ARXVIEW DATACENTER ANALYTICS ENGINE

Pre-install checklist
Version 1.4


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Table of Contents
1 ARXVIEW DCAE INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................................... 4
ARXVIEW DATA COLLECTION SERVICES ........................................................................................................................................................ 4
2 ARXVIEW INSTALLATION REQUIREMENTS ................................................................................................................................. 6
2.1 ARXVIEW SERVER REQUIREMENTS ................................................................................................................................................... 6
2.2 OPTIONAL INFORMATION ................................................................................................................................................................. 7
3 INFRASTRUCTURE REQUIREMENTS ............................................................................................................................................... 7
3.1 VMWARE ESX OR MICROSOFT HYPER-V HOST SERVER ............................................................................................................... 7
3.2 NETWORK CONNECTIVITY ................................................................................................................................................................. 7
4 ARXVIEW PRE-INSTALL CHECKLIST ................................................................................................................................................ 8
4.1 FIREWALL AND ACCESS CONFIGURATION ....................................................................................................................................... 8
4.2 HYPERVISOR CONFIGURATION ......................................................................................................................................................... 9
4.3 ARXVIEW VIRTUAL MACHINE NETWORK CONFIGURATION .......................................................................................................... 9
4.4 REGIONS AND DATA CENTERS ....................................................................................................................................................... 10
4.5 STORAGE ARRAYS TO BE MONITORED ......................................................................................................................................... 11
4.6 VMWARE VCENTER SERVERS TO BE MONITORED ....................................................................................................................... 12
4.7 EMAIL ALERT CONFIGURATION (OPTIONAL) ................................................................................................................................. 13
4.8 REQUIRED THIRD-PARTY APPLICATIONS ....................................................................................................................................... 13


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1 Arxview DCAE Introduction
The Arxview Data Center Analytics Engine (Arxview) is a passive, agentless system that provides unique
storage usage metrics on demand while reducing and simplifying the workload of the technical IT staff. Arxview
maps data assets (SAN/NAS/DAS storage, LUNs, disks, virtual server assets, etc.) to the organizational structure
of the business and identifies key utilization metrics in that context.
Arxview is distributed as a virtual server appliance and is available in both VMware and Hyper-V formats.
Installation is as simple as importing the server appliance files into a hypervisor, setting network properties for
the Arxview virtual machine, adding credentials for the assets to be scanned, and adding those assets to the
Arxview system via the web-based GUI.
The Arxview service connects to most types of storage hardware, as well as general systems of record, to
generate a comprehensive, detailed map of your storage environment. Arxview includes services to discover
storage configurations, monitor system performance and events, and calculate end-user usage and allocation
values. All discovery steps are explained in detail in the accompanying documentation. With proper preparation
an Arxview installation and discovery can be completed in about ninety minutes.
Arxview provides valuable information to anyone that manages, maintains or relies on computer data storage.
This includes business users, technical managers, system administrators, operations center personnel and
enterprise IT architects.
Arxview Data Collection Services
Arxview is composed of a number of data collection services, as described below.
Arxview Core Services
The following services run by default whenever supported storage assets are added to the inventory:
Storage Discovery Service
This service gathers configuration and capacity information from SAN arrays and NAS filers, including
disks, LUNs, volumes, allocations, hosts, and capacities. It maps these objects to each other as well as
to downstream consumers (e.g., business units, SAN hosts) and upstream providers (storage arrays,
data centers, regions, and so forth). This information is presented in a number of reports and
visualizations within the Arxview web-based GUI.
Performance Monitoring Service
This service polls supported SAN arrays and NAS filers, gathering a wide range of performance
metrics such as I/O and data transfer rates and system load, and presents this information in a variety
of charts and tables within the Arxview GUI.
Event Monitoring Service
This service gathers real-time system events and alerts from supported SAN arrays and NAS filers,
links these alerts to dependent systems and business units, and presents them within the Arxview
GUI.
Arxview Usage Discovery Service (optional)
This service gathers volume capacity and usage information from end-user devices (Windows, UNIX, and Linux
server volumes). It maps this information back to storage LUNs where applicable and displays a number of
capacity and usage reports within the Arxview web GUI for each level, from individual device to host server to
storage array to enterprise. Note that this service requires access credentials for each server: user-level access
for Linux and UNIX servers, local administrator access for Windows servers.
Arxview File Crawl Service (optional)
This service gathers file metadata information directly from the end-user storage assets (DAS servers, SAN
hosts, NAS filers, and virtual machines) and aggregates those data points into a number of reports around file

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type and file extension breakdown, file age, stale data, duplicate file amounts, and so forth. This service requires
at least local administrator access right for each host to be scanned.

