Call home setup for IBM Storwize V7000 Unified

Answer

Overview

IBM highly encourages all clients to enable the official monitoring tools to benefit from proactive support and faster problem determination.

Your system is monitored 24x7x365 once IBM Call Home is enabled.

Included below are the simple steps to enable these monitoring services, which only take a few minutes.

The IBM Storwize V7000 Unified utilizes two methods of Call Home.

1) Email notifications for the IBM Storwize V7000 controller.

2) Outbound HTTPS connection to IBM for the IBM Storwize V7000 Unified file module.

This document describes how to enable both methods of Call Home to ensure full coverage of the IBM Storwize V7000 Unified solution.

Steps to Configure IBM Call Home & Inventory Monitoring Services

1) Go to your IBM Storwize V7000 Unified GUI

2) Select Settings -> Support option from the GUI

3) Select the Call Home option:


4) Click the Enable Call Home check box. The email server IP address is utilized by the IBM Storwize V7000 controller. First, input a valid SMTP server IP address that has out bound connectivity from your network.

5) Use the test connection button to help you validate that IBM is able to receive emails sent from your V7000 controller.

6) Input your contact information. This information will only be used if IBM needs to contact you regarding the health of your system.

7) For the IBM Storwize V7000 Unified’s file module Call Home, the system requires access to a list of IBM IP addresses for outbound HTTPS connections only. The IBM Storwize V7000 Unified file module portion uses this method of broadband Call Home. The list of IPs can be found in the latest IBM Storwize V7000 Unified Information Center. The link below provides the most current listings: http://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/ST5Q4U_1.6.0/com.ibm.storwize.v7000.unified.160.doc/svc_tcpip_requirements.html?lang=en
If your network requires a proxy server for outbound HTTPS connections, proceed to the Outbound Connectivity tab. If not, continue to the Advanced Tab:


8) Select the check box for “Allow automatic access to the internet”

9) Input the Proxy IP address or hostname and the port required to communicate to the proxy server.

10) If your proxy requires a username and password to authenticate:

Select the Enable authentication check box, then enter the user name and password for the proxy server.

11) Enable the “Heartbeat Call Home” by selecting the Advanced tab:

Heartbeat Call Homes

Heartbeat Call Home is the ultimate proactive support feature. A small Call Home package is sent to IBM that describes your system hardware and critical configuration information. The heartbeat packages are sent at regular intervals.

Based on the information IBM receives, IBM can inform you if the hardware or software that you are using requires an upgrade perhaps due to a known issue. The heartbeat alerts allow for IBM to monitor that your system is functioning properly. They will also allow for a regular test of the core Call Home functionality to ensure it will work when it is needed for an issue.

IBM recommends that the system inventory be sent on a 1 or 7 day interval for maximum benefit.

Heartbeats are enabled automatically in the IBM Storwize V7000 Unified. To adjust the frequency of heartbeats, you can select a value between 1-9 days. For additional information on your IBM Storwize V7000 Unified cluster, you can input Machine location and Special instructions for IBM support personnel.

12) To test and validate your Call Home configuration, IBM has made a tool available to test and validate your end to end connectivity to IBM’s support tools. Download the tool from the following link: http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=ssg1S1004554

Finally, if you have questions about your Call Home configuration please reach out to IBM support and they will be able to assist you.

Call Home

The Call Home function can rapidly speed up the time to engage IBM support by pro-actively notifying IBM support of known system issues.

It does this by opening a service alert if a serious error occurs with the IBM Storwize V7000 Unified. Error and contact information are sent to IBM Service Personnel. If the machine is entitled for support then a problem record will be created and sent to the appropriate IBM Service Personnel.

The information provided to IBM would be an excerpt from the Error log containing the error and client contact information from the system. This allows IBM Service Personnel to contact the client and arrange service on the system.

Email Alert

Automatic email alerts can be created and sent to a client system administrator or distribution list. This is an extension of Call Home allowing clients to be notified about Error, Warning, Information messages, as well as receiving Inventory emails.

These notification emails will be sent to enabled clients when they occur. Please refer to the IBM Storwize V7000 Unified Information Center on more details for email alerts and how to configure it.