New user: need assistance

First, you want to go to the Support By Product page at support.emc.com. Then in the search product look for CLARiiON CX4-Series:

https://support.emc.com/products/7841_CLARiiON-CX4-Series

From there go to the Documentation section and then the Manuals and Guides then the "Setup" guide for the model of CX4 that you have. This will provide an overview of the array, how hosts are connected, how the array is setup, the cabling, how you connect a management workstation (usually a Windows PC and IE) and how to connect to the array.

Next you can create a set of technical specifications for your array:

http://corpusweb130.corp.emc.com/upd_prod_CX4/jsp/upd_wizard.jsp?userAction=learn&locale=en

This will provide at least an overview. There are more documents on the support pages for different things, but the above should provide you with an overview to get started.

glen

Hi, thanks for the reply.  I have browsed the setup guide, and while it does go over the physical installation of the device and basic operations, it leaves much to be desired when describing the system overall and how to manage it.  For instance, when I navigate to the model section (in this case, a CX4-120), select "Manual and Guides", and then "Install", there are 21 items, one of them being the "CLARiiON CX4-120 Setup Guide".  In Step 8 it explains that to "Download the Unisphere Service Manager (USM) from the Powerlink CLARiiON Tools page for your storage system."  However, there is no such download that I could locate.  Under support tools for the product, there are 82 items, some of which are "Unisphere Client" and "Unisphere Server" for my OS, which has the same descriptions, so I am unsure what the differences are between the two.  Nevertheless, the setup guide says to install the server application, so I'm assuming that's it.

After installing it on my workstation, there appears to be no functionality, only an uninstall application.  I removed the server application and tried the Client.  After installation, I am able to connect using the already-configured SP address.

Again, I find no documentation on the Unisphere application, features of the device, etc etc.  In the Setup Guide, it mentions to complete XYZ steps, but doesn't go in-depth regarding anything.  I am left to navigate this Unisphere on my own, and am left with no information regarding the functionality of FLARE, and any details on the SnapView utility, which we apparently have but I have no idea how to use it.  When I search for Unisphere documentation, it directs the results to the Unisphere Central product, which is a virtual appliance that I am not using, nor plan to use.  These support documents and website are beyond frustrating to find what I need to do my job.

The CLARiiON arrays use either Navisphere or Unisphere (this depends on the version of Flare that is installed on the array) to manage the array. To access the array you use a browser (IE or Firefox) and have JAVA 1.6 or 1.7 u17 installed on your PC. You type in the IP address for one of the Storage Processors - SPA or SPB and you should connect to the array. It will ask for your username/password. Using this method the interface will come up in either Navisphere (for arrays running Flare 29 and earlier) or Unisphere (for arrays running Flare 30 - Flare 30 is the last Flare release for the CX4-series).

Once logged in, you can go the Help feature and that will provide most of the information on using the interface. The standalone Unisphere Client allows you the same function except the Client is installed on your PC. I've attached an older version of the Admin guide for Navisphere and the Release 30 Admin guide for Unisphere and the Release 30 Security guide. The older Navisphere Admin guide provides a very detailed look at using the interface and introduces a lot of the common terminology used on the array - some of this is also used in the Unisphere interface. The security guide provides and overview of the security features on the array.

I've also attached two addition White Papers - "Best Practices guide for Performance and Availability" and "Fundamentals". These two documents provide detailed information about the overall configuration of the array to achieve the best performance.

glen