Use Cases

This section provides basic common management operations that can be performed with the Storage Capacity Views and Reports for BMC TrueSight Capacity Optimization.

• • Allocating Storage Capacity to New Servers
  • Analyzing Storage Capacity Utilization
  • Identifying Oversubscription Risks
  • Planning for Additional Storage Capacity
  • Reclaiming Unused Storage Capacity
  • Reporting the Capacity Consumed per Host
  • Generating reports

Allocating Storage Capacity to New Servers

• Listing the storage systems that meet allocation requirements
• Verifying the storage systems bandwidth
• Choosing the most relevant storage pool
• Verifying the protection level
• From the Storage Pools tab
• From the Volumes tab

Allocating storage capacity to new servers consists in identifying which storage pool from which storage system is best suited to host the storage capacity required. To identify these storage pools, administrators need to follow the above steps.

Listing the storage systems that meet allocation requirements

1. Access the Storage Systems view:
   1. In the BMC TrueSight Capacity Optimization console, click the Views tab. All views available are displayed.
   2. In the Storage category, click Storage Systems.  
2. Click the Systems tab.
   
3. List the storage systems that meet your allocation requirements. You can for example apply a filter on the Available Capacity column to only display the storage systems for which more than 5000 GB are available:
   1. In the Available Capacity column, click .
   2. From the operator pull-down list, select >.
   3. Type 5000.
   4. From the pull-down list, select GB.
   5. Press the Enter key.

Once the storage systems matching your search criteria have been displayed, you can verify the storage systems’ bandwidth and the number of ports available.

Verifying the storage systems bandwidth

Verifying the storage systems bandwidth is an essential step that will help administrators choose the storage system that better meets their allocation requirements. To perform this operation, administrators must check the bandwidth utilization and the number of ports available for each storage system.

1. Access the Storage Systems view:
   
   1. In the BMC TrueSight Capacity Optimization console, click the Views tab. All views available are displayed.
   2. In the Storage category, click Storage Systems.  
2. Click the Systems tab.
   
3. Show the Number of Ports column:
   1. Click  and select Show/hide columns.
   2. Check the Number of Ports box.
   3. Click Apply.
4. Verify the bandwidth utilization of each storage system. If the value is:
   1. low, the storage system can be used to allocate storage capacity to new servers
   2. high, check the number of ports currently available to know if additional ports can be added.

The most relevant storage system is now identified. You can now proceed to the next step, i.e choosing a storage pool according to its pool type, its available capacity, and the oversubscription risk.

Choosing the most relevant storage pool

1. Access the Storage Systems view:
   1. In the BMC TrueSight Capacity Optimization console, click the Views tab. All views available are displayed.
   2. In the Storage category, click Storage Systems.  
2. Click the Storage Pools tab.
   
3. Filter the information displayed by pool type.
4. Display storage pools for which there is no oversubscription risk.
5. Check the Available Capacity of the different storage pools displayed.

A list of potential storage pools is now available. You can verify the protection level of each storage pool to choose the one that better suits your needs.

Verifying the protection level

The protection level is available from the Storage Pools or Volumes tab of the Storage Systems view.

From the Storage Pools tab

1. Access the Storage Systems view:
   1. In the BMC TrueSight Capacity Optimization console, click the Views tab. All views available are displayed.
   2. In the Storage category, click Storage Systems.  
2. Click the Storage Pools tab.
   
3. Click the pool of your choice to display its detail.
4. Verify the Pool RAID Level metric.
   

From the Volumes tab

1. Access the Storage Systems view:
   1. In the BMC TrueSight Capacity Optimization console, click the Views tab. All views available are displayed.
   2. In the Storage category, click Storage Systems.  
2. Click the Volumes tab.
   
3. Click the volume of your choice to display its detail.
4. Verify the Volume RAID Level metric.

You should now know which storage pool from which storage system is best suited to host the storage capacity required. If no storage pools meet your requirement, you will then have to create a new one.

Analyzing Storage Capacity Utilization

• At the storage systems level
• At the storage pools level

Storage demand exponentially grew over the past years and lead to runaway storage costs. To control these costs, SAN administrators are asked to better plan for future capacity needs, which is almost impossible without a clear view of the storage capacity utilization. With Storage Capacity Views and Reports for BMC TrueSight Capacity Optimization, administrators can analyze storage capacity utilization at the storage systems and at the storage pools levels.

At the storage systems level

1. Access the Storage Systems view:
   1. In the BMC TrueSight Capacity Optimization console, click the Views tab. All views available are displayed.
   2. In the Storage category, click Storage Systems.  
2. Click the Systems tab.
   
3. Verify the capacity of the storage systems and more specifically:
   1. their overall size (Size metric).
   2. their total space (Capacity metric).
   3. the host visible capacity (Subscribed Capacity metric).
   4. the total space not consumed (Available Capacity metric).
   5. the space actually consumed (Consumed Capacity metric).
4. Click the storage system for which you wish to get more information.
   
