Cisco DCNM server unresponsive

Posted by on July 17, 2017 2 comments
Cisco MDS

You’re running a DCNM virtual appliance and when you’re trying to log on, it looks like the appliance’s webserver is no longer active.

Connect to the Linux prompt of the appliance and do the following:

Stop DCNM services:

/usr/local/cisco/dcm/dcnm/bin/stopLANSANServer.sh

Open the psql prompt:

/usr/local/cisco/dcm/db/bin/psql dcmdb

log on with root password (user root is assumed)

Type the command:

VACUUM FULL ANALYZE VERBOSE;

This will produce tons of output, but just let it run and eventually it all ends and you just need to start the DCNM services again.

When done, quit the psql prompt:

dcmdb=> \q

Start DCNM services:

/usr/local/cisco/dcm/dcnm/bin/startLANSANServer.sh

Source: cisco.com

Reclaim thin provisioned space in VMware datastore

Posted by on June 30, 2017 No comments

We were using a portable storage array as temporary storage array to store data from an older array that had to be reconfigured. Capacity was quite an issue and everything would barely fit (with dedupe and compression doing its best on the Dell EMC XtremIO we were using for this), but we discovered that provisioned space wasn’t immediately reclaimed, so we got a bit into trouble when space wasn’t immediately reclaimed when data was deleted from a VMware version 5 datastore.

We were facing two options:

  • Datastore VMFS version 6: Unmap automatically every 12 hours (not 100% sure about this interval)
  • Datastore VMFS version 5: Unmap manually from the ESXi command line:

esxcli storage vmfs unmap -l XIO-05-VMFS-013

Read more »

Brocade SAN Switch commands that prove to be very useful

Posted by on June 8, 2017 No comments

Brocade commands are usually very easy to find out. Simply type “help” and look for the command you think you need, but what exactly does each command do? Here’s a list:

Info

uptime                          – Same as unix uptime
date                              – Same as unix date
version                          – Gives versions of firmwares & OS

Hardware State

faultshow                     – Show switch faults
fanshow                       – Show switch FAN faults
psshow                        – Show switch POWER SUPPLY faults
tempshow                    – Show switch TEMPERATURE values
switchstatusshow          – Overall status of switch

Config

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Free Dell EMC trainings

Posted by on May 23, 2017 No comments

For those that want some extra training on Unity or the VMAX All Flash for example, there’s free training available from Dell EMC Education at this moment:

This list is a summary only. For a complete list, take a look at DECN (Dell EMC Community Network) for the complete list: https://community.emc.com/docs/DOC-34286

How to create a snapview snapshot on an existing LUN

Posted by on May 8, 2017 No comments

I apologize in advance for this (6 years or so too late) post, since it’s for creating a snapview snapshot on a LUN on a VNX. It’s simply meant as a reminder for the command line syntax:

Examples for creating snapview snapshots (it only defines it, no COFW is happening at this point):
naviseccli -h 172.16.20.96 snapview -createsnapshot 17 -snapshotname VMFS-001-SNAP
naviseccli -h 172.16.20.96 snapview -createsnapshot 18 -snapshotname VMFS-003-SNAP
naviseccli -h 172.16.20.166 snapview -createsnapshot 27 -snapshotname VMFS-002-SNAP
naviseccli -h 172.16.20.116 snapview -createsnapshot 5 -snapshotname VMFS-004-SNAP

To start an actual point in time session (and the start of COFWs):
naviseccli -h [ip address] snapview -startsession [session name] -snapshotname VMFS-001-SNAP

To stop a session:
cnaviseccli -h [ip address] snapview -stopsession [session name]

To activate a snapview session (make the data visible):
naviseccli -h [ip address] snapview -activatesnapshot [session name] -snapshotname VMFS-001-SNAP

To deactivate a snapview session (stop presenting the data to the hosts):
naviseccli -h [ip address] snapview -deactivatesnapshot [session name] -snapshotname VMFS-001-SNAP