VPLEX: How to determine or find the correct serial number or TLA of a VPLEX instance.

How to determine or find the correct Top-Level Assembly (TLA) of a VPLEX instance.
 

Finding the TLA number of the cluster

This info is available on the serial number tag attached to the front top of the cabinet frame.

For example:

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
" bar code                                          bar code         "
" S/N:  LLLnnnnnnnnnnn                               Rev: Lnn        "
" bar code                                                           "
" P/N: nnn-nnn-nnn                                                   "
" ZEPHYR SYSTEM <cfg size>                       ASSEMBLED in <ctry> "
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

Legend:  L = letter,  n = number
S/N = Serial Number, P/N = Part Number

or
 

List the attributes of engine 1 using the command below and note the" top-level-assembly" number in the output. This TLA is the same for each engine in a cluster. The Engine serial number is unique to each engine.

ll /engines/engine-<Cluster_ID>-1

You will need to login into the Management Server using the Service level account, then access the VPlexcli. For pre-GeoSynchrony 6.x versions you will need to use the service account credentials to access the VPlexcli. For GeoSynchrony 6.x and later you will be logged into the VPlexcli without having to use the service account credentials.


Sample output for accessing the VPlexcli  for pre-GeoSynchrony 6.x:

service@ManagementServer:~> vplexcli
Trying 1...
Connected to localhost.
Escape character is '^]'.

username: service
password:
creating logfile:/var/log/VPlex/cli/session.log_service_localhost_T14852_YYYYHHMMSSxxxx

VPlexcli:/>
 

Sample output for accessing the VPlexcli for GeoSynchrony 6.x and later:

login as: service
Using keyboard-interactive authentication.
Password:
Last login: Day Month Date HH:MM:SS YYYY from x.x.x.x
service@ManagementServer:~> login as: service
Using keyboard-interactive authentication.
Password:
Last login: Day Month date HH:MM:SS YYYY from x.x.x.x
service@ManagementServer:~> vplexcli
Trying ::1...
Connected to localhost.
Escape character is '^]'.

VPlexcli:/>

Sample output for engine info:

VPlexcli:/> ll /engines/engine-1-1

/engines/engine-1-1:

Attributes:
Name                        Value
--------------------------  --------------
cluster-deployment-id        1
enclosure-id                 1
engine-id                    1-1
health-indications           []
health-state                 ok
marker-led                   off
operational-status           online
part-number                  <part number of the engine chassis>
revision-number              <xxx>
serial-number                FCNBD100400000 <-- this is unique to each engine
top-level-assembly           CKM00xxxxxxxxx <-- this is the TLA, sometimes referred to as the serial number, different from the engine serial number.
wwn-seed                     3ca0026a

In the ll /engines/engine-1-1 command output the below values are listed. The TLA is what we are looking for in this case yet there are times the TLA is sometimes called the  serial number. The serial number, or TLA, of the VPLEX is what you will see in all call home reports and is used when opening an Service Request (SR) with support. The TLA, or serial number, begins with FNM or CKM only today.

serial-number          FCNBD100XXX000           <--- this is not the Top Level Assembly value, this is unique for each engine
top-level-assembly     CKM0010XXX0000           <-- this is the "serial number"