Administrator Guide

Alerts
9 Prefailure alerts provided by Dell EMC PowerEdge server systems management | ID 426
2.1 Drive alerts
Drive alerts are based on the SMART industry-standard specification for system drives. SMART drives are
engineered to provide early warning of certain drive failure indicators. These indicators are meant to give
advanced warning of certain types of failures. These warnings do not include defective components, improper
handling, or static electricity discharge. However, roughly 60% of drive failures are due to gradual wear and
tear. These kinds of failures usually have warning signs that trigger a SMART alert, thus enabling IT
administrators to take preventive action.
The iDRAC heuristic algorithms use SMART indicators to monitor drive reliability and data availability. If
certain reliability thresholds are exceeded, a predictive failure alert is generated. The iDRAC notes the event
in a system log; and, if configured, sends an SNMP trap to a monitoring server. And, if configured with Dell
SupportAssist, a trouble ticket is opened automatically, and can dispatch a replacement drive without any
human intervention. The iDRAC interface displays a great deal of drive information, including prefailure
information and remaining rated write endurance for SSDs.