Determining what is on your storage array – Dell PowerVault MD3260i User Manual

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Determining What Is On Your Storage Array

Even when you create a configuration on a previously unconfigured storage array, you still need to determine the
hardware and software features that must be included with the storage array. When you configure a storage array with
an existing configuration, you must ensure that your new configuration does not inadvertently alter the existing
configuration, unless you are reconfiguring the entire storage array. For example, to create a new disk group on
unassigned physical disks, you must determine which physical disks are available. The commands described in this
section enable you to determine the components and features in your storage array.
The show storageArray command returns the following general information about the components and properties
of the storage array:

A detailed profile of the components and features in the storage array

The battery age

The default host type (which is the current host type)

Other available host types

The hot spare locations

The identifiers for enabled features

The logical and physical component profiles

The time to which both RAID controller modules are set

The RAID controller module that currently owns each virtual disk in the storage array

To return the most information about the storage array, run the show storageArray command with the profile
parameter. The following is an example of the complete CLI and script command running on Windows:
client>smcli 123.45.67.89 -c "show storageArray profile;"

This example identifies the storage array by the dummy IP address 123.45.67.89. You can also identify the storage array
by name.
The show storageArray profile command returns detailed information about the storage array. The
information is presented in several screens on a display. You might need to increase the size of your display buffer to
see all of the information. Because this information is so detailed, you might want to save the output to a file. To save the
output to a file, enter the command as shown in the following example:
client>smcli 123.45.67.89 -c "show storageArray profile;"

-o c:\folder\storageArrayprofile.txt

In this example, the name

folder

is the folder in which you choose to place the profile file, and storageArrayprofile.txt is

the name of the file. You can choose any folder and any file name.

CAUTION: When you write information to a file, the script engine does not check to determine if the file name
already exists. If you choose the name of a file that already exists, the script engine writes over the information in
the file without warning.

When you save the information to a file, you can use the information as a record of your configuration and as an aid
during recovery.
To return a brief list of the storage array features and components, use the summary parameter. The command is
similar to the following example:
client>smcli 123.45.67.89 -c "show storageArray summary;"

The summary information is also returned as the first section of information when you use the profile parameter.
The following show commands return information about the specific components of a storage array. The information
returned by each of these commands is the same as the information returned by the show storageArray

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