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This chapter describes the monitoring content available through the following HX Storage Cluster interfaces:
Cisco HX Connect
Cisco HX Data Platform Plug-in
Storage Controller VM command line
The Cisco HX Connect user interface provides a view of the Cisco HX storage cluster status, components, and features, such as encryption and replication.
Key monitoring pages include information about the local Cisco HX storage cluster:
Dashboard―Overall Cisco HX storage cluster status.
Alarms, Events, Activity―See the Cisco HyperFlex Systems Troubleshooting Reference Guide for details.
Performance―Charts for IOPS, throughput, latency, and replication network bandwidth.
System Information―HX storage cluster system-related information, including node and disk information, and access the HX maintenance mode.
See the Cisco HyperFlex Systems Troubleshooting Reference Guide for generating support bundles, Storage Cluster Maintenance Operations Overview for entering and exiting maintenance mode, and Setting a Beacon to set a node or disk beacon.
Datastores―Status and tasks related to datastores.
Virtual Machines―Status and tasks related to protecting virtual machines.
Additional Cisco HX Connect pages provide management access:
Encryption―For data at rest disk and node encryption tasks.
Replication―For disaster recovery VM protection tasks.
The Upgrade page provides access to HX Data Platform and Cisco UCS Manager firmware upgrade tasks.
 Important |
If you are a read-only user, you may not see all of the options available in the Help. To perform most actions in HyperFlex (HX) Connect, you must have administrative privileges. |
Displays a status summary of your HX storage cluster. This is the first page that you see when you log in to Cisco HyperFlex Connect.
| UI Element | Essential Information |
|---|---|
|
Operational Status section |
Provides the functional status of the HX storage cluster and application performance. Click Information ( |
|
Cluster License Status section |
Displays the following link when you log into the HX storage cluster for the first time or till the HX storage cluster license is registered: Cluster License not registered link—Appears when the HX storage cluster is not registered. To register a cluster license, click this link and provide product instance registration token in the Smart Software Licensing Product Registration screen. For more information on how to get a product instance registration token, refer the Registering a Cluster with Smart Licensing section in the Cisco HyperFlex Systems Installation Guide for Microsoft Hyper-V. |
|
Resiliency Health section |
Provides the data health status and ability of the HX storage cluster to tolerate failures. Click Information ( |
|
Capacity section |
Displays a breakdown of the total storage versus how much storage is used or free. Also displays the storage optimization, compression-savings, and deduplication percentages based on the data stored in the cluster. |
|
Nodes section |
Displays the number of nodes in the HX storage cluster, and the division of converged versus compute nodes. Hovering over a node icon displays that node's name, IP address, node type, and an interactive display of disks with access to capacity, usage, serial number, and disk type data. |
|
Performance section |
Displays an HX storage cluster performance snapshot for a configurable amount of time, showing IOPS, throughput, and latency data. For full details, see Performance Page. |
|
Cluster Time field |
System date and time for the cluster. |
Several tables in HX Connect provide one or more of the following three fields that affect the content displayed in the table.
| UI Element | Essential Information |
|---|---|
|
Refresh field and icon |
The table automatically refreshes for dynamic updates to the HX Cluster. The timestamp indicates the last time the table was refreshed. Click the circular icon to refresh the content now. |
|
Filter field |
Display in the table only list items that match the entered filter text. The items listed in the current page of the table below are automatically filtered. Nested tables are not filtered. Type in the selection text in the Filter field. To empty the Filter field, click the x. To export content from other pages in the table, scroll to the bottom, click through the page numbers, and apply the filter. |
|
Export menu |
Save a copy of the current page of table data. The table content is downloaded to the local machine in the selected file type. If the listed items are filtered, the filtered subset list is exported. Click the down arrow to select an export file type. The file type options are: To export content from other pages in the table, scroll to the bottom, click through the page numbers, and apply the export. |
Displays a list of recent activity on the HX storage cluster allowing you to monitor the progress of VM operations, Cluster upgrade/expansion, enter/exit maintenance mode, and recovery jobs.
