Hello Everyone,
I want to bring to your attention another tool to use with your Cisco VSM environment. It will assist in viewing the status of your RAID and in gathering a debug package for Cisco TAC if you run into any problems with the RAID.
Note: This tool will only work with servers containing the LSI MegaRAID controller. Those servers include the CIVS-MSP-XRU servers.
The Challenge
Until now, if you wanted to view the status of your RAID in a VSM MSP, you can SSH into the server and enter some rather cryptic commands to get your output, or you have to rely on audible alerts and red LEDs on the front of the server. This leaves the server administrator to deal with RAID issues (ie. failed disk drives) in a reactive manner after a failure.
How does this tool help?
With this tool, checking the status of your RAID, including virtual and physical disks, will be as simple as pointing your web browser to a page you'll very likely bookmark. This allows the administrator to monitor the server in a pro-active manner and replace failing disks before they actually fail. Gathering data from the RAID for troubleshooting is also only a click away.
How to install and use the tool
- Download the script using the link at the bottom of this post.
- Copy the script to the /usr/BWhttpd/root/cgi-bin/ directory on each your MSPs containing an LSI MegaRAID controller.
- Make the script executable:
- If you are in a console prompt, use the command: chmod +x vsmRaidViewer.pl
- If you are in WinSCP, right-click the file, go to Properties, and click all the x boxes
That's it. The Cisco VSM RAID Viewer is ready for use. Just open your browser to the following URI:
https://<server-ip>/cgi-bin/vsmRaidViewer.pl
The tool will also work over HTTP, but since you need to enter your root password, you are better off using HTTPS so that your password will be transmitted securely.
Tip
If the tool does not work at all when you open your browser to it, then it is possible that the script got converted to DOS format during the transfer to the server. Open a console prompt on the server, change to the /usr/BWhttpd/root/cgi-bin folder and enter the following command to convert the file back to Unix format:
dos2unix -k vsmRaidViewer.pl
Please try out the tool and let us know what you think. We would like to hear what you like about it, don't like about it, and what suggestions you may have form improving it. Of course, we also want to know if you run into any problems with it. This tool is not supported by the VSM developement team, but I will try to address any reported problems in a timely manner. Hey, I've got cases to work you know ;- )
Thank you,
Sean
Sean Merrow CCIE 25197
Physical Security CSE
Cisco Systems