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2 Arxview Installation Requirements
The following information and access must be on hand or available when configuring the Arxview services:
1. The Arxview virtual machine root password. This will be supplied to you by Arxscan directly and can be
requested at any time via email support at [email protected].
2. Network addressing information for Arxview virtual machine as deployed at customer location:
Host name (default is arxviewdcae)
IP address and subnet mask
Gateway address
DNS server IP address (one or more)
3. The name of each region and data center to be monitored by Arxview.
4. Virtual console access to the Arxview virtual machine (via vSphere client).
5. A Windows domain account or local server account for administrative-level access to each SAN-
attached host or virtual machine running Windows operating system (if monitoring Windows server
usage).
6. Linux credentials, either single sign-on or per individual server (if monitoring Linux/UNIX servers usage).
7. IP address or host name for each SAN and NAS array.
8. Administrator credentials for each SAN and NAS array. Arxscan prefers using the same user
name/password combination on each array of the same type. Individual credentials can be configured
per array if required.
9. IP address or host name for each Dell and HP blade chassis.
10. Administrative or read-only access credentials for each Dell and HP blade chassis.
11. VMware vCenter server IP or host name, and access credentials.
2.1 Arxview Server Requirements
The following table summarizes virtual hardware and configuration requirements for Arxview virtual machine.
Minimum server requirements
Processors Dual Processors, ~ 2.0 GHz
Memory 2 GB
Disk space 30 GB, RAID-5 protected
Network Gigabit Ethernet (full duplex)
Open network ports
FTP (21) inbound only
SSH (22) inbound, outbound LAN
HTTP (80) inbound, outbound LAN and Internet (see 3.2)
HTTPS (443) outbound LAN and Internet (see 3.2)
other depending on application (see 3.2)
Monitored systems access
SAN array or NAS filer Administrative access
VMware vCenter Read-only (required) + Browse Datastore (optional)
Windows servers Local administrator (optional, if server monitoring is desired)

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2.2 Optional Information
It would be helpful if the following email configuration information was on hand at the time of deployment, but
it is not mandatory:
SMTP server name or IP address
SMTP port number (typically 25)
User name and password for the email account to be used for Arxview email alerting
These values are optional and can be added at a later date. However, until that time system alert email
forwarding will not function.
3 Infrastructure Requirements
3.1 VMware ESX or Microsoft Hyper-V host server
It is important to allocate enough resources in the virtualization infrastructure to deploy Arxview virtual
machine. Arxview server requirements are listed in section 2.1 above.
3.2 Network Connectivity
Please identify network location for Arxview virtual appliance and allow SSH access to it.
To install from within the Arxview virtual machine, that machine will require access to http://www.arxscan.com
(port 80) and https://support.arxview.net (port 443). If such access cannot be granted, a manual installation can
be performed as described in the Arxview Installation Guide, section Install Arxview via the Web.
Arxview server may send and receive traffic on the following network ports, depending on application usage
model, target systems type and access method:
SSH (22)
SMTP (25)
HTTP (80)
RPC (135)
HTTPS (443)
NFS (111, 2049)
NETBIOS (137139)
LDAP (389)
SMB (445)
other, depending on target systems type
Additional firewall configuration beyond that described in section 2.1 may therefore be required in certain high
security environments.
Linux and UNIX servers Root access (optional, if server monitoring is desired)

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4 Arxview Pre-Install Checklist
Please complete the tables below entirely, paying attention to the following important guidelines:
All fields must be filled prior to installing ArxviewDCAE.
Each item in section 4.1 (Firewall and Access Configuration) must be tested prior to installation.
Items set in oblique font are optional.
Check N/A for any equipment not present at this location.
The completed form must be made available to Arxview installation personnel. Supplemental documents
(spreadsheets, etc.) can be included with this document for large-scale projects.
4.1 Firewall and Access Configuration
Please make sure that firewall and access control pre-requisites are met.
Item Description

