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Optical Prime FAQ

Team Live Optics
  • Updated

Overview

Everything you need to know about Optical Prime! This page provides help with the most commonly asked questions about Optical Prime. You can also search all Live Optics help or Create a Ticket to speak with Live Optics Support.

 

What is the interval length for a performance collection?

  • For Optical Prime the data is collected every 2 minutes and uploaded every 5 minutes

Does Optical Prime also collect server components, HW inventory, like HBA's firmware and drivers?

  • Optical Prime does not show disk HBA HW, firmware or drivers - make, model, CPU and memory are shown. 

Will I be able to see all the applications installed on the hosts?

  • Yes, applications are displayed. 

Is there a capability to do comparison of data gathered at different project run times on the same target server (s), ie server "X" across monthly scans capturing it over the last x number of months?

  • No, however, you can save the output of the information gathered and manually compare this to a future report.

Where is the SIOKIT located?

  • It is in the same directory as the Live Optics collector software.  The standard name for this folder is "LiveOptics". For more information on SIOKIT, see knowledge base article What is an SIOKIT File? 

What collectors are available for Optical Prime?

  • Optical Prime is available using the Windows collector or the Linux collector 

Is Optical Prime available for VMware?

  • Yes, Optical Prime has VMware support which includes ESXi. [Please note: ESXi as a target is not supported. You will require vCenter], 

Will I be able to group a few Virtual machines and see the workload?

  • Yes, the radio button on the left-hand side can be deselected for a VM so you can group VM workloads together.

Does the VMware reporting in Optical Prime include VSAN metrics?

  • Yes, it includes data store metrics, if the data is on the datastore.

Can we use Optical Prime for desktop virtualization assessments?

  • Optical Prime reports on virtual environments

When should I collect information from VMs directly rather than through vCenter?

  • When you want to understand the performance attributes in detail, connect to the VM directly.

What is the difference between virtual and hypervisor?

  • Virtualized is the virtual machine and hypervisor is the physical box running the hypervisor OS (e.g. VMWare, Hyper-V, etc). 

Do I need VMware rights to run Optical Prime in a virtualized environment?

Does Optical Prime display 3rd party arrays information such as show how busy disk drives are or memory or director/SP ports?

  • Optical Prime reports on the host operating system - the disk busy is from the application standpoint. Use Optical Prime to target servers that are connected to the 3rd party array (ie NetApp, 3Par etc), information like front end IOPS, peak and 95% IOPS, throughput at peak, R/W ratio and used/free capacity will be reported on. 

What about the #GetModern Assessments?

  • The PSS team uses the output from Optical Prime to provide host-based assessment reports.

Can you remove IP address ad server names from the Optical Prime reports?

  • Yes, we have provided the ability to obfuscate the server and disk names at the Live Optics collector software level.  Starting Live Optics from the command prompt using the switch "/anon" will provide random server and disk names in the project created in Optical Prime. Another way that a project can have the server and disk names changed would be from the Live Optics project.  When a project is shared, there is an option to anonymize the project for the recipient.  Additionally, you can also use the Publish option to generate a URL to be accessed outside of the Live Optics portal for anybody to access, regardless of access to it.

Does Optical Prime collect data from OS as well as VMware?

Can you put a range of IP addresses in the Optical Prime collector?  Is it possible to use wildcards to add servers to the Optical Prime collector?

  • No, Optical Prime requires either the full IP address or host name of each server when configuring it for a collector run.  Also, it will not scan an IP address range for any devices available.  There is a bulk import function on the .Net Collector that can be used for sites with high server count to be added to Live Optics.  For detailed instructions, please see knowledge base articles Bulk Server Import with Live Optics .NET Collector.

For the Optical Prime collector, when searching active directory does that simply help with IP address? Will I also need to add the credentials still need to be added?

  • Yes, AD helps with the IP address search and yes, credentials are needed.

What port does Optical Prime use when streaming data?

  • Port 443 (HTTPS) is used when streaming data from the Live Optics collector back to the Live Optics servers.

How do you run Optical Prime behind firewalls etc.?

  • Without internet connection, you should disable the web streaming function to direct Live Optics to only create a SIOKIT file after the collector run has completed.  This file will then be uploaded to the Live Optics portal to create a project for review. 

If a customer does local collection but runs it every day, will the collector write over the previous data or will it append an extension? Can the tool aggregate multiple days for analysis?

  • No, it will not write over previous data; the max collector run is 7 days.

Are there any time restrictions for how many days the user can wait to start the collector after it is requested?

  • No, as soon as they receive the email to download, they can begin the process. The collector expires in 90 days and can be run anytime up to the 90 days.

I see there is a process for dark sites - where can I find out how that is done?

  • Please contact support through Create A Ticket to process a dark site. This is currently available only for Optical Prime.

Does Optical Prime display core count view of the processors?

  • Yes, optical prime has core counts.

How long will the Optical Prime project information be available in the Live Optics Portal after upload?

  • Live Optics projects are available indefinitely on the portal.

In the "Project View", does the project display does it show 'total CPUs' and 'total CORES'?

  • Core counts are included in both aggregate and individual server statics

How can I get support for Optical Prime?

  • Ask Live Optics Support by selecting Create a Ticket. You can also visit: 

Where can I go to get trained on Live Optics?

  • Learning Zone pathway, Live Optics YouTube channel (and the Live Optics Support Site) are the best places to find Live optics training information. You can access the Live Optics YouTube channel from the Support Site Home Page under Featured Videos section.