| UI Element | Essential Information |
|---|---|
|
Activity list |
Displays a list of recent tasks including the following details:
An expanded list shows the task's step name and status. Click the circular icon to refresh the content and fetch recent activity. The page refreshes automatically every 2 minutes. |
|
Recovery list |
Displays progress of all recovery-related jobs (for example, migration, recovery, test recovery, re-protect) including the following details:
An expanded list shows the task's step name and status. Click the circular icon to refresh the content and fetch recent activity. The page refreshes automatically every 2 minutes. |
|
Expand All / Collapse All button |
Toggles the view of the job list to display top-level task information or task details. You can also expand and collapse individual tasks. |
|
Operation |
HX Task Creation in Activity Page |
|
Ready Clone from HX plugin |
No HX task created. |
|
Ready Clone from HX Connect |
HX task added to the Activity page. |
|
Scheduled Snapshot task creation from HX Plugin |
No HX task created. |
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Scheduled Snapshot task creation from HX Connect |
HX task added to the Activity page. |
|
Snapshot creation from Schedule Snapshot |
HX task added to the Activity page. |
|
Snapshot now from HX Plugin |
No HX task created. |
|
Snapshot now from HX Connect |
HX task added to the Activity page. |
Displays HX storage cluster system-related information, including node and disk data, and provides access to HX maintenance mode.
Displays the basic configuration information for this HX storage cluster.
|
UI Element |
Essential Information |
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|---|---|---|---|
|
HX storage cluster field |
Name of the storage cluster. |
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Cluster License Status section |
Displays the Register Now link when you log into the HX storage cluster for the first time or till the HX storage cluster license is registered: Register Now link—To register a cluster license, click this link and provide product instance registration token in the Smart Software Licensing Product Registration screen. For more information on how to get a product instance registration token, refer the Registering a Cluster with Smart Licensing section in the Cisco HyperFlex Systems Installation Guide for VMware ESXi.
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License section |
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HX storage cluster status field |
Provides functional status of the HX storage cluster.
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vCenter link |
Secure URL to the VMware vSphere associated with this HX storage cluster. Click the link to remotely access the vSphere Web Client. |
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Hypervisor field |
Hypervisor version installed on this HX storage cluster. |
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HXDP Version field |
Installer package version installed on this HX storage cluster. |
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Data Replication Factor field |
Number of the redundant data replicas stored on this HX storage cluster. |
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Uptime field |
Length of time this HX storage cluster has been online. |
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Total Capacity field |
Overall storage size of this cluster. |
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Available Capacity field |
Amount of free storage in this cluster. |
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DNS Server(s) |
IP address for the DNS server(s) for this HX storage cluster. |
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NTP Server(s) |
IP address for the NTP server(s) for this HX storage cluster. |
Use Actions to access the controller VM using SSH as an administrator and perform actions such as Enable Controller Access over SSH, Disable Controller Access over SSH or register your license.
Note |
Actions to enable or disable SSH can only be performed by domain users, and not local users. Domain users are users in VC (ESXi) and AD (Hyper-V). |
|
UI Element |
Essential Information |
|---|---|
|
Disable Controller Access over SSH |
Secure Shell (SSH) is disabled by default. |
|
Register License |
Register your license. |
|
Re-register vCenter |
Re-register your license via vCenter |
|
Check Secure Boot Status |
Verify your Secure Boot Status |
Customize your Disk View display. Use the check box list to select and deselect the fields that appear in the Node Data section.
To display the Disk Legend icons and descriptions, click on Disk View Legend.
Displays data about individual nodes in this HX storage cluster. To see this information in tabular format, go to the Nodes page.
| UI Element | Essential Information | ||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Node |
Name of a node on this cluster. |
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Model |
Physical hardware model number of this node. |
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Disks |
Number of caching versus persistent disks in this node. |
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Node status |
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HXDP Version |
HyperFlex Data Platform version installed on this cluster. |
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Type |
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Hypervisor Status |
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Hypervisor Address |
IP address for the management network to this HX storage cluster. |
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Disk Overview |
Graphic representation of the number of disks in use for each node, the usage type and number of empty slots.
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For nodes with disks, you can place your cursor over a disk to view an interactive display of information including the following.
| UI Element | Essential Information |
|---|---|
|
Slot Number |
Location of the drive, for example Slot Number 2. |
|
Type of Disk |
|
|
Disk State |
|
|
Locator LED |
Activates a physical light on the host to help locate a disk; options are On and Off. |
|
Capacity |
Total disk size. |
|
Used / Total Capacity (Persistent Disks only) |
Amount of the disk used versus the total disk size. |
|
Serial Number |
Physical serial number of this disk. |
|
Storage Usage (Persistent Disks only) |
Percentage of disk storage used. |
|
Version |
Version of the disk drive. |
|
Disk Drive Interface |
The disk drive interface type, for example SAS or SATA. |
Displays data about all of the nodes in this HX storage cluster in a table. Each column can be used to sort the data.
