IBM Spectrum Control V5.2.12 Pearls in the documentation

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V5.2.12 of IBM Spectrum Control is jam packed with new features, including new reports, enhanced hybrid cloud monitoring, and more device support. What do these features do? How can they help you monitor and manage your storage? There is a lot to take in with this release, and the IBM Knowledge Center is here to help.

In the continuing blog series of "pearls in the Spectrum Control documentation", I'll highlight some of the new information that we've added for 5.2.12, and some existing topics that you might not be aware of but could find useful.

What's new in 5.2.12?

The what's new topic provides a quick overview of all the new features that were added in 5.2.12. Screenshots are included in the topic to illustrate the features, and links to more detailed topics are provided in case you want to learn more.

Pro tip: You can also learn about what's new directly in the GUI by clicking the help icon in the upper right of the main window and selecting the "What's New" option:

What was new in previous releases?

Do you want to see a summary of all the changes in previous releases of Spectrum Control, at a glance? Check out the new topic Summary of changes for IBM Spectrum Control.

Understanding the units of measurement in Spectrum Control

Spectrum Control uses decimal and binary units of measurement to express the size of storage data.  Decimal units such as kilobyte (KB), megabyte (MB), and gigabyte (GB) are commonly used to express the size of data. Binary units of measurement include kibibyte (KiB), mebibyte (MiB), and gibibyte (GiB).

For more information about how these units of measurement compare, check out Units of measurement in Spectrum Control.

Getting storage information through the REST APl

The REST API provides with you with programmatic access to the extensive information that Spectrum Controls collects about your resources. You can access that information easily through the API by using a command line utility or plugging a URL into a web browser. What you do with that information is up to you.

A common practice is to extract the specific information that you care about and include it in custom configuration, capacity, and performance reports that are tailored for your organization.

Learn more about the IBM Spectrum Control REST API in the Knowledge Center.

Viewing the capacity of external storage

Your storage is valuable. Tracking the storage that you have, and determining the storage that you'll need in the future, is key in keeping your applications online and your services uninterrupted. In many environments, that storage is distributed across multiple storage systems, data centers, geographies, and now with IBM Spectrum Scale's Transparent Cloud Tiering (TCT), it can even be tiered (or mirrored) to external cloud object storage (public, private, or on-premises) .

In Spectrum Control 5.2.12, you can view the used space in external storage to understand how much data is being migrated from Spectrum Scale file systems to that external storage.  For external storage that is provided by IBM® Cloud Object Storage, you can also view capacity information, including the percentage of space that is being used.

Learn how to view the capacity of external storage in Spectrum Control.

Upgrading in a nutshell

Upgrading to a new release of Spectrum Control doesn't have to be a difficult experience, or result in unforeseen problems, right? But people are often anxious about figuring out, and running through, the upgrade process. To help address this potential anxiety, we've streamlined and consolidated the upgrade instructions in the Knowledge Center. Check out the revised upgrade instructions.

Viewing and sharing easy-to-read reports about your storage

Do you need to see the capacity, and cost of that capacity, for all the applications, departments, hypervisors, and physical servers in your storage environment in one, easy-to-read report? Do you want to create reports that show the block capacity and cost of the block capacity for a single storage consumer? In 5.2.12, you can do just that.

Check out the topics for creating chargeback reports and consumer reports for more information.

Getting help

Getting help and contacting IBM support shouldn't be difficult when you run into problems. With the updates to Contacting IBM Software Support information in the Knowledge Center, learning how to get that help is easier than ever before. You now have a central location that explains how to get help when you need it, including DIY troubleshooting tips for solving problems on your own.

Joining the conversation

Be social! Join the conversation at #IBMStorage and #softwaredefinedstorage.

We are always striving to improve the information that we deliver, and how we deliver it. At the bottom of every page in IBM Knowledge Center is a "Feedback" link. Please use this link to reach out to us and help influence the information experience.

For continuing news about the documentation for IBM Spectrum Control and IBM Storage Insights, follow me on or Twitter @chris_tking.