Network ports confirmed to be opened to Arxview virtual machine IP address (see 4.3.B):
4.1.A SSH (22)
4.1.B SMTP (25)
4.1.C HTTP (80)
4.1.D HTTPS (443)
Access credentials / accounts created and successfully tested for:
4.1.H Administrative access to each array and filer to be monitored
4.1.I Read-only access to each vCenter server to be monitored
4.1.J Arxview alerting email account
Comments:

Completed
Yes / No
Initial:

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4.2 Hypervisor Configuration
Please provide the information about the hypervisor host (VMware ESX or Microsoft Hyper-V) for the
deployment of the Arxview virtual machine.
Item Description Value

4.2.A Hypervisor host name or IP address

4.2.B Hypervisor user name
To be supplied by the customer at the time of install
4.2.C Hypervisor password
4.2.D Arxview virtual machine host name

(preferred host name is arxviewdcae)

Comments:

Completed
Yes / No
Initial:

4.3 Arxview Virtual Machine Network Configuration
Please provide network configuration information for Arxview virtual appliance.
Item Description Value

4.3.A Host name

(default host name is arxviewdcae)

4.3.B IP address

4.3.C Subnet mask

4.3.D Gateway address

4.3.E DNS server IP address #1

4.3.F DNS server IP address #2

4.3.G DNS server IP address #3

4.3.H NTP server host name or IP address

Comments:

Completed
Yes / No
Initial:


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4.4 Regions and Data Centers
Please provide information about regions and data centers that comprise your enterprise storage network.
Item Description Value

4.4.A Enterprise name

4.4.B Region 1 name

4.4.C Region 1 data center names






4.4.D Region 2 name

4.4.E Region 2 data center names






4.4.F Region 3 name

4.4.G Region 3 data center names






Comments:

Completed
Yes / No
Initial:
Please list additional regions and data centers in comments section or on a separate sheet if necessary.

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4.5 Storage Arrays To Be Monitored
Please list storage systems to be included in Arxview data collection.
Arxscan recommends that the credentials created for the Arxview service be the same on each storage array to
be monitored. Storage array monitoring requires administrator-level access.
Please verify access credentials and tick in Credentials tested? column. Login credentials are to be supplied
by the customer at the time of install.
Please list additional storage arrays on a separate sheet if necessary.
Array name Vendor IP address Data center Network domain
Credentials
tested?









































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4.6 VMware vCenter Servers To Be Monitored
Please list virtual infrastructure components to include in Arxview data collection.
Arxscan recommends that the credentials created for the Arxview service be the same on each VMware vCenter
server to be monitored. Read-only access is sufficient. Additional features such as orphaned VM reports are
available if the Arxview account is given the Browse Datastore privilege as well.
Please verify access credentials and tick in Credentials tested? column. Login credentials are to be supplied
by the customer at the time of install.
Please list additional systems on a separate sheet if necessary.
vCenter host name IP address Data center Network domain
Credentials
tested?











































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4.7 Email Alert Configuration (optional)
Please provide configuration information for Arxview email subsystem. This section is only required if email
alerting and forwarding functionality is desired.
Item Description Value

4.7.A SMTP host name or IP address

4.7.B SMTP port number

4.7.C
Arxview alerting email
account user name


4.7.D
Arxview alerting email
account password
To be supplied by the customer at the time of install
4.7.E Arxview alerting From address

4.7.F
Minimum severity level for email
notifications
Critical / High / Medium / Low / Info
(please circle as appropriate)

Comments:

Completed
Yes / No
Initial:

4.8 Required Third-party Applications
Please make sure that the following third-party software components are available prior to the installation.

Application Notes

VMware Converter Standalone Client
http://www.vmware.com/products/converter
VMware requires that a vmware.com user account is
created before downloading this application. This is not
required if deploying Arxview on an ESX host managed
by a vCenter instance that has the VMware Converter
Enterprise plug-in installed.

7-Zip, a freeware archiving application
http://www.7-zip.org/download.html
Similar archive extraction applications may be used
instead if already present on the workstation being
used for the installation. Possible alternatives include
WinZip, WinRAR, and PKZIP.

WinSCP, a freeware SFTP, FTP and SCP client
for Windows
http://winscp.net/eng/download.php
This is only required if the Arxview virtual machine will
not have access to the Internet. Arxscan strongly
recommends that the Arxview virtual machine be able
to access certain Internet sites on ports 22, 80 and 443
(see section 3.1.2).