IBM Support

IBM Spectrum Control and IBM Storage Insights Support for IBM System Storage DS8000 Series

Product Documentation


Abstract

Support of IBM System Storage DS8000 family with IBM Storage Insights and IBM Spectrum Control 5.4 (all versions).

Content

IBM System Storage DS8000 storage systems were tested with the following firmware levels:
 

Storage systems Firmware Code bundles
IBM System Storage DS8900F family 1

R9.x
IBM System Storage DS8880 family

R8.5.2
R8.5.1
R8.4.x
R8.3.3
R8.3
R8.2
R8.1

 DS8880 code bundle information
IBM System Storage DS8870 4 EOS 

R7.5  (87.52.19.0 and higher)
 

 DS8870 code bundle information
IBM System Storage DS8800 3 EOS 

R6.3 (86.31.225.0)
 
IBM System Storage DS8700 2 EOS

R6.3 (76.31.190.0)
 


Tips

  • For a centralized list of recommended code levels for the DS8000 series, review this information:  DS8000 Code Recommendation 
  • In 5.4.0 and later, provisioning in IBM Spectrum Control is no longer supported. While this feature might still appear in the GUI, it might not work as intended.
  • Newer firmware levels are also supported. For IBM Spectrum Control, an upgrade to a later version might be required, particularly for new functions. IBM Storage Insights is automatically upgraded.  If any problems occur when using newer firmware levels, open a support case.  IBM Support will investigate the problem and attempt to resolve it. You can open cases for IBM Storage Insights or IBM Spectrum Control at https://www.ibm.com/mysupport.

Limitations and considerations

  • 1 Using Spectrum Control to provision thin volumes on a DS8900F is not supported.
  • 2 DS8700 has reached End of Service (EOS) as of 31 December, 2017.  Call Home is not supported, see EoS DS8K info regarding Call Home.
  • 3 DS8800 has reached End of Service (EOS) as of 31 March, 2019.  Call Home is not supported, see EoS DS8K info regarding Call Home.
  • 4 DS8870 has reached End of Service (EOS) as of 31 December, 2020.  Call Home is only supported with firmware 87.52.19.0 and higher, see EoS DS8K info regarding Call Home.   
  • Invalid "removed ports" alerts from IBM Spectrum Control and IBM Storage Insights: For DS8000 storage systems that run microcode levels earlier than R8.5 SP5.2 - 88.55.9.2, after a probe you might receive alerts that FC ports were removed. In most cases, the alerts are invalid and the ports were not actually removed. This problem occurs because of a memory leak in the ESSNI network layer. For more details, see https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/apar/IT36044.
    • To fix this problem when it occurs, contact IBM Support to help recycle ESSNI before the next probe.
    • For a permanent fix, update your DS8000 to microcode level R8.5 SP5.2 - 88.55.9.2 or later.

Learn more about IBM Spectrum Control

IBM Spectrum Control is an on-premises storage management, monitoring, and reporting solution for storage systems, hypervisors, servers, fabrics, and switches.

Learn more about IBM Storage Insights

IBM Storage Insights is a complementary offering to IBM Spectrum Control. It's an off-premises, IBM Cloud service that provides cognitive support capabilities, monitoring, and reporting for storage systems.

  • For detailed information about the capabilities of IBM Storage Insights, see IBM Knowledge Center.
  • For a complete list of the storage systems that are supported by IBM Storage Insights, see Supported resources.

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Document Information

Modified date:
17 June 2022

UID

swg27050160

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