HDS Performance Management with HDvM v6 or v7

Answer

IBM Spectrum Control and Tivoli Storage Productivity Center support performance monitoring with the HDvM 6.2, 6.3 and 7.0 SMI-S providers but with known limitations to the performance metrics returned. Issues encountered during test are documented below for your awareness as you determine how to use this functionality in your environment.

The information below for HDvM 6.2 also applies to HP XP CommandView Advanced 6.2 and the HP XP subsystems that support the BSP sub-profile.

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Starting with HiCommand Device Manager v6.1, the HDS SMI-S providers support basic performance statistical data for the following families of HDS storage subsystems.

• Universal Storage Platform™ V / Universal Storage Platform™ VM
• Adaptable Modular Storage / Workgroup Modular Storage
• Network Storage Controller™ / Universal Storage Platform™, and
• SANRISE - Modular

The support is implemented according to the Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA) storage management initiative specification (SMI-S) block server performance (BSP) sub-profile, which is supported by the IBM Tivoli Storage Productivity Center Performance Manager.

With a supported IBM Spectrum Control or Tivoli Storage Productivity Center system, the HDS subsystems can be monitored using the HDvM 6.2, 6.3 and 7.0 SMI-S providers for discovery, probes, and performance monitoring. IBM has tested the performance statistics and has found some unexpected behavior that limits the use, as described in the table below. Each row in the table corresponds to one of the performance manager metrics available in one or more of the performance reports for HDS storage subsystems. The metrics listed are limited to the BSP support implemented by the HDS SMI-S provider.

HDvM and Tivoli Storage Productivity Center Support by Version

	HDvM 6.1	HDvM 6.2	HDvM 6.3	HDvM 7.0
TPC 4.1.0	No	Yes - 4.1.0.111 (FP2)+	No	No
TPC 4.1.1	No	Yes	Yes - 4.1.1.84 (FP3)+	Yes - 4.1.1.105 (FP5)+
TPC 4.2.0	No	Yes	Yes	No
TPC 4.2.1	No	Yes	Yes	Yes - 4.2.1.163 (FP2)+
TPC 4.2.2	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
TPC 5.1.0	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
TPC 5.1.1	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
TPC 5.2.0	No	Yes	Yes	Yes

See the storage system support matrix for latest updates and further details about which HDvM versions are supported with Tivoli Storage Productivity Center and IBM Spectrum Control.

TPC Metric	TPC Reports	HDvM 6.2 Behavior for HDS Storage Subsystems in IBM Tests	HDvM 6.3 and 7.0 Behavior for HDS Storage Subsystems in IBM Tests
Read I/O Rate (overall)	By Volume	Expected	Expected
Write I/O Rate (overall)	By Volume	Expected	Expected
Total I/O Rate (overall)	By Volume	Unexpected - It was observed that the HDS SMI-S provider over-reported these values by a factor of two for LUSE volumes on HDS USP and USP-V enterprise storage subsystems.	Expected
	By Storage Subsystem	Expected	Expected
Read Cache Hit Percentage (overall)	By Volume	Expected	Expected
Write Cache Hit Percentage (overall)	By Volume	Expected	Expected
Total Cache Hit Percentage (overall)	By Volume	Unexpected - It was observed that due to the problems with the Total I/O Rate, the values for this metric were under-reported by a factor of two for LUSE volumes on HDS USP and USP-V enterprise storage subsystems.	Expected
Total Data Rate	By Volume	Unexpected - It was observed that the HDS SMI-S provider reported zero values on HDS AMS, 9500V, and 9200 arrays even though I/O activity was occurring.	Expected
	By Storage Subsystem	Unexpected - It was observed that the HDS SMI-S provider reported zero values on HDS AMS, 9500V, and 9200 arrays even though I/O activity was occurring. In addition, for HDS subsystems this metric measures the Total Port Data Rate rather than the Total Data Rate, which is the intended design of the HDS SMI-S provider, but is inconsistent with other subsystems.	Expected
Overall Transfer Size	By Volume	Unexpected - It was observed that due to the problems with the Total I/O Rate, the values for this metric were under-reported by a factor of two for LUSE volumes on HDS USP and USP-V enterprise storage subsystems.	Unexpected - It was observed that due to the problems with the Total I/O Rate, the values for this metric were under-reported by a factor of two for LUSE volumes on HDS USP and USP-V enterprise storage subsystems.
	By Storage Subsystem	Unexpected - It was observed that the HDS SMI-S provider reported zero values on HDS AMS, 9500V, and 9200 arrays even though I/O activity was occurring.	Unexpected - It was observed that the HDS SMI-S provider reported zero values on HDS AMS, 9500V, and 9200 arrays even though I/O activity was occurring.
Total Port I/O Rate	By Port	Expected	Expected
Total Port Data Rate	By Port	Unexpected - It was observed that the HDS SMI-S provider reported zero values on HDS AMS, 9500V, and 9200 arrays even though I/O activity was occurring.	Unexpected - It was observed that the HDS SMI-S provider reported zero values on HDS AMS, 9500V, and 9200 arrays even though I/O activity was occurring.
Overall Port Transfer Size	By Port	Unexpected - It was observed that the HDS SMI-S provider reported zero values on HDS AMS, 9500V, and 9200 arrays even though I/O activity was occurring.	Unexpected - It was observed that the HDS SMI-S provider reported zero values on HDS AMS, 9500V, and 9200 arrays even though I/O activity was occurring.

TPC = Tivoli Storage Productivity Center

The IBM tests were performed using Tivoli Storage Productivity Center using the following storage subsystems:

• HDS USP
• HDS 9570V

The tests consisted of discovering and probing the storage subsystems, and then running performance monitors on the subsystems for extended periods of time, while an I/O workload was generated on one or more of the volumes from one or more attached host systems. The resulting performance values displayed in the Tivoli Storage Productivity Center performance reports were then compared to the I/O workload that had been generated.