What's new in IBM Storage Insights
Check out the new features and enhancements that are available in the Q2 2024 update of IBM® Storage Insights and IBM Storage Insights Pro.
IBM is constantly updating the infrastructure, security, and stability of IBM Storage Insights to improve your experience. Enhanced analytics, troubleshooting capabilities, and more robust data collection are built into this update, so that the IBM Support team can better assist you in monitoring your storage environment.
You can also watch what's new video in the Storage Guru YouTube channel for a quick overview of the new features in the Q2 2024 update.
Flash Grid My World Navigation
IBM Storage Insights introduced a new Flash Grid My World Navigation to display of the details of the selected Flash Grid. On the Flash Grid My World Navigation page, you can view the aggregated details of storage systems that are the part of the Flash Grid. The Flash Grid My World Navigation shows various details, such as capacity data aggregated by storage systems, storage partitions, and migration status summary.
For more information, Flash Grid My World Navigation.
Grouping of storage systems
IBM Storage Insights supports the capability to view systems as part of groups, referred to as Flash Grids. You can specify the scope of the storage systems as Global or Group Related Systems in the IBM Storage Insights. By default, the Global option is enabled and storage systems are individually listed in the left pane. If the Group Related Systems option is enabled, the storage systems of the same Flash Grid are grouped together in the left pane, and the middle pane displays the filtered view of aggregated details of storage systems, which are grouped in a Flash Grid. All the systems, which are not part of any Flash Grid are also similarly grouped with name Non Flash Grid Systems.
For more information, see Overview dashboard (Carbon).
Effortless storage moves: Introducing partition migration in IBM Storage Insights
You can now seamlessly migrate storage partitions between IBM FlashSystem® devices without any application downtime, ensuring a smooth and non-disruptive transition.
Here's how it benefits you:
- Non-disruptive migration: Migrate storage partitions seamlessly from one IBM Storage FlashSystem device to another without interrupting your operations.
- Simplified upgrades: Easily relocate storage partitions to new systems for hardware upgrades, load balancing, or specific data center requirements.
- Optimized resource allocation: Balance workloads by migrating partitions from overloaded systems to underutilized ones.
- Centralized management: Initiate, track, and manage partition migrations directly within the familiar IBM Storage Insights interface.
- Access the Storage Partitions view for your desired Flash Grid.
- Select the partition that you want to migrate and choose Migrate Partition from the overflow menu.
- Review the compatible storage systems and choose your target device.
- Confirm the migration details and initiate the process.
- Track the migration status through notifications, the Dashboards page, and various status columns within the IBM Storage Insights GUI.
Actions during migration:
- Cancel Migration: If needed, you can cancel an ongoing migration directly from the IBM Storage Insights interface.
- Switch Primary: Reassign the primary storage partition to the target system during migration.
- Commit Changes: Finalize the migration by cleaning up the source system.
- Fix Errors: Troubleshoot and resolve any issues that can pause the migration process.
Error handling and troubleshooting:
To address errors during migration, IBM Storage Insights now supports launching the IBM Storage FlashSystem GUI in a new tab for error resolution. In cases of unforeseen errors or failures like network connectivity issues, IBM Storage FlashSystem records the error number that is causing the migration pause. This feature allows IBM Storage Insights to directly open the error event DMP (Diagnostic Message Page) in a new tab, enabling you to navigate and resolve issues efficiently.
- IBM Storage Insights does not do the storage partition migration on its own. When you begin the migration in IBM Storage Insights, a request is sent from IBM Storage Insights to IBM Storage FlashSystem through Call Home with cloud services to begin the migration. When the IBM Storage FlashSystem accepts the migration request, the partition migration begins. The migration status is shown in IBM Storage Insights in sync with corresponding IBM Storage FlashSystem.
- IBM Storage Insights facilitates these migrations through Call Home with cloud services, ensuring secure and reliable command execution. Storage partition migration is not supported if the storage systems are monitored through the data collector.
- Storage partition migration is available only for the IBM Storage FlashSystem 8.7.0 or later.
- Connectivity to IBM Storage FlashSystem network is required for troubleshooting errors during the migration.
For more information, see Migrating a storage partition.
Partition management permission
IBM Storage Insights GUI allows administrator and monitor users to manage and migrate partitions on grouped storage systems. To manage and migrate partitions, users need to have the partition management permission enabled in IBM Storage Insights. An administrator user can assign or revoke the partition management permission for themselves and other administrator and monitor users. Other users are not eligible to have partition management permission and cannot manage and migrate partitions.
For more information, see User Access Management.
IBM Storage Defender integration with IBM Storage Insights
- Approve IBM Storage Defender integration request for a storage system or multiple storage systems.
