups section of the device details page
GUI changes for High Availability replication	GUI changes for asynchronous replication
Policy name in the Replication policy column is hyper-linked and clicking the hyperlink displays replication policy details such as name, replication topology, RPO (this value is always N/A for High Availability policy ), and volume groups that are associated with the policy.	Policy name in the Replication policy column is hyper-linked and clicking the hyperlink displays replication policy details such as name, replication topology, RPO, and volume groups associated with the policy.
Suitable icons are added for the values in the Replication Policy, Replication state, Policy Status columns.	Suitable icons are added for the values in the Replication Policy, Replication state, Policy Status columns.
A tooltip is added to the storage systems in the Location 1 System and Location 2 System columns that show it as a production copy. Note: For High Availability replication policy, the tooltip always shows as production for the storage systems in Location 1 System and Location 2 System columns	A tooltip is added to the storage systems in the Location 1 System and Location 2 System columns that show if it is a production copy or recovery copy.
If the storage system in Location 1 System or Location 2 System is remote system, then this system is hyper-linked if it’s added to IBM Spectrum Control. And clicking the hyperlink opens that specific device details page.	If the storage system in Location 1 System or Location 2 System is remote system, then this system is hyper-linked if it’s added to IBM Spectrum Control. And clicking the hyperlink opens that specific device details page.
A new column Partition Name is added which is not a default column. Note: The Partition Name column displays storage partition name only for the volume groups that are assigned with High Availability replication policy.	A new column Partition Name is added which is not a default column. Note: The Partition Name column doesn't display any value for the volume groups that are assigned with asynchronous replication policy.
Replication Topology column now displays 2-site -ha for volume groups that are assigned with High Availability replication policy	No changes to this column for asynchronous replication policy
The following listed columns were renamed: Topology to Replication Topology RPO Alert to RPO Current RPO to Current Recovery Point RPO Status to Policy Status Location 1 to Location 1 System Location 2 to Location 2 System	The following listed columns were renamed: Topology to Replication Topology RPO Alert to RPO Current RPO to Current Recovery Point RPO Status to Policy Status Location 1 to Location 1 System Location 2 to Location 2 System

volume groups

For more information about volume groups, see volume groups.

Also, two new tabs Replication Policies and Volume Group Snapshots are introduced in the Copy Data section in the device details page.

volume groups

For more information about copy data resources, see Monitoring copy data resources.

The following node level performance metrics are also introduced to monitor any potential bottle-necks of replication.

Journal Pages Resource Used: The average periodic percentage of journal resources across all threads, which is used for replicating data.
Journal Pages Resource Used(Worst): The highest percentage of journal resources used across all threads.

From device details page, you can access these metrics by navigating to Nodes > Performance > Metrics > Node > Key metrics.

For more information, see Table 24. Metrics for nodes in node performance metrics.

IBM Storage FlashSystem 5300 support

The IBM Storage FlashSystem 5300 can now be seamlessly monitored within IBM Spectrum Control. This simplifies management and provides a centralized view of your storage infrastructure.

For more information about the support for IBM Storage FlashSystem 5300, see Table 1. Storage systems that can be monitored in IBM Spectrum Control in Supported devices in IBM Spectrum Control.

Support for onboarding IBM Storage Virtualize systems with DC SSHv4 authentication

IBM Spectrum Control now supports adding IBM® Storage Virtualize systems using data collector facilitated SSHv4 (Secure Shell version 4) authentication for secure communication.

Seamless monitoring DS8000 R9.4

You can now add DS8000® devices that are running on R9.4 version to your IBM Spectrum Control and monitor them seamlessly.

For more information about the DS8000 firmware versions supported in IBM Spectrum Control, see IBM Spectrum Control Support for IBM System Storage DS8000 Series.

Product fixes and security updates

In every release of IBM Spectrum Control, IBM fixes issues that are reported by our internal teams and by our customers. Along with fixes, improving the operation and security of the product is also a priority. See what's been updated and fixed in this release:

Limitations and known issues

For information about limitations and known issues that might occur when you use IBM Spectrum Control 5.4.12, see Limitations and known issues for IBM Spectrum Control.