Administrator Guide
Table Of Contents
- Dell EMC PowerVault ME4 Series Storage System Administrator’s Guide
- Contents
- Getting started
- New user setup
- Configure and provision a new storage system
- Using the PowerVault Manager interface
- System concepts
- About virtual and linear storage
- About disk groups
- About RAID levels
- About ADAPT
- About SSDs
- About SSD read cache
- About spares
- About pools
- About volumes and volume groups
- About volume cache options
- About thin provisioning
- About automated tiered storage
- About initiators, hosts, and host groups
- About volume mapping
- About operating with a single controller
- About snapshots
- About copying volumes
- About reconstruction
- About quick rebuild
- About performance statistics
- About firmware updates
- About managed logs
- About SupportAssist
- About CloudIQ
- About configuring DNS settings
- About replicating virtual volumes
- About the Full Disk Encryption feature
- About data protection with a single controller
- Working in the Home topic
- Guided setup
- Provisioning disk groups and pools
- Attaching hosts and volumes in the Host Setup wizard
- Overall system status
- Configuring system settings
- Managing scheduled tasks
- Working in the System topic
- Viewing system components
- Systems Settings panel
- Resetting host ports
- Rescanning disk channels
- Clearing disk metadata
- Updating firmware
- Changing FDE settings
- Configuring advanced settings
- Changing disk settings
- Changing system cache settings
- Configuring partner firmware update
- Configuring system utilities
- Using maintenance mode
- Restarting or shutting down controllers
- Working in the Hosts topic
- Working in the Pools topic
- Working in the Volumes topic
- Viewing volumes
- Creating a virtual volume
- Creating a linear volume
- Modifying a volume
- Copying a volume or snapshot
- Abort a volume copy
- Adding volumes to a volume group
- Removing volumes from a volume group
- Renaming a volume group
- Remove volume groups
- Rolling back a virtual volume
- Deleting volumes and snapshots
- Creating snapshots
- Resetting a snapshot
- Creating a replication set from the Volumes topic
- Initiating or scheduling a replication from the Volumes topic
- Manage replication schedules from the Volumes topic
- Working in the Mappings topic
- Working in the Replications topic
- About replicating virtual volumes in the Replications topic
- Replication prerequisites
- Replication process
- Creating a virtual pool for replication
- Setting up snapshot space management in the context of replication
- Replication and empty allocated pages
- Disaster recovery
- Accessing the data while keeping the replication set intact
- Accessing the data from the backup system as if it were the primary system
- Disaster recovery procedures
- Viewing replications
- Querying a peer connection
- Creating a peer connection
- Modifying a peer connection
- Deleting a peer connection
- Creating a replication set from the Replications topic
- Modifying a replication set
- Deleting a replication set
- Initiating or scheduling a replication from the Replications topic
- Stopping a replication
- Suspending a replication
- Resuming a replication
- Manage replication schedules from the Replications topic
- About replicating virtual volumes in the Replications topic
- Working in the Performance topic
- Working in the banner and footer
- Banner and footer overview
- Viewing system information
- Viewing certificate information
- Viewing connection information
- Viewing system date and time information
- Viewing user information
- Viewing health information
- Viewing event information
- Viewing capacity information
- Viewing host information
- Viewing tier information
- Viewing recent system activity
- Other management interfaces
- SNMP reference
- Using FTP and SFTP
- Using SMI-S
- Using SLP
- Administering a log-collection system
- Best practices
- System configuration limits
- Glossary of terms
Clearing disk metadata
You can clear metadata from a leftover disk to make it available for use.
CAUTION: Only use this command when all disk groups are online and leftover disks exist. Improper use of this
command may result in data loss. Do not use this command when a disk group is offline and one or more leftover
disks exist. If you are uncertain whether to use this command, contact technical support for assistance.
Each disk in a disk group has metadata that identifies the owning disk group, the other disks in the disk group, and the last time
data was written to the virtual pool or linear disk group. The following situations cause a disk to become a leftover:
● The disks' timestamps do not match so the system designates members having an older timestamp as leftovers.
● A disk is not detected during a rescan, then is subsequently detected.
● A disk that is a member of a disk group in another system is moved into this system without the other members of its group.
When a disk becomes a leftover, the following changes occur:
● The disk's health becomes Degraded and its usage value becomes LEFTOVR.
● The disk is automatically excluded from the disk group, causing the disk group's health to become Degraded or Fault,
depending on the RAID level.
● The disk's fault LED is illuminated amber.
If a spare is available, and the health of the disk group is Degraded or Critical, the disk group will use them to start
reconstruction. When reconstruction is complete, you can clear the leftover disk's metadata. Clearing the metadata will change
the disk's health to OK and its usage value to AVAIL. The disk may become available for use in a new disk group.
NOTE: If a spare is not available to begin reconstruction, or reconstruction has not completed, keep the leftover disk so
that you will have an opportunity to recover its data.
This command clears metadata from leftover disks only. If you specify disks that are not leftovers, the disks are not changed.
Clear metadata from leftover disks
1. In the System topic, select Action > Clear Metadata. The Clear Metadata panel opens.
2. Select the leftover disks from which to clear metadata.
3. Click OK.
4. Click Yes to continue. Otherwise, click No. If you clicked Yes, the metadata is cleared.
5. Click OK.
Updating firmware
The Update Firmware dialog box displays the current versions of firmware on the controller modules, expansion modules, and
disk drives.
If SupportAssist is enabled on an ME4 Series storage system, the storage system periodically checks if a firmware update is
available. If a firmware update is available, a message about the firmware update is added to the storage system event log.
For information about supported releases for firmware update, see the Dell EMC PowerVault ME4 Series Storage System
Release Notes.. For information about which controller module updates the other controller module when one is replaced, see
About firmware update.
To monitor the progress of a firmware update using the activity progress interface, see Using the activity progress interface.
Best practices for firmware update
● In the health panel in the footer, verify that the system health status is OK. If the system health status is not OK, view
the Health Reason value in the health panel in the footer and resolve all problems before you update the firmware. For
information about the health panel, see Viewing health information.
● Run the check firmware-upgrade-health CLI command before updating the firmware. This command performs a
series of health checks to determine whether any conditions exist that need to be resolved before the firmware can be
62
Working in the System topic