5. In the graph pane, click  to analyze the trend of your storage system utilization.
6. You can also export this data to Excel for further analysis by first clicking  and then .

Based on the capacity information available, you can now plan for your current and future capacity needs.

At the storage pools level

1. Access the Storage Systems view:
   1. In the BMC TrueSight Capacity Optimization console, click the Views tab. All views available are displayed.
   2. In the Storage category, click Storage Systems.  
2. Click the Storage Pools tab.
   
3. If needed, apply filters.
4. Verify the capacity of your storage pools and more especially:
   
   1. their overall size (Size metric).
   2. their total space (Capacity metric).
   3. the host visible capacity (Subscribed Capacity metric).
   4. the total space not consumed (Available Capacity metric).
   5. the space actually consumed (Consumed Capacity metric).
5. Click the storage pool for which you wish to get more information.
   
6. You can also export this data to Excel for further analysis by first clicking  and then .

This capacity information will help you better control your storage costs.

Identifying Oversubscription Risks

An oversubscription situation is automatically identified when:

1. the storage pool is configured for thin provisioning (“thin storage pool”)
2. the storage pool is oversubscribed, i.e. the total disk space visible to the hosts (subscribers) is greater than its actual capacity (this situation is normal for a thin pool since it is its very purpose)
3. the storage pool actual consumed capacity has crossed the configured threshold (Refer to the section Customizing the Oversubscription Risk Indicator).

Such situation is highly critical because the inability to allocate additional space to a volume when requested by the subscriber host will lead to catastrophic data loss and corruption.

To make sure no oversubscription situation is about to occur, administrators can check the Oversubscription Risk column available in the Storage Capacity View. By default, this metric displays:

• "-" for non-thin pools
• "No risk" for thin-pools that are not oversubscribed, i.e when the Storage Subscribed Capacity Percentage metric is lower than 100%.
• "Warning" when the Storage Consumed Capacity Percentage metric is greater than or equal to 75% and the number of days before saturation is greater than or equal to 7.
• "Critical" when the Storage Consumed Capacity Percentage metric is greater than or equal to 75% and the number of days before saturation is less than 7.

The threshold of the Storage Consumed Capacity Percentage metric  can however be modified for each storage pool to warn administrators sooner about an oversubscription risk (Refer to the section Customizing the Oversubscription Risk Indicator).

To identify oversubscription situations

1. Access the Storage Systems view:
   1. In the BMC TrueSight Capacity Optimization console, click the Views tab. All views available are displayed.
   2. In the Storage category, click Storage Systems.  
2. Click the Storage Pools tab.
   
3. Filter the information displayed:
   1. by storage system to only list the storage system for which you wish to study the storage pools.
   2. by pool type to only display thin pools.
   3. by oversubscription risk to only display thin pools for which the risk is critical.

You now have all the information required to prevent oversubscription situations and unrecoverable data loss and corruption.

Planning for Additional Storage Capacity

• When will storage pools be running out of capacity?
• By how much the capacity of their storage pools must be extended to meet allocation requirements?
• Are there enough unused disks in the storage systems to extend the capacity of the existing storage pools?

Administrators are not only asked to assign storage resources but also to plan for both current and future storage requirements. Because under-purchasing and over-purchasing capacity will respectively result in downtimes and wasted storage, both situations must be prevented. Smooth storage administration can only be achieved if administrators can answer the above questions.With this information, they will be able to guarantee enough remaining space to answer allocation requests as quickly as possible.

When will storage pools be running out of capacity?

1. Access the Storage Systems view:
   1. In the BMC TrueSight Capacity Optimization console, click the Views tab. All views available are displayed.
   2. In the Storage category, click Storage Systems.  
2. Click the Storage Pools tab.
   
3. Verify the capacity of your storage pools and more especially:
   
   1. their total space (Capacity metric).
   2. the total space not consumed (Available Capacity metric).
   3. the space actually consumed (Consumed Capacity metric).
4. Display storage pools that are at a risk of being saturated.

You will now be able to take the necessary actions at the right time to ensure that storage pools will never run out of capacity.

By how much the capacity of their storage pools must be extended to meet allocation requirements?

1. Access the Storage Systems view:
   
   1. In the BMC TrueSight Capacity Optimization console, click the Views tab. All views available are displayed.
   2. In the Storage category, click Storage Systems.  
2. Click the Storage Pools tab.
   
3. Click the storage pool of your choice to display its details and check its Consumed Capacity Trendline.
   

After completing the above steps, you should know exactly by how much the capacity of your storage pool needs to be extended.

Are there enough unused disks in the storage systems to extend the capacity of the existing storage pools?

Before purchasing additional space, administrators can also check if there are unused disks in their storage systems that could still be used to extend the capacity of the existing storage pools. To perform this verification:

1. Access the Storage Systems view:
   1. In the BMC TrueSight Capacity Optimization console, click the Views tab. All views available are displayed.
   2. In the Storage category, click Storage Systems.  
2. Click the Systems tab.
   
