Monitoring RAID1 health

Hello,

a possible approach might be to use the Client Intrumentation Tool, Dell provies also Management tools like Dell Management Console and Open Manage IT Assistant, both DMC and It assistant will fit your requirements, but both tools are very depeningly on your network and security settings. both tools communicate with a management station or server (for DMC you need a server) via CIM or SNMP, with the tools you can monitor and also update the machine, in your case with the provided infos I would decide for the dell manamgent console, especially if you are using NON dell desktops as well and you want to monitor them also. If I am right you need an additional plugin for non dell machines , this can be purchased via dell.Updating, backup, antivirus implementation, remote installation and many more is possible, please look on that site for DMC, You can use the DELL Management Console for free and you can test the plugin for a short period, but you need a server with 4 gb ram, windows 2003 server (will be updated soon to windows 2008), if you dont want to purchase a server for that task you can also download the IT Assistant Software and also the CLIENT INSTRUMENTION TOOL , IT assistant is free to use, a server is recommend , but not necessary and the client Instrumentation tool can be found on downloads of T3400 Precision. both ways are working fine.
2nd part follows

2nd part

When already using a monitor software,please respond which one as well as used raid controller in Precision, if using a monitoring software which based on SNMP, you can also get the needed MIB`s
Here are the links to documentation of both products :
DELL Management Console : http://support.euro.dell.com/support/edocs/software/smdmc/10/index.htm
Open Manage IT Assistant : http://support.euro.dell.com/support/edocs/software/smitasst/8.5/index.htm

you can also very very good infos about both products here on this web site, if unsure get in touch with your sales contact at dell, they can alo provide infos, possible demonstrations, etc.
Best regards
Marcus

Marcus,

Great informationm thank you for providing it. Looks like I'll be going the SNMP route, The softwate we use is ITRS, geared toward the financial industry, it has a MIB plugin I can use.

Thanks again,
Tom

Hello Tom,

youre welcome

Much greetings from Germany

Marcus

Is there someplace I can get the MIBS for the t3400 to monitor drive array health without installing server software? Traders use the T3400 workstations running XP. I'm not sure which way to go from here.

Hello Tom,

can you pass me which raid controlelr you are unsing in the precision ? If its a SAS 6 IR or PERc 6 or 5i you can get the needed MIBS from the dell download site, but if using the onboard controller, well we have to verify.
I suggest you pass me the used controller in the precsion and Ill post the link to the mibs.

is that okay for you ?

Cheers

Marcus

Hi Marcus,

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you, a busy day. The controller is an Intel ICH8R/ICH9R SATA RAID Controller and if you can provide the link to where I can download the MIBS that would be great. Your help is appreciated.

Regards,
Tom

Hello Tom,

no worries about delay of answer, I`m also engaged on other work to do :) , well okay, I tried to find an appropriate MIB for that compoment , but was not lucky, sry for that ,but maybe this might also helpful; can you check the settings of the agent in services (I assume that windows is running on that Precision), if you check the properies of the snmp agent , you can also check the harddrive, network an so on, these boxes are unchecked by default, I assume that the ich8r/ich9R is controlled by the chipset driver as well as add on driver of the ich8/9R chip. with the driver shall come the possibility to get MIBS of the chipset as well as the raidchip. Can you you verify this please ? I also verfied the INTEL web site, they only provide MIBs for INTEL nics, but not for the chipsets. Can you check the settings of the SNMP service and Agent for the checked compoments in properties ? If the harddrive is not marked, can you check the box please and repsond if you get a state of the harddrives in your management tool ? Can you also ask at the support of the monitoring software if they provide mibs for the ICH8r/9R as well as X38 chipset ?

Ill hope that will hlep you to solve

Cheers

Marcus