- Decline IBM Storage Defender integration requests for storage systems.
- Pre-approve all future requests for all storage systems monitored by the IBM Storage Insights.
- Acknowledge IBM Storage Defender actions for ransomware alerts.
For more information, see IBM Storage Defender integration.
REST APIs
- Acknowledge or clear an alert or alerts (including volume ransomware alerts) for a particular storage system.
- Get a list of all pools in a particular storage system.
- Get details about a pool in a particular storage system.
- Get a list of all managed disks in a particular storage system.
- Get details about a managed disk in a particular storage system.
- Get a list of all raid arrays for a particular storage system.
- Get details about a raid array in a particular storage system.
- Get a list of all drives in a particular storage system.
- Get details about a drive in a particular storage system.
- Get a list of all I/O groups for a particular storage system.
- Get details about an I/O group for a particular storage system.
- Get a list of all nodes for a particular storage system.
- Get details about a node for a particular storage system.
- Get a list of all enclosures for a particular storage system.
- Get details about an enclosure for a particular storage system.
- Get a list of all FC ports for a particular storage system.
- Get details about an FC port for a particular storage system.
- Get a list of all IP ports for a particular storage system.
- Get details about an IP port for a particular storage system.
- Get a list of all host connections for a particular storage system.
- Get details about a host connection for a particular storage system.
- Get a list of all device adapters for a particular DS8K storage system.
- Get details about a device adapter in a particular DS8K storage system.
- Get all sustainability metrics, such as power and temperature, for a particular DS8K storage system.
- Get a list of all volume mappings for a particular storage system.
- Get details about a volume mapping for a particular storage system.
- Get a list of all volume snapshots for a particular storage system.
- Get details about all volume snapshots associated with a specific volume in a particular storage system.
Introducing new workload placement advice
IBM Storage Insights is now enhanced with the new workload placement advice that is designed to streamline your storage planning process for IBM Storage FlashSystem devices. This innovative feature empowers storage administrators to effortlessly identify the best suitable IBM Storage FlashSystem devices for new workloads, ensuring optimal resource utilization and performance.
The workload placement advice feature takes the guesswork out of storage allocation. Simply define your new custom workload requirements or select the workloads from the curated list of standard workloads by specifying a size (small, medium, large). Even the pre-defined workloads can be customized to your specific needs.
- Workload type: Define or customize the workload requirements.
- Duration: Specify the past date for forecasting trends and the future date for placement evaluation. By default, these are set to one year in the past and one year in the future, but this can be customized.
- IBM Storage FlashSystem Selection: Choose the specific IBM Storage FlashSystem systems that you want to evaluate for placement. While all the IBM Storage FlashSystem devices in your environment are considered by default, selecting only the relevant systems can improve the recommendation speed.
The intelligent algorithms of IBM Storage Insights then analyze your existing IBM Storage FlashSystem devices, considering factors like capacity and performance forecasting, and provide optimal placement for new workloads.
The comprehensive workload placement evaluation helps you with the following benefits:
- Visualize ideal placement options: Workload placement advice presents a clear ranking of your devices, highlighting the most suitable destinations for your new workload.
- Make informed decisions with confidence: Benefit from in-depth explanations for each recommendation through charts. Understand the rationale behind the rankings and gain valuable insights to support your storage planning choices.
Workload placement advice seamlessly integrates into your existing IBM Storage Insights experience, accessible through both the new carbon and classic interfaces. The intuitive interface allows you to perform the following actions:
- Quickly define workload requirements: Specify your custom workload parameters or use the standard workload options by specifying a size (small, medium, large).
- Filter IBM Storage FlashSystem devices for tailored recommendations: Narrow down the evaluation pool to focus on specific IBM Storage FlashSystem devices monitored within IBM Storage Insights.
- Initiate the placement assessment with a single click: Effortlessly trigger the evaluation process and receive comprehensive placement recommendations.
With workload placement advice in IBM Storage Insights, you can now enjoy a simplified and more efficient storage planning experience. By leveraging the intelligent recommendations and clear rationale, you are empowered to make confident decisions that optimize storage utilization and ensure better performance for your new workloads.
For more information, see Evaluating new workload placement advice.
New environmental metrics for DS8000
You can now gain visibility into critical environmental metrics for DS8000 storage systems, empowering you to gain deeper insights into your storage infrastructure's health and efficiency.
For DS8000 storage systems with firmware version 7.2 or later, you can now access the following new environmental metrics:
- System Temperature (°C) and System Temperature (°F): The average temperature of the storage system in degree Celsius (°C) and Fahrenheit units. The value is average temperature that the storage system is maintaining in the last 24 hours.
