Deployment Guide

Fault isolation methodology

ME4 Series Storage Systems provide many ways to isolate faults. This section presents the basic methodology that is used to locate faults

within a storage system, and to identify the pertinent CRUs affected.

As noted in Using guided setup on page 32, use the PowerVault Manager to configure and provision the system upon completing the

hardware installation. Configure and enable event notification to be notified when a problem occurs that is at or above the configured

severity. See the Dell EMC PowerVault ME4 Series Storage System Administrator’s Guide for more information.

When you receive an event notification, follow the recommended actions in the notification message to resolve the problem.

Fault isolation methodology basic steps

• Gather fault information, including using system LEDs as described in Gather fault information on page 80.

• Determine where in the system the fault is occurring as described in Determine where the fault is occurring on page 80.

• Review event logs as described in Review the event logs on page 80.

• If required, isolate the fault to a data path component or configuration as described in Isolate the fault on page 80.

Cabling systems to enable use of the replication feature—to replicate volumes—is another important fault isolation consideration

pertaining to initial system installation. See Host ports and replication on page 85 and Isolating replication faults on page 89 for more

information about troubleshooting during initial setup.

Options available for performing basic steps

When performing fault isolation and troubleshooting steps, select the option or options that best suit your site environment.

Use of any option is not mutually exclusive to the use of another option. You can use the PowerVault Manager to check the health icons/

values for the system, or to examine a problem component. If you discover a problem, either the PowerVault Manager or the CLI provides

recommended-action text online. Options for performing basic steps are listed according to frequency of use:

• Use the PowerVault Manager

• Use the CLI

• Monitor event notification

• View the enclosure LEDs

Use the PowerVault Manager

The PowerVault Manager uses health icons to show OK, Degraded, Fault, or Unknown status for the system and its components. The

PowerVault Manager enables you to monitor the health of the system and its components. If any component has a problem, the system

health is in a Degraded, Fault, or Unknown state. Use the PowerVault Manager to find each component that has a problem. Follow actions

in the Recommendation field for the component to resolve the problem.

Use the CLI

As an alternative to using the PowerVault Manager, you can run the show system CLI command to view the health of the system and its

components. If any component has a problem, the system health is in a Degraded, Fault, or Unknown state, and those components are

listed as Unhealthy Components. Follow the recommended actions in the component Health Recommendation field to resolve the

problem.

Monitor event notification

With event notification configured and enabled, you can view event logs to monitor the health of the system and its components. If a

message tells you to check whether an event has been logged, or to view information about an event, use the PowerVault Manager or the

CLI. Using the PowerVault Manager, view the event log and then click the event message to see detail about that event. Using the CLI,

run the show events detail command to see the detail for an event.

View the enclosure LEDs

You can view the LEDs on the hardware to identify component status. If a problem prevents access to the PowerVault Manager or the

CLI, viewing the enclosure LEDs is the only option available. However, monitoring/management is often done at a management console

using storage management interfaces, rather than relying on line-of-sight to LEDs of racked hardware components.

Troubleshooting and problem solving