| UI Element | Essential Information |
|---|---|
|
Enter HX Maintenance Mode button |
Select a node to access this button. Opens the Confirm HX Maintenance Mode dialog box. |
|
Exit HX Maintenance Mode button |
Select a node to access this button. After you complete any maintenance tasks, you must manually exit HX maintenance mode. |
|
Node column |
Name of a node in this HX storage cluster. |
|
Hypervisor Address column |
IP address for the management network of the Node referred in the Node column. |
|
Hypervisor Status column |
|
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Controller Address column |
IP address for the HX storage controller VM of the Node referred in the Node column. |
|
Controller Status column |
|
|
Model column |
Physical hardware model number of this node. |
|
Version column |
HyperFlex Data Platform installer package version installed on this node. |
|
Disks column |
Number of disks in the node. Click the number to open the Disks page filtered by the selected node name. |
Displays data about all of the disks in this HX storage cluster in a 7-column table. Each column can be used to sort the data.
| UI Element | Essential Information | |
|---|---|---|
|
Node column |
Name of the node where the disk resides. |
|
|
Slot column |
Location of the SED drive. This identifies the drive for maintenance procedures. |
|
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Capacity column |
Total disk size. |
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Status column |
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The following states can be ignored:
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Encrypted column |
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Type column |
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Usage column |
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Turn On Locator LED and Turn Off Locator LED radio buttons |
Select a disk to access the radio buttons. Activates or deactivates a physical light, or beacon, on the host to help locate the disk. |
|
|
(Optional) Secure erase button |
This button in visible only if your HX storage cluster is encrypted using local-key encryption. Select a disk to access the button. Enter the encryption key in use on the cluster, click Secure erase, and then click Yes, erase this disk to securely erase the local encryption key. |
|
Audit logging implies storing all audit logs to a remote syslog server. Currently, each controller VM stores audit logs, but these logs are not stored indefinitely. The logs are overwritten based on the retention policy set for the controller VM. By configuring a remote syslog server to store audit logs, you can ensure that the logs are retained for a longer period of time.
Following are the audit logs that you can export to the remote syslog server:
REST-related logs
/var/log/springpath/audit-rest.log
/var/log/springpath/hxmanager.log
/var/log/springpath/hx_device_connector.log
/var/log/shell.log
/var/log/springpath/stSSOMgr.log
/var/log/springpath/stcli.log
/var/log/springpath/hxcli.log
/var/log/nginx/ssl-access.log
After you enable audit logging, these logs are exported to the remote syslog server. If the logs from the controller VM are not pushed to the remote sylog server, or if the remote syslog server is not reachable, an alarm is generated in the HX-Connect user interface. However, HX Connect does not monitor the disk space available on the remote syslog server. The HX Connect user interface will not display an alarm if the disk on the remote syslog server is full.
Attention |
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After you enable audit logging, you can choose to either temporarily disable audit logging, or you can choose to delete the audit logging server configuration details.
Configure the remote syslog server. You must have the server details such as the server IP, the port number and certificate files to enable audit logging in HX-Connect.
To configure an encrypted connection between the controller VM and the remote syslog server, you must generate a self-signed certificate or a CA-signed certificate and a private key for the syslog client in the controller VM.
Configure the remote syslog server to categorize different types of logs into respective files.
| Step 1 |
Choose . |
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| Step 2 |
Check the Enable audit log export to an external syslog server check box. |
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| Step 3 |
Complete the following details:
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| Step 4 |
Click OK. |
Prior to enabling audit logging, you must create a configuration file on the remote syslog server to categorize different log files into separate files. You could create a file titled hx-audit.conf in the /etc/syslog-ng/conf.d directory.
Following is a sample of the configuration file to establish an encrypted connection with the syslog server:
) to access the HX storage cluster name and status data.
