EVA 5000 Health Check

[Frank Andrews]

I have a new client that has asked for a general health check on an EVA 5000.

I don't know what information they already have about it, so I'm planning to do a general audit, listing all the components, quantities, connections, switches, firmware levels, HBAs, multi path s/w, windows OS, patches etc. Of course I'll check disk occupancy and disk space free. I'll then be able to offer advice on any items which need updating.

What I'd like to know is what else could I do to check the EVA health and performance? Unfortunately I don't know if they are running any tools on their management server, so worst case scenario is that they may not be.

What tools could i install or query on site to check the general performance and status, to add value to this 'health check' ?

Thanks

[Víctor Cespón · Accepted solution]

Too many things to check here:
- Command View updated, version 6 recommended
- EVA firmware updated or at least in a supported level (>=3.028/4.007)
- EVA disk firmware updated or a least at minimum supported version
- Firmware and drivers of the HBA updated
- Multipathing software updated
- No amber or red LEDs on the EVA (I suppose, this is too obvious)
- Disk failure protection on the disk group set to "Single" or "Double"
- At least several GB of free space remaining on disk group
- Vdisks assigned evenly to both controllers, not all on the same controller
- Check events in Command View. If you can, request HP support to do it, they can see more.
- Check link and disk performance using EVAPerf.

HP StorageWorks Enterprise Virtual Array 3000 and 5000 configuration best practices
http://h71028.www7.hp.com/ERC/downloads/5982-9140EN.pdf

HP StorageWorks Command View EVA user guide, including EVAperf
http://bizsupport.austin.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c01081029/c01081029.pdf

[McCready]

I would also add
- Make sure the error notification service ISEE and associated components are correctly installed.
- If the customer has a trap manager, consider sending SNMP traps of events to that manager.
- IF CA replication is in use, make sure there is plenty of room left for logs, and that their testing reflects how they would use the replicated disks in a DR situation.
- The Vraid level in use matches their expectations and hardware config of their array.
- Appropriate documentation is available for troubleshooting purposes, including names of hosts and vdisks on the EVA.
- Hosts are defined correctly in the EVA, including o/s type and correct wwid's assigned
- All expected paths are seen by the host.
- Switch firmware levels were at a minimum at a supported level when the in use EVA firmware was released, and optimally are still at a supported level.
- HP contracts are correctly in force, hopefully for both the EVA and the O/S.

And I would say, for most EVA's, one wants at least a TB available (including disk protection) for both failed disk recovery and ease of expansion (depending upon the application environment).

[Frank Andrews]

Guys, Thanks very much for this information, very useful. Using the methods that are detailed I guess my visit to site will be mainly an information gathering exercise, a sort of assessment of their current setup with recommendations as to what remedial work should be carried out. I still feel its not actually a performance check though, but perhaps performance can't be checked properly until the system is verfied to be running the current supported firmware/software/drivers etc?

[Mark Smithers]

I would also add that a current "Capture Config" has been run. Dug me out of trouble a few times.

[Frank Andrews]

Thanks, where is the "Capture Config" command? Is this part of Command View EVA? What kind of data does it output and how can it be viewed?

Also has anyone used the "SAN Visibility tool"? (Free download from HP)

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareIndex.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodNameId=406736&prodTypeId=12169&prodSeriesId=406734&swLang=13&taskId=135&swEnvOID=181

Is this useful for SAN Health/Performance?

[Uwe Zessin]

"CAPTURE CONFIGURATION" is a command of the Storage System Scripting Utility (SSSU). A (Windows) copy is installed together with CV-EVA - just look for "sssu.exe" on C:\.

If you can tell us, which version of CV-EVA is installed, we can give advice on the commands (they can vary between versions).

SAN Visibility gives a nice overview, but you do need to send the raw data for preparation to HP. You might ask the client before, if that is ok with him.

[Frank Andrews]

Can anyone give me a summary of EVAPerf and how I can use it to gauge performance of the EVA?

If this is relevant I believe they have a mixture of WMWare/Windows/Orace hosts on the EVA.

[Uwe Zessin]

EVAPerf offers two interfaces:

- a plugin to the Windows performance monitor

- a command-line interface, which allows you to capture the data to different file formats. If you click the EVAPerf icon on the desktop, a command window opens with the default context set to the EVAPerf folder. Here is a link to a whitepaper:
http://h71028.www7.hp.com/ERC/downloads/5983-1674EN.pdf

[Frank Andrews]

Sorry if this is a silly question, but what installs EVAPerf? Is this installed automatically as part of CV EVA or is it on the supplied CVA EVA media?

I found on my laptop I have a copy of an installer called "EvaPerf_1_0_50426.exe" from 2005 and have downloaded an update called "EvaPerf_1_0_51122.exe"

[Uwe Zessin]

For quite some time EVAPerf is installed as part of the CV-EVA installation. I *think* it started with version 5.

[Uwe Zessin]

For quite some time EVAPerf is installed as part of the CV-EVA installation.
I *think* it started with version 5.