MD1200/PERC H880 monitoring in SCOM 2012 R2

Hello Thomas,

With the MD1200 you monitor them using OMSA (Open Manage Server Administrator).  With the MD1200 & OMSA all the reporting is done from the PERC card in the server that the MD1200 is connected to.  MDSM is used for the MD3xxx systems & is used to deploy & manages those systems.  Here is a link to OMSA. www.dell.com/.../DriversDetails

Please let us know if you have any other questions.

Hi Sam,

Thank you for your answer.

I have the Open Manage Server Administrator installed on the servers. And I can see all the alerts and configuration there.

But I would like to have one place to get all alerts. I allready have all servers, LAN/WAN, SAN and more in SCOM. Our "Watch guard" should not get alerts from other systems than SCOM.

So I really need to get this into SCOM.

And as far as I can see/read, it is possible, if each enclosure has a dedicated IP address. But my MD1200 does not have an IP :(

I get all data in SCOM regarding all DELL hardware. This is just the last thing I need. Monitoring of our MD1200 in SCOM.

Do you have any good ideas?

Best regards,

Thomas Nyvang

Hello Thomas,

So the only way for an MD1200 to have an IP for the enclosures are if they are daisy chained to MD3200/MD3200i/MD3220/MD3220i/MD3600i/MD3620i/MD3600f/MD3620f/MD3260/MD3260i/MD3660i/MD3660f.  Now with the MD1200 they have EMM (Enclosure Management Modules) in them that talk to your PERC cards that are in your servers.  The EMM are just passthrough from the PERC cards.

Now since your PERC card does all the reporting & holds the configuration that is on your MD 1200 what you would need to do is to setup alerts in open manage to send you emails whern there is an issue with your MD1200.  Other than that I am not sure how you can get your MD1200 seen by SCOM.

Please let us know if you have any other questions.

Hi Sam,

Thank you again for your answers :)

I know that our MD1200 is daisy chained to the PERC H800. But SNMP data is collected on the server. So I just need to get that data ;)

My SCOM tells me now this. See below. But is this because of the missing IP? Is it possible to give the enclosures an IP address when these is not LAN connected?

Summary

Dell MD Storage Array IP Address is currently unresponsive. This status occurs when the management pack during it's periodic discovery cannot communicate with the management IP address of the storage array (listed as part of the IP configuration file for the management pack).

Causes

1. Storage Array is turned off

2. Storage Array is disconnected

3. Maximum number of TCP/IP connections has been reached

Resolutions

1. Make sure that the RAID controller modules are installed and that power is turned on to the storage array. If a problem exists, correct it.

2. If you have an out-of-band storage array, follow this procedure.

a. Make sure that the network can access the RAID controller modules by using the ping command. Use the form ping %host-name-or-RAID controller module-IP-address% .If the network can access the RAID controller modules, continue to step (b). If the network cannot access the RAID controller modules, go to step (c).

b. If the storage array returns to Dell views in the next discovery cycle, you have completed this procedure.

c. Examine the Ethernet cables to make sure that you cannot see any damage and that they are tightly connected.

d. Make sure that the applicable network configuration tasks have been done (for example, IP addresses have been assigned to each RAID controller module).

3. If you have an in-band storage array, follow this procedure.

a. Make sure that the network can access the host by using the ping command. Use the form ping %host-name-or-IP-address%. If the network can access the host, continue to step (b). If the network cannot access the host, go to step (c).

b. If the storage array returns to Dell views in the next discovery cycle, you have completed this procedure.

c. Make sure that the power to the host is turned on and that the host is operational.

d. Make sure that the host bus adapters have been installed in the host.

e. Examine all external cables and switches or hubs to make sure that you cannot see any damage and that they are tightly connected.

f. Make sure that the host agent software is installed and running. If you started the host before the host was connected to the RAID controller modules in the storage array, the host-agent software will not be able to find the RAID controller modules. If so, make sure that the connections are tight, and restart the host-agent software.

g. If you have recently replaced or added the RAID controller module, restart the host-agent software so that the new RAID controller module is found. If a problem exists, make the appropriate modifications to the host.

5. Make sure that the RAID controller module firmware is compatible with the supported firmware versions as per the Dell MD Storage Array management pack User Guide. If the RAID controller module firmware was upgraded, the management pack might not have access to the storage array. A new version of management pack might be needed to manage the storage array with the new version of the RAID controller module firmware. If this problem exists, contact your Technical Support representative.

6. Look to see if there is too much network traffic to one or more RAID controller modules. This problem corrects itself because the management pack tries to re-establish communication with the RAID controller modules in the storage array at the next scheduled discovery. If the storage array was unresponsive and a subsequent try to connect to the storage array succeeds, the storage array becomes responsive.

7. For an out-of-band storage array, look to see if management operations are taking place on the storage array from other storage management stations. The type of management operations being done and the number of management sessions taking place together establish the number of Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) connections made to a RAID controller module. When the maximum number of TCP/IP connections have been made, the RAID controller module stops responding. This problem corrects itself because, after some TCP/IP connections complete, the RAID controller module then becomes responsive to other connection tries.

8. If the storage array is still unresponsive, problems might exist with the RAID controller modules. Contact your Technical Support representative.

Best regards,

Thomas Nyvang

Hello Thomas,

There is no way to assign an IP to the enclosures. Also the MDSM software is not supported with the MD1xxx systems as there is no Raid Controller in the MD1xxx systems that interacts with MDSM.  All reporting and managing of your MD1200 is done through the PERC controller Bios or Open Manage which also talks to the PERC bios.  

You are going to have to use open manage and configure the alerts that you want to be notified about.  Other than using open manage to send the alerts I don’t know of any way to get the alerts about an issue with your MD1200.

Please let us know if you have any other questions.