- Total Power Consumed (Watts): The average total power that all the components of storage systems including nodes are consuming. The value is in Watts.
- Power Efficiency (Watts/ Raw TB): Power consumed in Watts divided by Raw capacity in terabytes. The value denotes how efficiently the storage system is consuming the power.
You can access all these metrics at the following places in the IBM Storage Insights GUI:
- .
- Four new columns namely Current Power Usage (Watts), System Temperature (°C), System Temperature (°F), and Power Efficiency ( Watts/Raw TB) are introduced in the overview page of block storage systems.
- . Performance tab of overview page of block storage systems. Also, right-click on a DS8000 storage system and select View properties or View Performance. All the environmental metrics are displayed.
All these environmental metrics are also available in the new modern view of IBM Storage Insights at the following places:
- Environment widget of the overview dashboard.
- Environment widget of the individual device dashboard.
- Four new columns namely Current Power Usage (Watts), System Temperature (°C), System Temperature (°F), and Power Efficiency ( Watts/Raw TB) are introduced in the Storage Systems tabular view. Also, all these metrics are displayed in the properties for any specific DS8000 device.
Also, you can set alerts for the new metrics to receive notifications when they reach the thresholds set by you. For more information, see Defining alert definitions for environmental metrics changes.
Streamlined security with PassTicket authentication for DS8000 storage systems
Introducing a seamless and secure authentication method for adding DS8000 storage systems to the IBM Storage Insights. With the latest update, you can add the DS8000 storage system with passwordless authentication by using Resource Access Control Facility (RACF) PassTicket, ensuring enhanced security without compromising convenience.
You can get the following key benefits with this new PassTicket authentication type:
- PassTicket authentication option: Now, IBM Storage Insights offers a choice between the traditional User Name and Password authentication or the new User Name and PassTicket type when adding the DS8000 storage systems. Simply select the authentication type as User Name and PassTicket from the drop-down while adding a DS8000 storage system.
- Enhanced security with PassTicket: When you choose the Username and PassTicket option for adding a DS8000 storage system, IBM Storage Insights prompts you to enter the application name, username, and RACF PassTicket key, ensuring secure access without the need for static passwords.
To prevent this connectivity issue, you can perform any of the following actions:
- Unique Credentials: Use different usernames or PassTicket keys when adding devices to IBM Storage Insights.
- RACF Replay-Protection Adjustment (Optional): Alternatively, if permitted by your security policy, consider disabling the RACF default replay-protection mechanism. However, this approach should be carefully evaluated due to potential security implications.
For more information about adding DS8000 storage system, see Adding DS8000 storage system.
IBM Storage FlashSystem 5300 support
IBM Storage FlashSystem 5300 device can now be monitored with IBM Storage Insights through Data Collector (DC) and Call Home with cloud services method.
For more information about IBM Storage Insights FlashSystem 5300, see Table 2 of IBM Storage Insights vs IBM Storage Insights Pro.
Introducing snapshot information at volume level
Consult details related to the volume snapshots, including to which volume group a specific volume belongs to, and other information about the available volume snapshots.
For more information, see Block storage copy data resources and Volumes.
Ransomware threat detection alerts and marking volume snapshots as compromised
IBM Storage Insights Pro can alert about potential ransomware attacks across various IBM Storage Virtualize and IBM Storage FlashSystem products. In IBM Storage Insights Pro, these potential attacks are turned into alerts that the users can act upon, or pass to other tools for further processing.
After these alerts are enabled, when a ransomware threat is detected, email alerts are sent to the designated email addresses. And, within IBM Storage Insights Pro, you can monitor these alerts by going to either of these pages:
- IBM Storage Insights tenant level:
- IBM Storage Insights tenant level:
- Device level:
- Device level:
- Volume level:
- Volume level:
In IBM Storage Insights Pro, a volume snapshot is marked as Compromised when it is identified as affected by a potential ransomware attack.
For more information, see Alerts for ransomware threat detection.
SSH4 security level support for IBM Storage Virtualize devices
IBM Storage Insights now supports onboarding of IBM Storage Virtualize devices running on SSH4 secured connectivity by using data collector.
Don't forget to upgrade your data collectors
If the automatic upgrade option for data collectors is enabled, you do not need to do anything once IBM Storage Insights is updated. You can pick up right where you left off.
If the automatic upgrade is not enabled, you might be notified to upgrade your data collectors so that you can benefit from all the new features and improvements. To upgrade the data collectors, make sure that you have the Administrator role and click the link in the notification message or select Data Collector from the Configuration menu and click Upgrade.
