VNX: How to Enable and Retrieve NAR Files in the Unisphere user interface (User Correctable)

1. Log in to Unisphere.
   1. On the Dashboard landing page:
      1. Right-click the system name in question.
      2. Select Properties, a dialogue box appears.
      3. Under the General tab, check the box next to Statistics Logging.
      4. Click Apply then OK.

 

2. Click the system name.
   1. Click the System tab.
      1. Select Monitoring and Alerts.
      2. Select Statistics for Block or Statistics.
      3. Under Settings, select Performance Data Logging.
      4. A dialogue box appears, configure the settings below:
         • Real-Time interval: 60 (Recommended)
         • Archive Interval: 60 (Recommended)
         • Periodic Archiving: Checked
         • Stop Automatically After: Unchecked

5. Click Apply then Start.

 

3. Retrieve the files.
   1. In the Statistics or Statistics for Block page:
      1. Select Retrieve Archive under Archive Management.
      2. A dialogue box appears.
      3. Under Archives on SP, a list of available files is shown.
         • Create New stops the file in progress and starts a new file.
         • If selected, be sure to Refresh.
      4. Select the wanted files.
         • Save File(s) As: Select a save location.
         • Note: Generally, files are similar between the two Storage Processors. Only files from SPA or SPB are necessary for review as they should contain the same information.
      5. Click Done when complete.

NAR Files used by Dell Support to diagnose issues that are related to array performance on the Block side. The statistics that are logged contain information about the internal components of the array, such as Utilization, Response Times, I/O throughput, so on. It is recommended to always have these running as events that impact performance are not captured otherwise.

SP Collects contain information that is related to configurations that could be impacting the performance. NAR files are necessary to get a detailed look into the I/O behavior, and overall workload.

NAR Files with periodic archiving enabled are saved to an internal 2 GB file on the Storage Processors. When the files are running non-stop, the archives are saved until the 2 GB of space has been filled. Once full, the oldest archive file is overwritten to provide space for newer archive.