3. Click the storage system for which you wish to check the number of unused disks.
4. Check the Available for Storage Pools metric.
   
   
   

You now know which disks can be used to extend the capacity of your storage pools.

Reclaiming Unused Storage Capacity

• Identifying unmapped volumes
• Identifying unused volumes

Over time, as servers connected to a SAN get decommissioned, administrators find an increasing number of unmapped volumes that are no longer used by any server. These volumes, while unused, still occupy disk space in the storage system. Being able to identify such unmapped volumes and reclaim the disk space uselessly consumed by these volumes will help administrators avoid unnecessary upgrades and extensions of their storage systems.

Identifying unmapped volumes

1. Access the Storage Systems view:
   1. In the BMC TrueSight Capacity Optimization console, click the Views tab. All views available are displayed.
   2. In the Storage category, click Storage Systems.  
2. Click the Volumes tab.
   
3. Display unmapped volumes.

You can now reclaim the disk space uselessly consumed by these volumes to avoid unnecessary upgrades and extensions.

Identifying unused volumes

1. Access the Storage Systems view:
   1. In the BMC TrueSight Capacity Optimization console, click the Views tab. All views available are displayed.
   2. In the Storage category, click Storage Systems.  
2. Click the Volumes tab.
   
3. If needed, apply filters.
4. Apply a filter to the Time Since Last Activity (Days) column:
   
   1. In the Time Since Last Activity (Days) column, click .
   2. From the operator pull-down list, select =.
   3. Type the number of days required (e.g.: 30).
   4. Press the Enter key.

The list of volumes that have not been used for 30 days is displayed. You can now take the necessary actions and reclaim the unused space.

Reporting the Capacity Consumed per Host

• Reporting the capacity consumed per host
• Determining storage capacity allocation source

Because hosts are not always well-identified, determining the capacity consumed per host is not an easy task. Administrators must not only find out what are the physical hosts but also verify the capacity that was initially allocated and finally determine the capacity that is actually consumed by each host. All these operations can be performed with Hosts View. 

Reporting the capacity consumed per host

To determine the capacity actually consumed per host:

1. Access the Hosts view:
   1. In the BMC TrueSight Capacity Optimization console, click the Views tab. All views available are displayed.
   2. In the Storage category, click Hosts.  
2. Click the Hosts tab.
   
3. Identify the host to which storage has been allocated (Host metric).
4. Verify the capacity exposed to this host (Host Visible Capacity metric).
5. Verify the capacity actually consumed per host (Consumed Capacity metric).

The capacity consumed per host is now clearly identified. It could now be interesting to determine from which storage system or which storage pool this capacity has been allocated.

Determining storage capacity allocation source

Determining the capacity actually consumed per host is not always sufficient to manage storage capacity needs. You may also need to know from which storage system or which storage pool this capacity has been allocated.

To obtain this information:

1. Access the Hosts view:
   1. In the BMC TrueSight Capacity Optimization console, click the Views tab. All views available are displayed.
   2. In the Storage category, click Hosts.  
2. Click the Hosts to Systems tab.
3. Filter information by Storage System.
4. Verify the capacity exposed to the host for the storage system specified (Host Visible Capacity metric).
5. Verify the capacity actually consumed on the storage system specified (Consumed Capacity metric).
6. To obtain additional information about a storage pool, click the Hosts to Pool tab.
   
7. Apply a filter on the Pool Name column to only display the storage pool of your choice:
   1. In the Pool Name column, click .
   2. From the operator pull-down list, select Like.
   3. Type the storage pool name (in our example ThinProvisioning).
   4. Press the Enter key.
   5. Verify the capacity exposed to the host for the storage pool specified (Host Visible Capacity metric).
   6. Verify the capacity actually consumed on the storage pool specified (Consumed Capacity metric).
8. You can also refer to the RAID Level and Service Level columns to respectively know the levels of protection and service.

You now have all the information required to manage your storage capacity needs and cleverly allocate resource.

Generating reports

Storage Capacity Views and Reports for BMC TrueSight Capacity Optimization comes with pre-built storage reports to help you provision with confidence and take the best allocation decisions.

To generate storage reports:

1. Make sure the reports are deployed.
2. Navigate to Workspace > All Domains > Your Domain > Works.
3. Click the storage report you wish to generate:
   1. Storage Systems Overview to get an overall overview of your storage systems (storage capacity, bandwidth utilization, transfer, etc.).
   2. Storage Pools Overview to get an overall overview of your storage pools (storage capacity, capacity and traffic distribution).
   3. Storage Allocation to help you provision and take the best allocation decisions.
4. (Optional) Modify the entity filter, the time filter, or the time resolution:
   1. Click the analysis for which you wish to modify its filters.
   2. Click  Edit.
   3. Modify the parameters required.
   4. Click Save.
5. In the Results section, click the output format required (e.g.: pdf).

You can refer to the tables below to know which analyses and models come with the pre-built storage reports: