READ THIS FIRST

Is your VMAX3 connected to Secure Remote Services (SRS) with an unrestricted access policy?  If your answer is yes, then you do not need Live Optics.  Contact your Dell EMC Systems Engineer and ask them to open a request with Presales Solution Services (PSS) to collect the VMAX3 data and generate a VMAX3 Array Report.

If your VMAX3 is not connected to SRS or your SRS connection is restricted, you must open a Service Request at MyService360 to extract the VMAX3 Metrics Files (.DCF).  This procedure must be completed before starting the Live Optics VMAX3 service.  Live Optics does not recommend extracting VMAX3 Metric Files without assistance from qualified Dell EMC Customer Engineer.

Once extracted, consolidate the metric files into one or more .ZIP files and place them in a dedicated folder.

If your require assistance, please open a support ticket at support@liveoptics.com.

Overview

This document outlines the process to produce a VMAX3 array storage profile using Live Optics.  Arrays covered by this service include VMAX 100K, VMAX 200K, VMAX 400K, VMAX 250F/FX, VMAX 450F/FX, VMAX 850F/FX, VMAX 950 F/FX and PowerMax 2000/8000.

The Live Optics/VMAX3 service is a joint offering provided by Live Optics and Dell EMC Presales Solution Services (PSS).  Users upload their VMAX3 Metric files (i.e. .DCF) to Live Optics.  Live Optics forwards the user’s data to PSS.  PSS then processes the data and generates a PowerPoint with the results.  The final document is sent back to the user via e-mail using the “from” address reports.noreply1@dell.com.

 

 

Quick-Start Directions

 

1. Launch Live Optics Collector (Windows .NET version)
2. Click Get Started
3. Click “Yes, I agree” to accept the End User License Agreement (prompted only on first execution)
4. Click “Yes, this is me” after verifying your identity is correct (prompted only on first execution)
5. Select Storage from the left menu
6. Select VMAX
7. Click Next
8. Select VMAX3
9. Click Next
10. Click Select Folder
11. Browse to the folder containing the .ZIP file with the .DCF file
12. Click Next
13. Select the Upload Option, either upload automatically (recommended) or upload later
14. Click Next
15. If upload automatically was selected, enter the project name to be created
16. Click Next
17. After the files are processed and optionally uploaded, click Quit to exit the application

 

Detailed Instructions

 

Step 1: Download the Live Optics Windows collector software

• There are two methods to download the collector software:
  • From the email you received from your systems consultant inviting you to Live Optics by clicking the Download Collector link.
  • From the Live Optics portal, select Collectors from the left menu, then Download Collector.
• Either option will bring you to the Download Collectors page. To perform storage array profiles, download the collector for your preferred operating system.  Note, the Windows collector requires .NET 4.5 or greater to be installed on the host running the collector.
• Click the Download button to start the download. A file named LiveOptics.zip will be downloaded.
• Once the file download completes, extract the contents of the zip file on the host where you wish to run the software. The Live Optics collector does not install like a typical Windows application.  Extracting the zip file is all that is needed to run the collector.  Note, the collector can be run on any host with IP connectivity to the storage arrays you wish to profile.

Step 2: Run Live Optics collector software

• Open the directory where you extracted the files from the zip download and double-click LiveOpticsDotNet4_5.exe.
• Click the “Yes, I agree” button to accept the End User License Agreement. Note, this appears the first time you run the collector software. Each subsequent time you will not be asked this question.

 

• Confirm your name/company is correct and click “Yes, this is me”. If you were invited to run Live Optics, your systems consultant information will also be listed.

 

 

 

Step 3: Select Storage from the list of profile types.

 

 

 

Step 4: Select VMAX from the list of storage array models and then select VMAX3.

 

 

 

Step 5: Select Files

• Browse to the directory containing the .ZIP of the .DCF files and click OK. The collector will upload all .ZIP files in the selected directory.

 

• Click next after you have identified the directory containing the .ZIP/.DCF files.

 

 

Step 6:  Select the method to upload to the Live Optics web site for processing

• Selecting the default, “Upload my collection data to the Live Optics web portal automatically”, is the recommended method. This option will automatically upload the collected data to the Live Optics portal and start processing. Use this option when the host running the collector has Internet access. Once selected, click Next.

 

 

• Enter the name of the project for your array profile. Click Next.

 

 

• The files are processed and uploaded to the web portal. During the upload, a status bar indicates the progress.  As storage array data can be quite large, the upload may take some time to complete depending on the speed of your Internet connection.

 

 

 

• The collector will indicate when the upload has completed. Click Quit to close the collector
• You will receive an email from Live Optics when your project has been successfully uploaded and made available to Dell EMC Professional Shared Services (PSS).

 

 

 

• Selecting “I will upload later…” will process and save your array data to an encrypted file with the name [hostname]_VMAX.siokit. The file is written to the same folder from where the collector was executed. Use this option when the host running the collector does not have Internet access.

 

 

 

Step 7: Uploading the SIOKIT file (applies only if selected “I will upload later…”)

• The Live Optics web portal supports directly uploading .siokit files that are less than 100MB. If your file is large than 100MB, use the collector to upload the file.  The following outlines the steps for uploading using the Windows collector.
• Copy the .siokit file along with the downloaded collector files (or download again) to a host with Internet access.
• Double-click on LiveOpticDotNet4_5.exe to start the collector.
• From the upper right menu bar, select Upload SIOKIT.

 

 

 

• Click Browse for File. Select the .siokit file.
• Enter the name of the project for your array profile. Click Upload.

 

 

 

• The file is uploaded to the web portal. During the upload, a status bar indicates the progress.  As storage array data can be quite large, the upload may take some time to complete depending on the speed of your Internet connection.

 

 

 

• The collector will indicate when the upload has completed. Click Quit to close the collector.
• You will receive an email from Live Optics when your project has been successfully uploaded and made available to Dell EMC Professional Shared Services (PSS).

 

 

 

Step 8: View Project Results

• Project results are sent to the user and/or the corresponding Dell EMC Sales Engineer from noreply1@dell.com. You can also log in to the Live Optics web portal (https://www.liveoptics.com) to see the status of your project.