Hardware manual

2–1
2 Common group tasks
When you use the setup utility or the Remote Setup Wizard to create a new PS Series group with one or more
members, you have a fully functioning group with many features.
Dell recommends you perform the common post-setup tas
ks listed here. See About the Group Manager GUI on
page 3-1 for information about logging in to the group.
Setting the group time
All members of a group share the same time zone. Each array’s clock is set at the factory, based on GMT. The
default time zone is America/New York, EST (Eastern Standard Time).
Group time is based on the first member’s clock. Each array yo
u add updates its clock to match the group’s date
and time. The group date and time determines the timestamp which is used to identify some objects (snapshots, for
example) you create on the group.
You can change the group time manually (see Modifying the time zone
and clock time on page 5-3).
You can also specify that the group use an external Network Time Protocol
(NTP) server to automatically set the
same time for all members (see Setting the time through an NTP server on pa
ge 5-4).
Creating a local administration account
You configure, manage, and authenticate local administration accounts within the group. Local accounts are
practical when you need only a small number of administration accounts for the group. Dell recommends one
account per administrator. See Creating a local administration account on page 4
-5 for more information.
Setting up event notifications
Dell recommends that you configure event notification, so you automatically receive messages when events occur
in the group. Events enable you to track operations and also detect and solve problems before they affect
performance or data availability.
See Group event logging on pag
e 14-1 and select one or more notification methods to automatically receive
notification when events occur:
• E-mail notification. If an e
vent occurs, the group automatically sends a message to designated e-mail
addresses. See Configuring E-Mail notification on page 1
4-3.
• E-Mail Home. If a hardware component fails
or if you update firmware, the group automatically notifies
customer support. E-Mail Home is available to all PS Series customers, but response time and assistance is
based on the validity and level of your support contract. See Configuring E-Mail home on pa
ge 14-4.
• Remote server logging. The group logs events t
o a remote server at the syslog facility. You can also access
events from the syslog server. See Configuring syslog notification on
page 14-5.