## Audit Logging Configuration ###
source demo_tls_src {
tcp(ip(0.0.0.0) port(6515)
tls(
key-file("/etc/syslog-ng/CA/serverkey.pem")
cert-file("/etc/syslog-ng/CA/servercert.pem")
peer-verify(optional-untrusted)
)
); };
filter f_audit_rest { match("hx-audit-rest" value("MSGHDR")); };
filter f_device_conn { match("hx-device-connector" value("MSGHDR")); };
filter f_stssomgr { match("hx-stSSOMgr" value("MSGHDR")); };
filter f_ssl_access { match("hx-ssl-access" value("MSGHDR")); };
filter f_hxmanager { match("hx-manager" value("MSGHDR")); };
filter f_hx_shell { match("hx-shell" value("MSGHDR")); };
filter f_stcli { match("hx-stcli" value("MSGHDR")); };
filter f_hxcli { match("hx-cli" value("MSGHDR")); };
destination d_audit_rest { file("/var/log/syslog-ng/audit_rest.log"); };
destination d_device_conn { file("/var/log/syslog-ng/hx_device_connector.log"); };
destination d_stssomgr { file("/var/log/syslog-ng/stSSOMgr.log"); };
destination d_ssl_access { file("/var/log/syslog-ng/ssl_access.log"); };
destination d_hxmanager { file("/var/log/syslog-ng/hxmanager.log"); };
destination d_hx_shell { file("/var/log/syslog-ng/shell.log"); };
destination d_stcli { file("/var/log/syslog-ng/stcli.log"); };
destination d_hxcli { file("/var/log/syslog-ng/hxcli.log"); };
log { source(demo_tls_src); filter(f_audit_rest); destination(d_audit_rest); flags(final); };
log { source(demo_tls_src); filter(f_device_conn); destination(d_device_conn); flags(final); };
log { source(demo_tls_src); filter(f_stssomgr); destination(d_stssomgr); flags(final); };
log { source(demo_tls_src); filter(f_ssl_access); destination(d_ssl_access); flags(final); };
log { source(demo_tls_src); filter(f_hxmanager); destination(d_hxmanager); flags(final); };
log { source(demo_tls_src); filter(f_hx_shell); destination(d_hx_shell); flags(final); };
log { source(demo_tls_src); filter(f_stcli); destination(d_stcli); flags(final); };
log { source(demo_tls_src); filter(f_hxcli); destination(d_hxcli); flags(final); };
########################
Following is a sample of the configuration file to establish a TCP connection with the remote syslog server:
#######################
## Audit Logging Configuration ###
source demo_tls_src {
tcp(ip(0.0.0.0) port(6515)
); };
filter f_audit_rest { match("hx-audit-rest" value("MSGHDR")); };
filter f_device_conn { match("hx-device-connector" value("MSGHDR")); };
filter f_stssomgr { match("hx-stSSOMgr" value("MSGHDR")); };
filter f_ssl_access { match("hx-ssl-access" value("MSGHDR")); };
filter f_hxmanager { match("hx-manager" value("MSGHDR")); };
filter f_hx_shell { match("hx-shell" value("MSGHDR")); };
filter f_stcli { match("hx-stcli" value("MSGHDR")); };
filter f_hxcli { match("hx-cli" value("MSGHDR")); };
destination d_audit_rest { file("/var/log/syslog-ng/audit_rest.log"); };
destination d_device_conn { file("/var/log/syslog-ng/hx_device_connector.log"); };
destination d_stssomgr { file("/var/log/syslog-ng/stSSOMgr.log"); };
destination d_ssl_access { file("/var/log/syslog-ng/ssl_access.log"); };
destination d_hxmanager { file("/var/log/syslog-ng/hxmanager.log"); };
destination d_hx_shell { file("/var/log/syslog-ng/shell.log"); };
destination d_stcli { file("/var/log/syslog-ng/stcli.log"); };
destination d_hxcli { file("/var/log/syslog-ng/hxcli.log"); };
log { source(demo_tls_src); filter(f_audit_rest); destination(d_audit_rest); flags(final); };
log { source(demo_tls_src); filter(f_device_conn); destination(d_device_conn); flags(final); };
log { source(demo_tls_src); filter(f_stssomgr); destination(d_stssomgr); flags(final); };
log { source(demo_tls_src); filter(f_ssl_access); destination(d_ssl_access); flags(final); };
log { source(demo_tls_src); filter(f_hxmanager); destination(d_hxmanager); flags(final); };
log { source(demo_tls_src); filter(f_hx_shell); destination(d_hx_shell); flags(final); };
log { source(demo_tls_src); filter(f_stcli); destination(d_stcli); flags(final); };
log { source(demo_tls_src); filter(f_hxcli); destination(d_hxcli); flags(final); };
########################You can choose to temporarily disable audit logging. By doing so, the remote syslog server details such as the server IP and the port, that you previously configured are retained in the system. You need not enter the server details again when you re-enable audit logging at a later time. You will only need to upload the certificate and private key files to enable audit logging.
| Step 1 |
Choose . |
| Step 2 |
Clear the Enable audit log export to an external syslog server check box. |
| Step 3 |
Click OK. Audit logging is disabled. |
As an administrator, you can delete the remote syslog server configuration details from the system. When you do so, the system does not push server logs to the remote syslog server. To enable audit logging, you will have to provide the server details again.
| Step 1 |
Choose . |
| Step 2 |
Click Delete. |
| Step 3 |
In the Confirm Delete dialog box, click Delete. The remote syslog server details are deleted from the system. |
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